Comparison and Contrast of J. Alfred Prufrock and Nick
Ernest Hemingway was a journalist who took part in the WW1 after joining the Red Cross at 19 years. Nick is a character in Ernest Hemingway’s work “Big Two-Hearted River.” The two-part short story written by the American author was published in 1925 (Hemingway 163-75). The story explores the destructive repercussions’ associated with war that are counteracted by regenerative powers of nature as well as healing. “The Love Song of J. Alfred Prufrock” is a poem written by T.S. Eliot in 1911 when he was 22 years old and published in 1915. The poem examines the tortured psyche of the prototypical ‘modern man’ (Eliot 176-80). Human beings are fitted out with abilities to employ logic and boundless emotions. Combining the two becomes dangerous when mixed together. The characters employed by Hemingway and Eliot comprise of similar and different characteristics that reveal their personality. The two
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represent the ‘modern man’. Nick and Prufrock use their characteristics and emotions to make decisions that end up determining their actions and ultimate fate of their futures (Gates & McKay 16). Nick and Prufrock are different in many aspects. J. Alfred Prufrock was limited by his crippling fear that prevented his thinking from leading him to happiness. In the poem’s commencement, Prufrock exhibits a distinctive wisdom regarding the path of life (Gates & McKay 16). Additionally, he understands many life’s questions especially on love, happiness, and purpose. However, his fear prevents him from making critical decisions regarding these issues. Prufrock’s character portrayed a tempered lifestyle. The situation is proofed by the repetition of the phrase, “there will be time” in his monologue (Hart 83). He embraces changeability and opportunity through visions and revisions. On the contrary, Nick is very courageous and no fear instilled inside his personality. He takes part in the ways without dreading anything. When going back home after the war, he does not show any signs of fear during the journey despite the fact that he travels alone (Hemingway 163-75). He does not hesitate to camp and spend the night alone. The wisdom of both characters is also utilized in different ways. Kunitz and Haycraft (38) note that Nick uses his wisdom to help himself. For instance, when he camps, he creates for himself a good shelter that he is actually proud of it. However, Prufrock’s wisdom is bound by fear. He is constantly worried on how the society perceives him and wonders on the relevance of his thoughts. All these worries and fears inhibit his ability to make decisions. Nick and Prufrock are similar in many aspects though. Both of these characters are not able to show their personal emotions directly due to various reasons. Prufrock has some inner fear that prevents him from engaging in a relationship. He keeps consoling himself that there is still more time left. Later on, he ends up fearing what people will say if he commences a relationship (Lawrence 64). Likewise, Nick is not able to show his emotions too. The argument behind it is that masculine men conceal their emotions rather than showing them directly. He domineers females to like him but shows no emotion to get what he wants. Though unable to show their emotions, both Nick and Prufrock have the yearning to be with a woman (American Literature Since the Civil War - 2015 Edition). For instance, after Nick broke up with Marjorie, he is still left with the fantasy idea of eventually finding the right woman to marry. In the same context, Prufrock have always yearned to be in a relationship, but thinks he still has more time, only to later start wondering what people will say if he commences a relationship (Lawrence 64). Both Nick and Prufrock had perspectives of ‘modern man’.
Through their actions and personalities, they can correctly be regarded as representatives of the ‘modern man.’ During the time when both characters were created in the book and poems respectively, urbanization, immigration and industrialization were transforming the country (American Literature Since the Civil War - 2015 Edition). In modern works, struggles exist in adapting and taking a place in the rapidly transforming world. Likewise, Nick and Prufrock were undergoing struggles as each of them was faced with various predicaments that required deep decision-making (American Literature Since the Civil War - 2015 Edition). The ‘modern man’ is commonly caught up with irrational forces. Prufrock and Nick who makes irrational decisions out of societal demands rather than personal issues such as happiness demonstrate these scenarios. They also brought out the idea of self-consciousness and overcoming fear, which are essential in the ‘modern man’ to achieve
victory. The futures of Nick and Prufrock were determined by the choices they made. Complications arose because of emotions and personalities. Though they were wise, sometimes they made decisions that were irrational (American Literature Since the Civil War - 2015 Edition). The fear in Prufrock also inhibited him from achieving his personal happiness. The two characters are representatives of the ‘modern man.’ The subjects adhered to principles along with cultural changes and trends. They both underwent transformations that led them to more understanding and regret too. Their choices had strong results that affected their lives in a way the personalities never expected.
When creating his famous poem, "The Love Song of J. Alfred Prufrock", T.S. Eliot was inspired by a character depicted in the novella known as Daisy Miller, written by Henry James. This character, Winterbourne, was intertwined and considered when creating the timid character of Prufrock. It is evident that both men share similar personalities and characteristics that link them together, both being prime examples of emptiness and despair told through theses writings.
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.
The 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.
Eliot, T.S.. "The Love Song of J. Alfred Prufrock." An Introduction to Poetry. 13th ed. Kennedy, X. J., and Dana Gioia. Boston: Little, Brown, 1966. 369-372. Print.
The maturation of Nick begins with his description of his time leading to his arrival in West Egg, “I graduated from New Haven in 1915, just a quarter of a century after my father, and a little later I participated in that delayed Teutonic migration known as the Great War” (Fitzgerald, 3). The protagonist comes into the story having not lived much of his life in the normal world that he desires to successfully conquer. He goes directly from schooling into the war, where he found heroic satisfaction. Yet, somehow, Nick is able to keep part of himself innocent and pure despite being in the horrors of war. It is not long after attending his first party at Gatsby’s that Nick confesses that “Every one suspects himself of at least one of the cardinal virtues, and this is mine: I am one of the few honest people that I have ever known’ (Fitzgerald, 59). The level of Nick’s idealism and virtuousness begins at such an innocent pl...
