Zachary White White 1
Ms. Gilroy
English 10
20 February 2014
Point-of-view and conflict in Ernest Hemingway’s “The Undefeated”
Ernest Hemingway’s short story “The Undefeated” is based mainly on how the main character, Manuel Garcia is getting older and told that he is not going to be able to fight bulls anymore because he is getting older. He gets offered a spot to fight a bull but it was a fill in spot. This causes Manuel to become apprehensive because his brother died fighting a bull when he was a fill in. He ends up taking the spot anyway but is then told by his friend, Zurito (also a picador) that he is too old and not good enough to fight a bull. Later on in the story, both the reader and the other characters discover that Manuel is capable of fighting a bull until… he is horned in the chest and is defeated. Ernest Hemingway uses many different literary elements to make all of his stories more dynamic. In “The Undefeated”, he uses point-of-view to show different views and opinions of characters towards the conflicts and actions that take place. The different tones from different characters fuel the plot and the conflict that takes place.
The tones of the characters in the story motivate the plot and make the story more interesting and dynamic. These tones and the different point-of-views fuel the conflict in the story. In the beginning, Manuel Garcia’s tone was hesitant to substitute for another bull fighter because of an internal conflict that is in his memory. “I don’t like to substitute for anybody,” Manuel said. That was the way they all got killed. That was the way Salvador got killed” (Hemingway). He is torn because he wants to come back and fight a bull, but doesn’t know if he should take the substitute sp...
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... to be incompatible, in opposition, or in disagreement. Conflicts can arise in war, disagreement or mental struggle. In the short story, Garcia’s work in all of the preliminaries to the kill shows his greatness as a bull fighter. His inability to kill the bull properly that is, in an “honorable” way gives him a lower status as a bull fighter and nearly gets him killed. He has failed and is on the operating table, but he begs Zurito not to cut off his pigtail. He may be destroyed but he remains “undefeated.” This shows that Manuel still believes in himself but also shows him that he took the wrong path; he took on a challenge when his gut told him not to. Many clichés are created because of a conflict that has happened in a previous time; this action by Manuel demonstrates the cliché, “always go with your gut.” Garcia did not and it came back to haunt him in the end.
Explain how the conflict arises and go on to discuss in detail how the writer uses it to explore an important theme.
“We were hauled into the Border Patrol van and driven to San Luis Obispo, the immigration headquarters. There we were asked endless questions and given papers to sign” (6). This is an example of conflict because it explains when the Jimenez family was caught and were sent back to Mexico. This is important because this helps the reader understand how so many people during this time tried to immigrate to the United States but were caught and sent back to their homeland. “Tears came to her eyes as she forced a smile. Roberto and I climbed onto the bus. We took our seat, wiped fog off the window, and waved” (17). This is an example of conflict because this was when Francisco and Roberto had to live by themselves without the rest of their family. This is important because it shows the extent that their parents would reach to make sure that they had a bright future ahead of them in the United States. Therefore, the author uses conflict to show all of the struggles that the Jimenez family had to deal with during the story.
One observation that can be made on Hemingway’s narrative technique as shown in his short stories is his clipped, spare style, which aims to produce a sense of objectivity through highly selected details. Hemingway refuses to romanticize his characters. Being “tough” people, such as boxers, bullfighters, gangsters, and soldiers, they are depicted as leading a life more or less without thought. The world is full of s...
Hemingway had a very characteristic view of life. He believed it was admirable to risk one's life in order to test one's limits. His love of bullfighting clearly demonstrated this. Raymond S. Nelson, Hemingway scholar, states, "He saw bullfighting as tragic ritual, and he lionized the better bullfighters as men who risked death every time they entered the arena -- a stance he admired and chose for himself in other ways." One example of Hemingway choosing this stance for himself was when "he shot and dropped a charging Cape buffalo a few feet before the enraged animal would have killed him." This daring act of Hemingway's sounds peculiarly similar to the sport of bullfighting, and is an excellent example of Hemingway's obsession with courting death. Scholar, John Smith believes that "Hemingway's whole life and outlook suggest that, if he had known in advance of this deadly possibility, he would have embraced it even more enthusiastically." Very similarly, and not so coincidentally, Santiago had this very same mindset. He also believes in testing one's limits and admits as much when he tells himself, ". . . I will show him what a man can do and what a man endures.
