The Need for Mental Control: Nick's Search for Peace in Hemingway's "Big Two-Hearted River"
analytical Essay
1198 words
In his short story, “Big Two-Hearted River”, Ernest Hemingway focuses on the mental and emotional state of Nick, the protagonist, who “le[aves] everything behind” during a wilderness fishing trip. Traumatic thoughts and memories haunt Nick, but the cause of his inner turmoil is not disclosed in the story. Other short stories by Hemingway, however, reveal that Nick Adams is a wounded veteran who served in the First World War. To distract himself from these painful memories, Nick concentrates on the physical details of his journey such as making camp and preparing food. In addition to self-distraction, he attempts to inhibit his ability to think through hunger and physical exhaustion. By examining how Nick uses these techniques of mental control in “Big Two-Hearted River”, one can gain a deeper understanding into his behaviour and fragile psyche. Thus, through analysis of his methods of rehabilitation, this examination will illustrate the central conflict between Nick’s subconscious thoughts and his conscious effort to repress them.
Nick attempts to avoid his traumatic memories through intentional self-distraction while he meticulously controls his external environment. Furthermore, by carefully constructing his surroundings, he is able to offer some stability to his traumatized mind. In particular, his fastidious assembly of the camp provides him with a great sense of satisfaction, for he feels that “he was there, in the good place” and “nothing could touch him.” By performing simple tasks in a methodical and systematic manner, he demands his own full attention and therefore prevents his mind from drifting. With his complete focus directed on levelling and smoothing out his campsite, his subconscious is unable to return to h...
... middle of paper ...
...ect=true
&db=a9h&AN=9406160042&site=ehost-live&scope=site.
Cirino, Mark. “Hemingway’s ‘Big Two-Hearted River’: Nick’s Strategy and the Psychology of Mental Control.” Papers on Language and Literature 47, no. 2 (2011): 115-140. http://search.ebscohost.com/login.aspx?direct=true&db=a9h&AN=60914786&site=ehost-live&scope=site.
Hemingway, Ernest. “Big Two-Hearted River.” In Mercury Reader, edited by Janice Neuleib, Kathleen Shine Cain, and Stephen Ruffus, 93-111. Boston, MA: Pearson Learning Solutions, 2014.
Stewart, Matthew. Modernism and Tradition in Ernest Hemingway’s In Our Time: A Guide for Students and Readers. Rochester, NY: Camden House, 2001.
Summerhayes, Don. “Fish story: ways of telling in ‘Big Two-Hearted River’.” Hemingway Review 15 no. 1 (1995): 10-26. http://search.ebscohost.com/login.aspx?direct=true
&db=a9h&AN=9511291476&site=ehost-live&scope=site.
In this essay, the author
- Analyzes how ernest hemingway focuses on the mental and emotional state of nick, the protagonist, who "leaves everything behind" during a wilderness fishing trip.
- Analyzes how nick avoids his traumatic memories through intentional self-distraction while meticulously controlling his external environment. his fastidious assembly of the camp provides him with a great sense of satisfaction.
- Analyzes how nick, the only human character to appear in "big two-hearted river," is ill-prepared to handle the unpredictable nature of his fishing companions.
- Analyzes how nick tries to repress his thoughts through fatigue and hunger. the physical stress of his hike prevents him from recalling his traumatic memories.
- Explains that adair, william, 'big two-hearted river': why the swamp is tragic.
- Analyzes how nick maintains an acute awareness of his surroundings and constantly "modulates and measures his activities and sensations" in hemingway's "big two-hearted river".
- Analyzes how hemingway's 'big two-hearted river': nick’s strategy and the psychology of mental control.
Related
- analytical
- The Truth About The Big Two Heanalytical essayWhile reading Ernest Hemingway's short story 'Big Two Hearted River,'; one might think that it is just about a man named Nick Adams returning to Seney, to go camping and fishing. It may not be clear to some readers why the town of Seney is burned down or why Hemingway talks about each of Nick's action in great amount of detail. While first reading the story one might not notice that Hemingway has many symbolic parts, so that he can get the true meaning of the story across to the reader. The story is truly about Nick Adams wanting to get on with his life enjoying to its fullest and putting all of the awful events that have happened to him in the past.
