The art, literature, and poetry of the early 20th century called for a disruption of social values. Modernism became the vague term to describe the shift. The characteristics of the term Modernism, all seek to free the restricted human spirit. It had no trust in the moral conventions and codes of the past. One of the examples of modernism, that breaks the conventions and traditions of literature prior to Modernism, is Ernest Hemingway’s short story “Hills Like White Elephants”. The short story uses plot, symbolism, setting, dialogue, and a new style of writing to allow human spirit to experiment with meaning and interpretation.
Some of the characteristics of Modernism are: a desire to break conventions and established traditions, reject history, experiment, remove relativity, remove any literal meaning, and create an identity that is fluid. The rejection of history sought to provide a narrative that could be completely up for interpretation. Any literal meaning no longer existed nor was it easily given; essence became synonymous. Narrative was transformed. Epic stories, like “Hills Like White Elephants”, could occur in the sequence of a day. Stories became pushed by a flow of thoughts. The narrative became skeptical of linear plots, preferring to function in fragments. These fragments often led to open unresolved inconclusive endings. This echoes in the short story’s format. The short story functions in fragmented dialogue. Focusing on subjectivity rather than objectivity. Creating characters with unfixed, mixed views to challenge readers.
The characters of a modernist narrative reflected a new way of thinking. A summery no longer highlighted meaning, it was ambiguous. The ambiguity portrayed unmanageable futures. The Modernis...
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... 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.
Works Cited
Hemingway, Ernest. Death in the Afternoon. New York: Charles Scribner's Sons, 1932.Print.
Sexton, Adam. Master Class in Fiction Writing: Techniques from Austen, Hemingway, and Other Greats : Lessons from the All-star Writer's Workshop. New York: McGraw-Hill, 2006. Print.
http://www.asdk12.org/staff/grenier_tom/HOMEWORK/208194_Hills_Like_White_Elephants.pdf
"Unit 2: Reading & Writing About Short Fiction." ENGL200: Composition and Literature. New York: McGraw-Hill, 2011. 49-219. Web. 19 Apr. 2014.
In traditional writing styles, the main element to give the story meaning is the narrative itself. However, with more modern and distinct styles such as the short stories written where the narrative is no longer the primary stylistic device, but the use of metaphors and distinctive different narrators applies meaning to the stories. Though it is easy to judge what is different from tradition as inferior, this change is no different than the rise of cubism in the art world. Even though initially many would comment on the art not being “real,” or in this case, the stories being poorly written, this style has even more of an effect. After
‘Hills Like White Elephants’ is a short story authored by Ernest Hemingway about an American and a girl named Jig. In the story, the two are sitting in a train station waiting for the train to Madrid. While they wait, they have an intense ongoing debate on whether or not to abort Jig. At the end of the story, the train is about to arrive and the man carries luggage on the tracks as they prepare to leave. The end of the story does not clearly define the outcome of its decision. She said I feel good at the end of the story - happiness is a central theme of the story, but we wonder if she went through with the operation. The paper discusses the manner in which symbolism has been employed in the story to communicate about an abortion, the couple is considering to go through.
In today’s culture, being tan coincides with what is believed to be beautiful. As a result, it is no surprise that in the United States of America, an estimated 922,000 people are currently living with some level of melanoma. Even though the news media and doctors warn people about the risks of too much sun exposure and give information as to how to prevent contracting skin cancer, people are still disregarding this important information and going into the sun for extended periods of time unprotected.
Hemingway, Ernest. “Hills Like White Elephants.” Fiction 101: An Anthology of Short Fiction. James H. Pickering. Twelfth Edition. Pearson Education, Inc., 2010. 638-641
Melanoma skin cancer has multiple causes. The biggest and newest cause of melanoma skin cancer is a result of tanning in salon tanning beds. As said by Zoe D. Draelos, MD, FAAD, consulting professor, Duke University School of Medicine, Durham, NC “What they may not realize is that no matter whether you tan or burn, a tan from the sun or tanning beds damages the skin and may cause wrinkles, age spots, and skin cancer.” Now more than ever every day routines consist of going to the tanning salon. Adults are beginning to take their children to start tanning at young ages exposing them to the UV radiation that causes melanoma.
Chang, H. "Addiction to Indoor Tanning: Relation to Anxiety, Depression, and Substance Use.” JAMA 303.22 (2010): 2232. Research Library, ProQuest. Web. 15 Mar.2011.
Gale. Weeks, Lewis E., Jr. "Hemingway Hills: Symbolism in 'Hills like White'" Elephants. Studies in Short Fiction. 17.1 (Winter 1980): 75-77.
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.
Hemingway, Ernest. "Hills like White Elephants." Responding to Literature. Ed. Judith Stanford. Boston: McGraw-Hill, 2006. 841-44. Print.
One attribute of Modernist writing is Experimentation. This called for using new techniques and disregarding the old. Previous writing was often even considered "stereotyped and inadequate" (Holcombe and Torres). Modern writers thrived on originality and honesty to themselves and their tenets. They wrote of things that had never been advanced before and their subjects were far from those of the past eras. It could be observed that the Modernist writing completely contradicted its predecessors. The past was rejected with vigor and...
Hemingway, Ernest. “Hills Like White Elephants.” Literature Approaches to Fiction, Poetry, and Drama. Ed. DiYanni, Robert. 2nd ed. New York. Mc Grew Hill. 2008. 400-03. Print.
Hemingway, Ernest. "Hills Like White Elephants." Perrine's Literature: Structure, Sound, and Sense. Ed. Thomas R. Arp and Greg Johnson. Boston: Thomson Wadsworth, 2006. 268-272.
The years leading up to and during the modernist period were tumultuous. Attitudes and lifestyles were changing as people sought new philosophies of life and cast off the previous ways of thinking that proved to be no longer relevant in a rapidly changing world. Authors, such as William Faulkner, used the elements of modernism to pen stories for this new era.
Hemingway, Ernest. “Hills Like White Elephants.” The Norton Introduction to Literature. 10th ed. Eds. Alison Booth and Kelly J. Mays. New York: Norton, 2010. 113-117. Print.