Ernest Hemingway And Raymond Carver Compare And Contrast Essay

Although Ernest Hemingway and Raymond carver lives were very different they share one thing which was there style of writing. Both wrote in a minimalist fashion and are still today considered the masters of minimalism. In the short stories of Hemingway Hills like White Elephants and Carvers short story What We Talk about When We Talk about Love, both use minimalist techniques such as open endings, symbolism, omission, and characteristics of main characters.

When a person reads a book or a short story there is an ending in which the main character and the reader normally find on answer for what is happening. But In Carvers and Hemingway’s short stories they both use open endings. For example in Hills like White Elephants some would argue that Jig the woman in the story is going to get the abortion; while some believe that she is going to leave the man and try and take care of the baby by herself. Another example of this is shown in What We talk about when We Talk about Love in the end there really is not an answer for what is love. Hemingway and carver use open ending in a way as to get the reader to discuss the ideas of the stories.

Carver and Hemmingway both used symbolism to convey deeper meaning in their stories. In Hemingway’s Hills like White Elephants he does not give you the name of the man he just calls him the American showing the difference both American and European views which can be shown when Jig and the man talk about the abortion. She tries to tell him that if she has the abortion there will be nothing left in their relationship and he believes that the abortion will allow for them to have everything. Doing this talk she walks into the light were as he calls her back to the shade and moral darkness. Carver also ...

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...nd try new drinks and in What we Talk about when we Talk about Love when Terri try to tell Mel he was talking drunk he told her to shut up. Hemmingway and Carver in their stories show the difficulty of sustaining relationships, problem with communication, and how alcohol affects communication in their main characters.

In conclusion many people may not be able to see how Raymond Carver and Ernest Hemmingway can be similar as their stories are very different and one only wrote short stories. But even Carver states “I suppose the influence on my fiction would be the early stories by Hemingway” and both authors were master of minimalism. In closing Hemingway Hills like White Elephants and Carvers short story What we Talk about when we Talk about Love, both use minimalist techniques such as open endings, symbolism, omission, and characteristics of main characters.