In this essay, the author
- Analyzes how ernest hemingway's 'big two hearted river' is about a man named nick adams returning to seney, to go camping and fishing.
- Narrates how nick arrives at seney and sees the town burned to the ground. when he was on the bridge, nick saw trout in the water going against the current.
- Analyzes how nick looked down into the clear, brown water, colored from the pebbly bottom, and watched the trout keeping themselves steady in the current with wavering fins.
- Analyzes how hemingway used the trout in the river to represent the inner peace that nick is trying to gain.
- Analyzes how hemingway left the country untouched by the fire because he wanted to show to the readers that nick was trying to put everything behind him.
- Analyzes how hemingway used the grasshopper as a symbol that when life had nick down he was just going to get back up and continue trying and not give up.
- Illustrates how hemingway was showing that nothing in this life is easy and it should not put you down.
- Explains that nick didn't want to go to the swamp. he felt a reaction against deep wading with the water deepening up under his armpits, to hook big trout.
- Analyzes how hemingway uses different types of symbolism to describe how nick adams is moving on with his life and putting the war behind.
852 wordsRead More - A Man's Struggle to Heal Himself in Big Two-Hearted Riveranalytical essayErnest Hemingway's "Big Two-Hearted River"* is such a rich text that it has probably received more literary critical attention than many novels of several times its length. Hemingway's ardent use of intricate detail and his intentional, calculated use of short, simple sentences help to make "River" a treasure chest of critical ideas and possible interpretations. Historically, much of the criticism of "River" has examined the dark underlying themes of the story, such as the alleged omission of some preceding, devastating event and Nick's wounded spiritual and mental state. These sentences, such as "There was no town, nothing but the rails and the burned-over country," are representative of the abundance of similar language throughout the story and make it easy to understand why many critics focus on dark themes, devastation and mental instability. Without denying or dispelling any of the valid "dark" critiques, I intend to show that "River" may also be easily understood in a more positive light as an account of one man's struggle to heal himself by returning to what he knows and loves.
In this essay, the author
- Analyzes how hemingway's "big two-hearted river" is a rich text that has received more literary critical attention than many novels of several times its length.
- Analyzes how twitchell focuses on the physical improbability of the swamp adjacent to the river in hemingway's "big two-hearted river."
- Analyzes how lewis e. weeks offers another view, similar to twitchell's, of "river."
- Narrates how nick slit off a bright slab of pine and split it into pegs for the tent. he pegged the sides out taught and drove them deep until the rope loops were buried and the canvas was drum tight.
- Analyzes how nick pitched the tent so that it was "drum tight." canvas shrinks from both dew and rain, and notched or hooked pegs are driven into the ground in line with the tension.
- Analyzes how twitchell and weeks credit hemingway with his intentional use of inconsistencies as a subtle indication of nick's mental state.
- Analyzes how some critics interpret the blatant passages in "river" in a dogmatic fashion. james l. green characterizes nick's discovery of the burned seney as devastating and discomposing.
- Analyzes john f. stewart's single-minded reading of "river," attempting to show "christian allusions" and manipulate the text in order to have it conform to his theory.
- Analyzes how b.j. smith and frederic j. svoboda incorporate structuralist and psychoanalytical approaches into their criticisms of "river."
- Analyzes svoboda's account of "three young men, high school friends from the chicago suburbs," who took a fishing trip to seney.
- Narrates how they lost a trout on the little fox below and old dam that was the biggest they've ever seen. they tried for him 4 different days later but he only struck once.
- Compares hemingway's fictional account of nick wrestling the large trout with his nonfictional account.
- Analyzes how b.j. smith addresses the parallels between "river" and hemingway's career as an author.
- Analyzes how hemingway's comparison of the loss of his work to an amputation or war casualties and the actual omitted ending provide clues for another metaphoric level in the story.
- Analyzes how hemingway's recovery from the incident serves as a model for his portrayal of nick adams.
- Analyzes how hemingway penned "river" as a healing process, rather than precarious struggle to suppress panic. nick's heart tightened as the trout moved.
- Analyzes how he watched trout holding themselves with their noses into the current, distorted by the glassy convex surface of the pool, its surface pushing and swelling smooth against the resistance of log-driven piles.
