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Hemingway style characteristics
Illustrate Hemingway’s style and his theory guiding it
What is Hemingway's writing style
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“My aim is to put down on paper what I see and what I feel in the best and simplest way” (E. Hemingway, Brainy Quote). It is evident that this is why Ernest Hemingway writes the literary pieces he writes. Hemingway proves this by writing his short story, Hills Like White Elephants. Hemingway also quoted, “I never had to choose a subject - my subject rather chose me” (E. Hemingway, QuotesPedia). This also relates to Hemingway composing Hills Like White Elephants along with many of his other works.
Hemingway refers to past events in his life in his writings. For example, in Hemingway’s novel, A Farewell to Arms, Hemingway is referring to his service in World War I, and his relationship with his girlfriend that rejects his marriage proposal (Ball). The object of his affection was the young nurse Agnes von Kurowsky, who later rebuffed his offer of marriage. Seven and a half years his senior, she dismissed him as the "kid," a teenager too immature to match her twenty-seven years (V. Hemingway). In Hills Like White Elephants, Hemingway is referring to the relationship with his first wife, Hadley Richardson (Ball). In 1921, Hemingway marries Richardson (Ball). In this same year, the couple decides to move from America to Paris, France (Ball). Two years later, Richardson becomes pregnant (Ball). Due to the fact that there are more preferable doctors in America, the couple is forced to move back to America at the time that Hemingway is becoming well-known for his writings (Ball). Hemingway’s writing career is put on hold for a while (Ball). In 1924, the couple moves back to Paris (Ball). Around the same time that Hills Like White Elephants is written, the couple gets a divorce (Ball). Three years after a baby postpones Hemingway’s care...
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...s Reflected in His Papers." The World & I (2000): 296-309. ProQuest.
Kozikowski, Stanley. "Hemingway's Hills Like White Elephants." The Explicator (1994): 107. ProQuest.
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Rankin, Paul. "Hemingway's HILLS LIKE WHITE ELEPHANTS." The Explicator (2005): 234-237. ProQuest.
Wilson, M. "Ernest Hemingway Biography." n.d. The Hemingway Resource Center. Web. 29 March 2014.
Yanling, Shi. "The Style and the Theme of Loss in Hemingway's Hills Like White Elephants." Studies in Literature and Language (2013): 107-109. ProQuest.
Link, Alex. Staking Everything on It: A stylistic Analysis f Linguistic Patterns in “Hills Like White Elephants.”. The Hemmingway Review. 23.2 (Spring 2004); 66-74. Rpt. In Twentieth-Century Literary Critisism. Vol. 203. Detroit; Gale, 66-74. Literature Resources from Gale. Gale. . 12 Jan. 2015
Because of the above, it is helpful to have some understanding of his theory. In Death in the afternoon, Hemingway (1932,191) points out that no matter how good a phrase or a simile a writer may have, he is spoiling his work out of egotism if he puts it in where it is not absolutely necessary. The form of a work, according to Hemingway, should be created out of experience, and no intruding elements should be allowed to falsify that form and betray that experience. As a result, all that can be dispensed with should be pruned off: convention, embellishment, rhetoric. It is this tendency of writing that has brought Hemingway admiration as well as criticism, but it is clear that the author knew what he was doing when he himself commented on his aim:
Ernest Hemingway’s story “Hills Like White Elephants” is written in third person. This narrator is objective and limited. It is objective, by not giving thoughts or opinions about the story. The narrator is limited by having no insight to thoughts of the other characters in the story and has
In The Heath Anthology of American Literature, Volume II. Edited by Paul Lauter et al. Lexington, MA: D.C. Heath and Company, 1991: 1208-1209. Hemingway, Ernest. A.
Analysis of Hills Like White Elephants by Ernest Hemingway In “Hills Like White Elephants” Ernest Hemingway relies on symbolism to convey the theme of abortion. The symbolic material objects, as well as the strong symbolic characters, aid the reader’s understanding of the underlying theme. The material objects that Hemingway uses to convey the theme are beer, the good and bad hillsides, and a railroad station between two tracks. The beer represents the couple’s, “the American” and “the girl’s”, routine activities they do together.
Hemingway, considered to be a modernist writer, makes his readers work by implementing the well-known theory of omission, which “Hills Like White Elephants” is a perfect example of. As he stated in Death in the Afternoon : ‘If a writer of prose knows enough of what he is writing about he may omit things that he knows and the reader, […].’ (259). It seems that Hemingway assumed the reader would know what is being omitted, nevertheless many features of “Hills Like White Elephants” have already been covered by various critics. At the end of the story the reader is forced to unravel the most...