There is a never ending list of what makes some people amazing story tellers. Some writers have vast imaginations, other writers use the lives of others in their stories and other writers use their lived experiences in order to write moving works of art. Most books, works of poetry and short stories that revolve around lived experiences share a common theme of love, hate or both. As these are emotions that all humans share, However, there are some stories that have far more unique. Stories like “The Things They Carried” by Tim O’Brien and “Hills Like White Elephants” by Ernest Hemingway. Both O’Brien and Hemingway come from two completely separate walks of life but were both able to write stories using the same theme of emotional and physical
The Iceberg Principle that Hemingway is so fond of, has already given rise to many discussions over the years. Giving away only a tip of it, Hemingway leaves us behind with a great amount of mystery in his stories.
Ernest Hemingway's short story "Hills Like White Elephants" touches on an issue as ageless as time: communication problems in a relationship. He tells his story through conversations between the two main characters, the American and the girl. Conflict is created through dialogue as these characters face what most readers believe to be the obstacle of an unexpected pregnancy. Their plight is further complicated by their inability to convey their differing opinions to each other. Symbolism and the title's meaning are other effective means of communicating conflict.
Hemingway packed plenty of theme, symbolism, and overall meaning into this short story. However, the story would not have been nearly as meaningful had it been written from another point of view.
The story, A Soldiers Home, is about a man in conflict with the past and present events in his life. The young man’s name is Harold Krebs. He recently returned from World War 1 to find everything almost exactly the same as when he left. He moved back into his parents house, where he found the same car sitting in the same drive way. He also found the girls looking the same, except now they all had short hair. When he returned to his home town in Oklahoma the hysteria of the soldiers coming home was all over. The other soldiers had come home years before Krebs had so everyone was over the excitement. When he first returned home he didn’t want to talk about the war at all. Then, when he suddenly felt the urge and need to talk about it no one wanted to hear about it. When he returned all of the other soldiers had found their place in the community, but Harold needed more time to find his place. In the mean time he plays pool, “practiced on his clarinet, strolled down town, read, and went to bed.”(Hemingway, 186) When his mother pressures him to get out and get a girlfriend and job, he te...
Hemingway has a very simple and straightforward writing style however his story lacks emotion. He makes the reader figure out the characters’ feelings by using dialogue. “...
Hopeless Suffering in A Farewell to Arms Near the end of A Farewell to Arms Ernest Hemingway has Fredrick Henry describe the time he placed a log full of ants on a fire. This incident allows us to understand a much larger occurrence, Catherine's pregnancy. Combined, both of these events form commentary on the backdrop for the entire story, World War One. After he finds out his son was stillborn, Lt. Henry remembers the time when he placed a log full of ants on a fire.
Conflict is one of the main driving forces behind a story. Without conflict the characters in the story would have no reason to do anything. Because of this every story requires some type of conflict in order to progress. The types of conflict can range from a man enduring the elements, known as man against nature, or as one character against a larger group, man against society. In addition to the other styles of conflict, the most relatable and compelling is when one character is set against another, known as man against man. Kate Chopin’s story “The Storm” displays three examples of a man against man style conflict, Bobinot against his wife Calixtra, Alcee against Calixta, and Alcee against his wife Clarisse, these show how a nonviolent conflict can occur between characters.
In his novel A Farewell to Arms, Ernest Hemingway transfers his own emotional burdens of World War I to his characters. Although considered to be fiction, the plot and characters of Hemingway’s novel directly resembled his own life and experience, creating a parallel between the characters in the novel and his experiences. Hemingway used his characters to not only to express the dangers of war, but to cope and release tension from his traumatic experiences and express the contradictions within the human mind. Hemingway’s use of personal experiences in his novel represents Freud’s Psychoanalytic theory regarding Hemingway’s anxieties and the strength and dependency that his consciousness has over his unconsciousness.
As it can clearly be seen, Earnest Hemingway has reflected his life throughout his works. This outlet of expression has proven to be worth the time and effort he had put forward in crafting these stories. It is unfortunate that factors such as human suffering as well as intimate harm were present in Hemingway's life, but it is thanks to those themes that such great works came about. In the short stories "Indian Camp," "The Old Man at the Bridge," and "Hills Like White Elephants," Hemingway has proven that he was indeed the voice of his generation and has crafted a path for future authors and writers to write in a similar manner and style.
Several different elements are necessary to create a story. Of all the elements, the conflict is most essential. The conflict connects all pieces of the plot, defines the characters, and drives the story forward. Once a story reaches its climax, the reader should have an emotional connection to the both story and its characters. Not only should emotions be evoked, but a reader should genuinely care about what happens next and the about the end result for the characters. Guy de Maupassant’s “The Necklace” is the perfect example of how a story’s conflict evolved the disposition of its characters.