- Analyzes how the sensual descriptions of the river and the fish were placed diametrically between the descriptions about the burned remnants of what used to be seney. nick's reaction to the destruction is important.
- Analyzes how nick overcomes obstacles and presses onward through the story. though he was walking uphill through burned country with a pack that was too heavy, nick was happy to be there.
- Describes how nick slipped off his pack and lay down in the shade. his neck and back rested as he stretched. the earth felt good against his back.
- Analyzes how this language captures the essence of what it meant when nick "felt all the old feeling," and is not indicative of a man who is struggling to hold on to his sanity.
- Analyzes how nick's slow, methodical actions are indicative of his impending mental breakdown. he is returning to what he is familiar with for stability and doesn't want to rush through anything and risk making a mistake.
- Analyzes the significance of hemingway's mention of jack pines and the fern. nick has not moved completely beyond the destruction, which is not only in his head but physically surrounding him.
- Analyzes how jack pines are notoriously flammable species that must burn in order to release the seeds from their cones. nick is not out of the fire zone but in an area where regrowth after fire is linked with the story's themes of potential death and potential regeneration.
- Analyzes how the sweet, green vegetation is a parallel to the new "spring" that nick is seeking. the good things continually urge nick onward, despite his aches, cramps, and uphill journey
- Analyzes how nick has colossal issues that he is wrestling with and seeks to "choke his thoughts" throughout the story. nick is in the process of healing.
- Analyzes how hemingway's 'big two-hearted river' is a re-interpretation.
- Analyzes how hemingway's big two-hearted river and 'the battler' have parallel and complementary themes.
2968 wordsRead More - Big Two Hearted River Modernism Essayanalytical essayThe two-part story, Big Two-Hearted River, typifies the style and techniques of modernism with regard to the treatment of its subject and the element of characterization. The focus of the story is on the single protagonist, Nick Adams who carries on with his life with little concern about the chaos that reign in the background (Hemingway 14). Elements of modernism in this story manifest in the sense in which the author fosters the sense of regeneration in the story. In essence, this story appears to reveal the main character’s determination to stay aloof from the shackles of life and the ravages of war that seem to envelop the world in which he lives. There is a sense in which the orderliness and tranquility
In this essay, the author
- Analyzes how the two-part story, big two-hearted river, typifies modernism with regard to the treatment of its subject and the element of characterization.
- Analyzes how modernist writers tend to be possessed with the element of regeneration. in their literary works, there is the obvious attempt to show the resilience of the protagonists against the disabling effects of chaos.
- Analyzes how hemmingway presents nature as the force that conditions regeneration of the protagonist's tormented life.
- Analyzes how the stream of consciousness allows the reader to immerse into the mind of the protagonist in a way that captures the dimensions of his or her thoughts.
- Analyzes how the protagonist engages with the world around him without the conscious application of his mind. the protagonist's active voice only manifests about three times throughout the story.
- Analyzes how hemmingway's treatment of regeneration and his construction of the character of nick adams illustrate the healing power of nature for the disillusioned humanity in the throes of war.
- Analyzes how nick and prufrock are similar and different in a variety of respects. they are afflicted by private concerns that seem to torment them at the subconscious level.
970 wordsRead More - Ernest Hemingway's Big Two-Hearted River and Sigmund Freudanalytical essayErnest Hemingway’s “iceberg theory” suggests that the writer include in the text only a small portion of what he knows, leaving about ninety percent of the content a mystery that grows beneath the surface of the writing. This type of writing lends itself naturally to a version of dream-interpretation, as this story structure mirrors the structure of the mind—the restrained, composed tip of the unconscious and the vast body of subconscious that is censored by the ego. Psychoanalyzing Hemingway’s fiction is double-sided—we must first analyze the manifest and latent contents that he probably intended, i.e., “This fishing trip will be a metaphor for a sexual act,” and then we must consider the manifest and latent content that he probably did not intend, but that arose from his own subconscious in the transference of writing, i.e., perhaps within thirty pages of intentionally masturbatory imagery, Hemingway was actually expressing his sexual repression rather than glorifying his manhood, as many literary critics in the past have claimed. Whether or not the manifest content is intentional, however, Hemingway’s precise and abundant revisions serve as a very effective tool for presenting strings of images and actions that are concrete and straightforward but not always fully developed, comparable to the strings of images in a dream. Through a sort of dream-interpretation, we uncover a new reading of Hemingway’s “Big Two-Hearted River” and we discover the techniques of dream-work, such as condensation and omission, enacted in art.
