Loss of Self in Hemingway's Soldiers Home, Cather's Paul's Case, and Melville's Bartleby the Scrivener Hemingway's "Soldiers Home," Cather's "Paul's Case," and Melville's "Bartleby the Scrivener" all present a loss of self. These stories prove that there is a fine line between finding one's self and losing one's self. I believe this loss can occur at any age or station of life. This idea is seen in each story's main character. Hemingway's "Soldier's Home" depicts a young man in his early twenties after his return from World War I. The young man, Krebs, has arrived home too late. Thus, he doesn't receive the adulation of the town as the others did. This first loss was the beginning of a long inward journey for Krebs. His unwillingness, then inability, to discuss his part in the war with others immediately had an effect on Krebs. He was unable to get some form of closure, something which he direly needed. Due to the extravagant stories foretold by others, Krebs was forced to lie in order to fit in. These lies bothered Krebs. They not only went against him morally, but they also started to deteriorate his feelings about the war: "A distaste for everything that had happened to him in the war set in because of the lies he had told. All the times that had been able to make him feel cool and clear inside himself when he thought of them....now lost their cool, valuable quality and then were lost themselves" (224). Earl Rovit explains this even further stating, "if he can't trust in truth of these experiences, he will then have lost everything" (255). These feelings that Krebs has are not unfamiliar. This situation is seen in a handful of other stories of the times, but Hemingway's story "delineates the desperate inc... ... middle of paper ... ...: 189-194. Cather, Willa. "Paul's Case."The American Short Story. Volume II. Ed. Calvin Skaggs. New York: Dell, 1980:160-180. Decker, Timothy. "The Mechanization of a Scrivener." Bartleby the Scrivener by Herman Melville. URL: http://www.en.utexas.edu/~daniel/amlit/bartleby/decker.html Hemingway, Ernest. "Soldier's Home." The American Short Story. Volume I. Ed. Calvin Skaggs. New York: Dell, 1977: 224-231. Hyzack,Greg. "The Mentally Disturbed Scrivener." Bartleby the Scrivener by Herman Melville. URL: http://www.en.utexas.edu/~daniel/amlit/bartleby/hyzakbart.html Melville, Herman. "Bartleby the Scrivener." The Story and Its Writer. Ed. Ann Charters. Boston: St. Martin's, 1995: 513-539. Rovit, Earl. "On Ernest Hemingway and 'Soldier's Home.'" The American Short Story. Volume I. Ed. Calvin Skaggs. New York: Dell, 1977: 251-255.
In Hemingway’s short story “Soldier’s Home”, Hemingway introduces us to a young American soldier, that had just arrived home from World War I. Harold Krebs, our main character, did not receive a warm welcome after his arrival, due to coming home a few years later than most soldiers. After arriving home, it becomes clear that World War I has deeply impacted the young man, Krebs is not the same man that headed off to the war. The war had stripped the young man of his coping mechanism, female companionship, and the ability to achieve the typical American life.
Hemingway, Ernest. "Soldier's Home." The Bedford Introduction to Literature, 6th Edition. Ed. Michael Meyer. New York: Bedford/St. Martin's. 2002. 152-57.
England has been hit with many diseases and hygiene issues through out the decades. When the country is hit with major health issues it is left with hardly any options other than to wait it out, this maybe due to the lack of health and medicine care back in those days. In this essay I am going to be exploring, comparing and contrasting the plagues of the 14th and 17th century. I am also going to go through the different ways of how England has prevented another plague from infecting its streets since then.
In Herman Melville's short story, Bartleby, the Scrivener, the narrator's attitude towards Bartleby is constantly changing, the narrator's attitude is conveyed through the author's use of literary elements such as; diction-descriptive and comical, point of view-first person, and tone-confusion and sadness.
In the 1300’s, England was struck with a plague called the Bubonic Plague, better known as the “Black Death.” Historians believe this disease arrived by ship at a seaport in modern day Ukraine (Byrne 1). Fleas living on the back of rats were the main cause of spreading. Because of the poor living conditions, rats were very common in towns, making it simple for fleas to bite the human, giving them the disease. Symptoms were easily spotted; the victim would have lumps on his or her groin and armpits, which would then turn to black spots on the arms and thighs (Trueman 1). Most who suffered form this epidemic did not live past three days (Trueman 1). Because the vermin spread this disease so rapidly, it would eventually affect most of Europe. The source of the Black Death was unknown at the time; therefore physicians could not stop the spread or treat the infected (Byrne 1). Many people thought that it was God’s punishment, so to appease Him, they publicly whipped themselves (Byrne 1). Before declining, the Black Death killed around forty percent of the European populations, which is about 25 million victims, making it one of the most widely known epidemics. Once the Bubonic Plague died out, it only had two...
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.
Stewart, Matthew C. "Ernest Hemingway and World War I: Combatting Recent Psychobiographical Reassessments, Restoring the War." Papers on Language & Literature 36.2 (2000): 198-221.
