Hemingway writes about post-war life and disillusionment with the world. His short stories, however, often involve inner conflicts and friction between two people. In most of his stories, his characters have trouble with their relationships. In two of his short stories, “The Sea Change” and “Hills like White Elephants”, Hemingway creates a scene filled with little background knowledge or… Read more →
At the conclusion of “Hills Like White Elephants”, I considered what operation the couple could possibly be arguing about. Even though Hemingway intentionally does not include any concrete details to guide the reader to any hard conclusions, one can make conjectures from the characters’ emotional responses in their dialogue. When the American man says, “I … Continue reading Hemingway’s Style Read more →
So I know Ernest Hemingway is supposed to be one of the greatest novelists of all time etc. but I have to be honest and say that so far… I’m not loving it. His characters seem to go off on long boring tangents that are literally tedious to read. Unfortunately it’s the kind of work […] Read more →
In the story “The Sea Change,” the man and his choice of the words “vices” and “virtue” to describe the woman he is affected me the strongest. All three of the short stories feature characters and their struggle with the concept of vice and virtues. “God Rest Ye Merry Gentlemen” feature a troubled young man who is unable to… Read more →
In middle school, I remember reading “Hills Like White Elephants” for the first time. What I remember from my first reading of it was that I simply had no idea what was going on for the entirety of the story. I also remember my teacher explaining that the story was about abortion, and I certainly… Read more » Read more →
I am ashamed to admit I had never read a line of Hemmingway before this week. His status in American literature goes without saying. Just like when reading Woolf, Duffy, and Danielewski, there is a learning curve to grasping Hemmingway’s prose. All of these authors wrote in the last 100 years and show a primary Continue Reading Read more →
As an English speaker I find Hemingway’s short stories endlessly frustrating and insulting. Having read poetry and other fine works of literature I have some grasp of the capacity of the language to evoke the beautiful, powerful, and the like. However, I think that there is a reason that variation is a key piece of […] Read more →
Before reading the short stories for class, the only Hemingway I’d read was The Old Man and the Sea which, much like middle school, left me feeling sad, dejected, and just a little bit lonely. Which is probably pretty indicative of my expectations for these short stories. In any case, I found these short stories difficult to read, […] Read more →
After diving into a novel riddled with mystery, intrigue, and layer upon layer of narrative, I had really high hopes for our next reading assignment. The extent of my experience with Hemingway prior to this class was that I’ve visited his old residence in Key West. I have never read any of his work (I […] Read more →
House of Leaves has an innumerable amount of characteristics to it that make it a difficult read. Out of all the things that posed the most issues for me in this experimental novel, Johnny’s convoluted diary entries that come out of chronological order gave me the most trouble. They weave in and out of 1998 … Continue reading House of Leaves – Conclusion Read more →