J. Alfred Prufrock is a man who is destined to find the right women to with for the rest of his life. He always holds off finding the perfect women to another day, but time is ticking against him and he does not have much time left. In T.S. Eliot’s, “The Love Song of J. Alfred Prufrock” Illustrates Prufrock’s inability to interact with women in the coffee shop, fear of being turned down, and the significance of love and time. J. Alfred Prufrock’s life consists of sitting in a coffee shop every day desperately waiting for the perfect women to walk in. Prufrock is a very shy and awkward person who is lonely for his entire life.
Among the similarities between them is the fact that they are both afflicted by private concerns that seem to torment them at the subconscious level. Their mental torments and the desire to renew themselves align them to the characteristics of the “Modern” man. Nick is intent on the search for relief from the horrifying realities of war. His mind is disturbed by the violence and the carnage of war. He looks forwards to nature and the external world to supply him with new hope and assurance of continuity from the horrors of war.
T.S. Eliot, The Love Song of J. Alfred Prufrock. The Norton Anthology of English Literature. 6th ed. Vol. 2. ed. M. H. Abrams New York, London: Norton, 1993.
T.S. Eliot’s “The Love Song of J. Alfred Prufrock” tells the speaker’s story through several literary devices, allowing the reader to analyze the poem through symbolism, character qualities, and allusions that the work displays. In this way, the reader clearly sees the hopelessness and apathy that the speaker has towards his future. John Steven Childs sums it up well in saying Prufrock’s “chronic indecision blocks him from some important action” (Childs). Each literary device- symbolism, character, and allusion- supports this description. Ultimately, the premise of the poem is Prufrock second guessing himself to no end over talking to a woman, but this issue represents all forms of insecurity and inactivity.
T.S. Eliot’s breakthrough poem “The Love Song of J. Alfred Prufrock” is expertly crafted to have a complex structure with various hidden themes. The poem acts as an inner monologue for the titular character, appearing as lyric-narrative poetry. However, it does appear to lean towards a lyric poem, with the hazy plot consisting of Prufrock describing what his life has been like, in retrospect to speculating on what is to come next. The monologue throughout is melancholy in nature, with Prufrock dwelling on issues such as unrequited love, his frail body, his looming demise, and a dissatisfaction with the modernist world. Eliot uses a variety of metaphor within the poem to showcase Prufrock’s indecision, between being unable to fully live, while
On the surface, ?The Love Song of J. Alfred Prufrock? is about an older man who is distressed by his own inability to tell a woman of his desire for her. He tries to relay his feelings to her but comes up with all kinds of excuses not to, and ultimately does not. The speakers? real problem is not that he is just too timid to confess his love for this particular woman, it is that he has a somewhat unproductive, bleak life and has a lack of willpower and boldness to change that life.
Prufrock’s social world is initially revealed as he takes the reader on a journey. Through the lines 1-36, the reader travels with Prufrock through the modern city and its streets as we experience Prufrock’s life and explore his surroundings through his eyes. From the very beginning, the city is portrayed as bleak and empty with no signs of happiness. The setting as Prufrock walks through the street appears to be polluted, dirty, and run-down, as if it is the cheap side of town, giving the feeling of it being lifeless, still, eerie, sleepy and unconscious. Eliot uses imagery, from the skyline to half-deserted streets, to cheap hotels to sawdust restaurants to demonstrate the loneliness and alienation the city possesses. The city Prufrock resides in is, in a way, a shadow of how he is as a person, and the images of the city speak to some part of his personality. Just as the skyline is described as “a patient etherised upon a table” (3), it foreshadows and hints that Prufrock has an...
Ernest Hemingway uses the various events in Nick Adams life to expose the reader to the themes of youth, loss, and death throughout his novel In Our Time. Youth very often plays its part in war, and since In Our Time relates itself very frequently to war throughout; it is not a surprise that the theme of youthful innocence arises in many of the stories. In “Indian Camp” the youthful innocence is shown in the last sentence of the story: “In the early morning on the lake sitting in the stern of the boat with his father rowing, he felt quite sure that he would never die.” (19) When this sentence and the conversation Nick and his father have before they get on the boat are combined in thought it shows that because of Nicks age at the time that he does not yet understand the concept of death.
Both Browning and Eliot seek to improve upon the nature of the dramatic monologue. Browning emphasizes structure and a separation between the poet and the character which is reiterated by Eliot’s poem. Browning’s influence on Eliot can be seen by the form and structure of “The Love Song of J. Alfred Prufrock” adding working intrinsically with the theme and subject of the work. However, Eliot deviates slightly from Browning by the portrayal of his characters, and the amount of information that he is willing to share with the reader. The intended message of Browning’s poem is much more apparent than Eliot’s who creates an open ended poem that can be interpreted differently by each reader.
One of T.S. Eliot’s earliest poems, “The Love Song of J. Alfred Prufrock”, is a prime example of a text that takes a turn inwards in terms of conveying the experience it presents. The poem provides a look into the distressed mind of an archetypal modern man of the times. It does this using the speaker’s stream of consciousness presented as a dramatic monologue. Prufrock, the poem’s speaker, seeks to advance his relationship with a woman who has caught his eye. He wonders if he has “the strength to force the moment to its crisis” (Eliot, 80). Prufrock is so entrenched in self-doubt that he is uncertain whether he is capable of having a relationship with this woman. His knowledge of the world he lives in and his circumstances keep him from attempting to approach this prospective lover. He contemplates the reasons for which he believes he cannot be with her and scolds himself for even thinking that it was possibl...