Compare Raymond Carver’s Cathedral and Ernest Hemingway’s A Clean, Well-lighted Place

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Ernest Hemingway and Raymond Carver are two of the most influential authors of American literature. Carver’s literary works are often considered to have a close connection to Hemingway’s, because of their similar writing styles, such as simplicity and clarity (Mclnerney, 1989). However, though their works share the same aesthetic feature, their works convey fairly different philosophical inquiry on values of faith and existence. Ernest Hemingway’s A Clean, Well-lighted Place and Carver’s Cathedral are two works with distinctive views on questioning the life and manhood.

As Gillespie (2010) suggests biographical and historical backgrounds largely influence on literary works, which should not be omitted when considering their philosophical outlook. Therefore, the personal life and specific historical period that the two authors experienced might provide hints for their individual perspective on life and existence meaning. In spite of the enthusiasm on war during almost his life, Hemingway suffered from his physical ailments and mental deterioration and solitude (depression and paranoia) in his late years, which was a hangover from his engaged experience in World War I and World War II (Burwell, 1996). Hemingway was one member of the “Lost Generation”, who were victims of the World War I and struggled with moral and psychological aimlessness when searching for the meaning of life, while A Clean, Well-lighted Place was created at that time. In 1961, Hemingway committed a suicide to end his life. On the other hand, the majority of Carver’s life was in a relatively peaceful post-war period. Though Carver was addicted to alcohol and experienced his unhappy first marriage, in 1983 when Cathedral was published, he has started new li...

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... on his interaction and communication with others. In terms of the tone of the story, it seemingly conveys the positive messages. In Cathedral, instead of monologue as in A Clean Well-lighted Place, the narrator is more likely talking to us, trying to keep us amused and engaged. Underneath the wisecracks, readers can hear a tone of sincerity and positive attitudes towards life. Though the narrator makes jokes of the blind man initially, he shows respect and do what Robert asks him to do as the story continues.

With different historical and personal experiences, Hemingway holds the view that all the people end up in this existential angst and incertainty about the existence or meaning of life, while Carver illustrates the establishment and transformation of self-awareness with connection to the world in promoting the significance of life and human existence.

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