In this essay, the author
- Analyzes hemingway's "big two-hearted river" and sigmund freud’s “iceberg theory” as a form of dream-interpretation.
- Analyzes how hemingway's "big two-hearted river" falls perfectly under freud’s symbolism theories.
- Describes how the train went up the track out of sight, around one of the hills of burnt timber. nick sat down on the bundle of canvas and bedding the baggage man had pitched.
- Analyzes how hemingway covers half of freud's "symbolism in dreams" in "big two-hearted river."
- Analyzes how the narrator, nick, turns to the river, beginning the strings of phallic imagery that pervade throughout the rest of the story.
- Analyzes how the narrator sets up an intense yet unconsciously sexual scene with the fish in the water.
- Analyzes how hemingway watched the pool's glassy convex surface against the resistance of log-driven piles of the bridge. at the bottom were the big trout.
- Analyzes how the female genitalia have returned to the text, displaced in the form of the water in which big fish are swimming, convex and pulsing.
- Analyzes how the narrator is repressing the assumed death (or even the loss) of the woman in his life, and projecting his sexual frustration of this loss onto the familiar and innocent image of fish in the river.
- Analyzes how the narrator enacts what in dream-interpretation could symbolize intercourse, the rhythmic motions of his steps and his perspiration described in detail within the text.
- Analyzes how the narrator enacts the "symbolic representations par excellence of masturbation," which is the pulling off of a branch.
- Explains that the anxiety and the elaborate nature of masturbatory imagery indicate a failure in the developmental path of the libido of, possibly, himself.
- Explains that the libido turns away from reality, is taken over by imaginative activity (the process of introversion), strengthens the images of the first sexual objects and becomes fixated to them.
- Analyzes how nick, after resting in the new, lush woods for a nap, wakes and thinks again of the river.
- Analyzes how the censor suppresses the forbidden oedipal urge. the narrator's next action is one of castration, around the stumps that are reminiscent of the original dead landscape.
- Analyzes how nick's exaggerated wish-fulfillment satisfies his hunger by consuming a can (female symbol) of 'apricots'.
- Analyzes how the satisfaction of "catching fish" is a successful displacement of his masturbatory and oedipal fantasies.
- Analyzes how the latent content of this imagery, as well as countless passages similar to this, is almost blatantly pornographic.
- Analyzes how the story gratifies the unconscious urges of eros and thatanos, from the abundant oral satisfaction derived from eating to the latent masturbatory satisfaction beneath the manifest satisfaction of catching fish.
- Analyzes how freud possesses the mysterious power of shaping material until it becomes a faithful image of his unconscious phantasy.
- Analyzes how hemingway's "big two-hearted river" is brimming with latent meaning for readers who don't interpret it psychoanalytically.
2413 wordsRead More - Anderson And Hemingways Use Of The First Personanalytical essayBy being both inside and outside Nick's thoughts, the reader can sense precisely the drama that Hemingway wishes to bring to trout fishing....
In this essay, the author
- Analyzes how anderson and hemingway both wrote collections of short stories told in the third person, and the intrusion of the first person narrator is unsettling.
- Analyzes how hemingway's use of the omniscient third person narrator allows the reader to visualize all of nick adams' actions and surroundings.
- Analyzes how hemingway describes nick's fishing trip in 'big two-hearted river: part i' in third-person. the reader is almost an active participant in the expedition.
- Analyzes how hemingway brings drama to trout fishing by being both inside and outside nick's thoughts.
- Opines that hemingway's sudden switch to first-person narration is startling to the reader.
- Analyzes how hemingway's first-person narration makes the story more alive, more personal, and jolts the reader into realizing the humanity of nick.
- Explains the sudden intrusion of the first person narrator makes the story more complete and its only character more life-like. sherwood anderson's collection of short stories, winesburg, ohio, also has a moment of first-person narration.