When a writer picks up their pen and paper, begins one of the most personal and cathartic experiences in their lives, and forms this creation, this seemingly incoherent sets of words and phrases that, read without any critical thinking, any form of analysis or reflexion, can be easily misconstrued as worthless or empty. When one reads an author’s work, in any shape or form, what floats off of the ink of the paper and implants itself in our minds is the author’s personality, their style. Reading any of the greats, many would be able to spot the minute details that separates each author from another; whether it be their use of dialogue, their complex descriptions, their syntax, or their tone. When reading an excerpt of Hemingway’s A Moveable Feast one could easily dissect the work, pick apart each significant moment from Hemingway’s life and analyze it in order to form their own idea of the author’s voice, of his identity. Ernest Hemingway’s writing immediately comes across as rather familiar in one sense. His vocabulary is not all that complicated, his layout is rather straightforward, and it is presented in a simplistic form. While he may meander into seemingly unnecessary detail, his work can be easily read. It is when one looks deeper into the work, examines the techniques Hemingway uses to create this comfortable aura surrounding his body of work, that one begins to lift much more complex thoughts and ideas. Hemingway’s tone is stark, unsympathetic, his details are precise and explored in depth, and he organizes his thoughts with clarity and focus. All of this is presented in A Moveable Feast with expertise every writer dreams to achieve. While Hemingway’s style may seem simplistic on the surface, what lies below is a layered...
" The Hemingway Review. 15.1 (Fall 1995): p. 27. Literature Resource Center -.
Ernest Hemingway is an incredible writer, known for what he leaves out of stories not for what he tells. His main emphasis in Hills Like White Elephants seems to be symbolism. Symbolism is the art or practice of using symbols, especially by investing things with a symbolic meaning or by expressing the invisible or intangible by means of visible or sensuous representations (merriam-webster.com). He uses this technique to emphasize the importance of ideas, once again suggesting that he leaves out the important details of the story by symbolizing their meaning.
Link, Alex. "Staking Everything On It: A Stylistic Analysis Of Linguistic Patterns In "Hills Like White Elephants.." Hemingway Review 23.2 (2004): 66-74. Academic Search Premier. Web. 14 Apr. 2014.
The story "Hills Like White Elephants" is a conversation between a young woman `Jig' and an American man waiting for a train at a station in Spain. The author never names the topic of their discussion but as their dialogue progresses; it becomes evident that Jig is pregnant. The man wants Jig to abort the unborn child but she is unconvinced and wants to become a mother. Hemingway has brilliantly written the story's dialogue which "captures the feel of a private conversation while at the same time communicating the necessary narrative background" (O'Brien 19). At the end of the story, it is unclear as to what decision has been made; however, Hemingway gives the reader several clues regarding what Jig feels, and what she wants to do. Jig's private thoughts are illuminated by Hemingway's description of the setting, the character, and the conflict. Stanley Renner suggests that, as a result of the couple's discussion, "Jig has become able to make a more clear-sighted estimation, and perhaps a better choice, of men" Wyche(59). The couple's inability to communicate effectively their true thoughts and emotions makes their dialogue very appealing. The story examines the gender differences and miscommunications as they influence the decision whether to abort the unborn child or not (Smiley). In his book on Hemingway, published in 1999, Carl P. Eby points out that "[f]or the past two decades, Hemingway criticism has been dominated by a reconsideration of the role of gender in his work" (Bauer 125).
... seemingly simplistic. Hemingway discovered a way to demonstrate the complexity of the human spirit and identity through simplistic diction, word choice, and sentence structure. The story is only a small part of the deeper inner complex of the narrative. The short story allows a fluidity of thoughts between the individual and the characters without ever actually describing their thoughts. With no ending the story is completely left to interpretation providing no satisfactory ending or message.
Waldhorn, Arthur. Ernest Hemingway: A Collection of Criticism (Contemporary Studies in Literature). Chicago: Syracuse University Press, 1978.
---, "Hills Like White Elephants." The Short Stories of Ernest Hemingway. New York: Charles Scribner?s Sons, 1953. 273-278.
In the short story by Ernest Hemingway, "Hills Like White Elephants," a couple is delayed at a train station en route to Madrid and is observed in conflict over the girl's impending abortion. In his writing, Hemingway does not offer any commentary through a specific character's point of view, nor, in the storytelling, does he offer his explicit opinions on how to feel or think about the issues that emerge. The narrative seems to be purely objective, somewhat like a newspaper or journal article, and in true Hemingway form the story ends abruptly, without the couple's conflict clearly being resolved. The ambiguity of the ending has been a subject of much debate; however, the impact of what is not said in words can be gleaned through the symbolism of their surroundings. Upon examination of the setting, the couple's final choice becomes instantly apparent.