Guns do not kill people, people do. The American Dream is being able to work towards and achieve whatever makes you happy, whether it be owning your own business, joining the military, or staying at home raising a family, but the only way to reach your dream is to do it without living in fear that your dream will be taken away. In the last couple years mass shootings and attacks on schools have sadly become a common tragedy. Those who have been victims of public shootings or any other life scarring event due to a criminal, along with anyone else who has watched the coverage of the tragedies on the news is somewhat living in fear, but if concealed carry laws were passed then living in fear would be significantly lowered along with crime rates. According to Mike Miller, author of What Happened to Chicago’s Murder Rate After Illinois Upheld Concealed Carry and Why it Matters, “three to four crimes are stopped by a handgun than are committed in the United States every year” (Miller). People would feel much safer knowing they would be able to defend themselves if the time ever arose. When we think or hear about guns most of us jump to the negative effects and stories we have heard. The only stories we hear about guns are how a person’s life has ended because of it, but we never hear how they save a person’s life. It is important to remember the commonly used phrase when talking about concealed carry, “Guns do not kill people, people do.” However, guns are an effective way of protection and states should not make stricter gun control laws because it is ineffective and creates additional problems in today’s violent society.
Ernest Hemingway was a great American author whom started his career humbly in a newspaper office in Kansas City at the ripe, young age of seventeen. Once the United States joined World War One, Hemingway deemed it fit to join a volunteer ambulance service. During this time Hemingway was wounded, and decorated by the Italian Government for his noble deeds. Once he completely recovered, he made his way back to the United States. Upon his arrival he became a reporter for the American and Canadian newspapers and was sent abroad to cover significant events. For example, he was sent to Europe to cover the Greek revolution. During his early adulthood, Hemingway became a member of the group of expatriate Americans in Paris. This is known as the time in his life in which he describes in two of his novels; A Farewell to Arms and The Sun Also Rises the latter of the two being his first work. Hemingway was able to use his experiences of serving in the front during the war and his experience of being with other expatriates after the war to shape both of these novels. He was able to successful write these novels due to his past experience with working for newspapers. His experience with the newspaper seemed to be far more beneficial than just supplying him with an income, with the reporting experience under his belt he also was able to construct another novel that allowed him to sufficiently describe his experiences reporting during the Civil War; For Whom the Bell Tolls. Arguably his most tremendous short novel was a about an old fisherman’s journey and the long, lonely struggle with a fish and the sea with his victory being in defeat.
Bradley, E., Taylor, L. (2013, November 29). The Pain Is Not the Problem: How to Fix America’s Health-Care
Another controversial issue in America is the issue of gun control. The Second Amendment to the Constitution guarantees the right to keep and bear arms. However, the extant of this right remains highly debated. In the past two decades, massive killing sprees and school shootings have given rise to debates about this issue. In the 1990s the prevalence of guns in our society has allowed these mass killings to occur, angering a majority of the Americans. Therefore, in the 1990s there was a massive public push for stricter gun control with the majority of 60 percent Americans thinking laws needed to be stricter (Figure 4). However, as state laws became stricter and shootings became more prevalent there was a push back on gun control in a few short
Will gun control stop harm or protect citizens? Today, the opinions of Americans vary on whether guns harm or protect citizens. However, gun control is not a new controversial issue. In 1924, U.S. Senator, Robert La Follete, said, “Our choice is not merely to support or oppose gun control but to decide who can own which guns under what conditions.” This proves that gun control has been a concern to Americans since the mid- twentieth century, and possibly even earlier than that. Even with the U.S. laws limiting the access of guns, it has not stopped the misuse of guns. Thirteen school shootings have been recorded in the United States within the first six weeks of 2014. Gun control is an effort to stop crimes by limiting who can access guns. Guns are very powerful weapons that have a great impact on society. They can change a family’s life forever. The destruction they cause cannot be reversed or taken back, and one trigger could take a person’s life away. For these reasons, government interference is needed to restrict the harm guns can cause. The U.S. government should place more limitations on guns because of the carelessness and misuse of guns, which has led to an increasing number of crimes and violent actions against the innocent.
A Soldier’s Home is a short story written by Earnest Hemingway and published in 1925. One of the most compelling features of the work is its brevity and omission. Lamb notes “The short story’s lack of space leads to prose that relies heavily on suggestiveness and implication, allowing the reader a greater role in bringing the narrative to life. (Lamb 2016). As a former journalist, Hemingway learned to write in concise style that put the maximum information into every word, to the point of omitting information that could be inferred or discovered. According to Earnest Hemingway:
The short story “In Another Country” by Earnest Hemingway is a story about the negative effects of war. The story follows an unnamed American officer and his dealings with three other officers, all of whom are wounded in World War I and are recuperating in Milan, Italy. In war, much can be gained such as freedom and peace, however war also causes a plethora of negative consequences. Cultural alienation, loss of physical and emotional identity, and the irony of war technology and uncertainty of life are all serious consequences of war that are clearly shown by Hemingway.
Even though gun can help people to either avoid or defend themselves from risky situation when they meet serious danger which endanger their life, there are some people who use guns in order to commit crimes. In other words, stricter laws on guns will not prevent criminals from buying gun illegally to commit crimes such as killing people or become robbery so they could achieve their purpose. As enacted, the point of gun laws is to make the nation safer by limiting its civilian population’s access to guns. However, laws against murder and violence do not work for those who have given up on their life with the intent of shooting people that they have grudges against. Furthermore, for those who have the intention of dying, they might try to kill as many people as they can before shooting themselves, no matter who the victims are. In other words, gun control law cannot restrain criminals’ actions, as John Lott, a gun rights activist, states, “ The problem with such gun control laws is that they take away guns from law-abiding citizens, while criminals just ignore them.” For example, according to a statistic, in all of sixty- two mass shootings in the United States between 1982 and 2012, there were forty-nine of the shooters used legally obtained guns and one hundred forty- three guns were possessed by the killers with about seventy- five obtained legally (John). Generally, criminals tend