- Analyzes how anderson uses third-person narration to tell a story about an old writer. the old man goes to bed and the reader learns his thoughts.
- Analyzes how hemingway's ploy in "the book of the grotesque" transforms the reader into an active participant in the book.
- Analyzes how anderson adopts first-person narration in "respectability" and "i go to fast." the entire book is a dialogue between narrator and reader.
- Analyzes how toklas and anita loos' gentlemen prefer blondes are both written in first person, but neither has a point at which the reader is brought into the story consciously by .
1174 wordsRead More - Ernest Hemingway Healing Of Natureanalytical essayThe theme of change is showed in the opening of the story when Nick returns his hometown from war and walks along the rail road. Seeing this burned over country and seeking the beauty from nature, as Hemingway wrote on page 1 of “Big Two-Hearted River” “There was...
In this essay, the author
- Analyzes how the theme of change is shown in the opening of the story when nick returns his hometown from war and walks along the rail road.
- Analyzes how the writer tries to put the reader in the same position and feel what he feels through his eyes.
- Analyzes how hemingway uses descriptive words like "flew up", "shot upstream" and "caught the sun" to describe the vivid movement of the kingfisher and trout.
- Analyzes how ernest hemingway's "big two-hearted river" gives nick a clear picture of how he enjoys his moment and restores physical and mental health with nature.
- Concludes that hemingway's quote "i am trying to make, before i get through, a picture of the whole world" is well explained in his passage "big two-hearted river".
- Analyzes ernest hemingway's quote, "big two-hearted river" by prof. hammond in his book thoughtful writing, which gives the reader a clearer image of comparisons between destruction from war and nature’s beauty.
1320 wordsRead More - Ernest Hemingway's Big Two-Hearted Riveranalytical essayThe world of Ernest Hemingway’s “Big Two-Hearted River” exists through the mostly unemotional eyes of the character Nick. Stemming from his reactions and the suppression of some of his feelings, the reader gets a sense of how Nick is living in a temporary escape from society and his troubles in life. Despite the disaster that befell the town of Seney, this tale remains one of an optimistic ideal because of the various themes of survival and the continuation of life. Although Seney itself is a wasteland, the pine plain and the campsite could easily be seen as an Eden, lush with life and ripe with the survival of nature.
In this essay, the author
- Analyzes how ernest hemingway's "big two-hearted river" is an optimistic ideal because of the themes of survival and the continuation of life.
- Analyzes how the world in the story exists as two separate but connected places. the river, interestingly, runs through both parts, showing how they are interconnected.
- Analyzes how nick is moved by the life of the fish more than the death of seney. the town is described by what it is lacking as a contrast to what he remembered to have been there.
- Analyzes how nick's lack of emotional response and the brevity of the description of town seem to downplay whatever tragedy had befallen it, perhaps making it seem not a tragedy at all.
- Analyzes how nick concentrates on the color of the grasshoppers that he has encountered. they blend in better with their charred surroundings and become less noticeable to predators.
- Analyzes how the river is the essence of the eden, giving new life and glimmering in the sunlight. it contains food and water, all that humans truly need to survive.
- Analyzes how nick's thoughts about the black grasshoppers could be interpreted to be deeper than just about them. his lifestyle in this story is certainly a means of survival, but it seems transient.
- Analyzes how the brown grasshoppers in the "grasshopper lodging house" represent survival's permanence rather than its temporary means. they indirectly provide nick with sustenance, but also serve as a metaphor for human survival.
- Analyzes how nick relies on human ingenuity to escape civilization. he uses the railroad to get to seney, and uses his store-bought fishing rod and accessories to successfully catch fish.
- Analyzes how nick embraces the luxuries and human qualities that he has become accustomed to.
- Analyzes how the fishing in the swamp is described as "tragic," a non-typical hemingway adjective. the swamp represents darkness and danger, which nick is not yet ready for.
- Opines that the story is a commentary on survival, and although the town of seney has been destroyed it will someday re-emerge.
1508 wordsRead More - What Hemingway Leaves Outanalytical essayEarnest Hemingway is known for leaving things out in his writing. He believed that if you knew something well enough, you could leave it out and still get your point across. In the short story "The End of something", he leaves a few things out. Some things he doesn't say at all and others the reader knows something before he says it. He must have know what he was writing about because he the reader can infer certain things.
In this essay, the author
- Analyzes how earnest hemingway leaves things out in his writing. he believed that if you knew something well enough, you could leave it out and still get your point across.
- Analyzes how nick is an experienced fisherman. hemingway doesn't say it, but nick knows that even though the trout are feeding, they will not strike.
- Analyzes how hemingway leaves out the entirety of nick and marge's relationship. marjorie calls the deteriorating mill 'our old ruin'.
- Analyzes how nick's actions show that they are going to break up. nick doesn't say anything but short replies to marge.
363 wordsRead More - There are many parallels to Hemingway’s life and his main character’s development. First in “Indian Camp” chapter one, we are introduced to Nick Adams and his father. They are on a boat going to an Indian camp to operate on a woman who cannot deliver her baby. The simple connection to Hemingway’s life is that his father was...
In this essay, the author
- Analyzes how ernest hemingway's novel, in our time, has questions about whether the chapters are linked together as a novel or if they are all separate short stories.
- Analyzes how ernest hemingway's in our time parallels his own life. the first section of stories is definitely linked, by the use of the same characters and their development.
- Analyzes the parallels between hemingway's life and the development of his main character in "indian camp." nick adams and his father are on a boat going to an indian camp.
- Explains that ernest hemingway's father taught ernest to fish and hunt, and in the book "the end of something" he was taught by his father.
- Analyzes how hemingway's life in "the end of something" is similar to that of nick. kreb returns from world war i and is pressured by his parents to do something with his life.
- Analyzes how hemingway's first wife was almost 15 years older than he was, paralleling the book, "mr. and mrs. elliot", in which they are newly weds.
- Analyzes hemingway's non-spoken connections to europe, france, germany, and the stories "mr. and mrs. elliot" and "soldiers return."
- Analyzes the connections between hemingway and his characters in "indian camp" and "the doctor and the doctor's wife."
- Analyzes how the connection between chapters continues into the next chapters. the setting is the same, as well as the character of nick and his growth.
- Explains that "the end of something" has the same characters as "three day blow." the same three characters can be found in chapter four.
- Analyzes how nick is still the main character, and he is growing. in "the three day blow," nick visits bill and is beaten up in a train yard.
- Analyzes how the reader goes away from nick and reads about people who are living their lives, as nick should. when we return to nick, it is in chapter twelve, "cross country snow."
- Analyzes how nick adams, likes being outside with his dad, and taking on his father’s paternal instincts. he is a woodland man who treks through chapters.
- Compares ernest hemingway's development of nick adams to that of ernest h. adams, who grew through the love and nurturing that his father gave him.
- Analyzes how in our time shows the progression of nick adams, which is apparent through the descriptions given in the chapter.
- Analyzes how the progression of nick adams runs parallel to hemingway's own life. there is too much information leading to the conclusion that the stories are linked together.
1928 wordsRead More - Hemingway, Ernest. The Old Man and the Sea. New York: Charles Scribner’s Sons, 1952. Print.
In this essay, the author
- Analyzes how hemingway incorporates religion into his novella, the old man and the sea, which depicts santiago as a christ figure before, during, and after his pursuit of the marlin
- Analyzes how santiago is likened to christ through his characteristics, experiences, and his name, which is spanish for saint james, one of christ's disciples.
- Analyzes how hemingway strengthens the symbolic parallel between santiago and christ through his depiction of santiago's injuries and thoughts during his journey out at sea.
- Analyzes how hemingway enhances the correlation between santiago and christ using his battle with the sharks and his christ-like actions.
- Analyzes how hemingway uses crucifixion imagery and biblical allusions to reinforce his portrayal of santiago as a christ figure.
- Analyzes how hemingway portrays santiago as a noble man who has christ-like characteristics and experiences of happiness and sorrow that parallel christ’s experiences.
- Explains that bloom, harold, ed. ernest hemingway's the old man and the sea. flora, joseph m., harada, keiichi, and stoltfuz, ben.
1453 wordsRead More