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T.s.eliot the love song of j. alfred prufrock essay
T. S. Eliot’s “The Love Song of J. Alfred Prufrock meaning
T. S. Eliot’s “The Love Song of J. Alfred Prufrock meaning
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Recommended: T.s.eliot the love song of j. alfred prufrock essay
Levi C. Higdon
Dr. Batya Weinbaum
LITR221
January 3, 2016
Nick and J.Alfred Prufrock In the early 1900’s T.S. Eliot and Ernest Hemingway created two of great American Literature pieces of the time. Ernest Hemingway wrote “Big Two-Hearted River”, and T.S. Eliot wrote “The Love Song of J. Alfred Prufrock”. Nick Adams, the main character from “Big Two-Hearted River”, and J. Alfred Prufrock, from “The Love Song of J. Alfred Prufrock, can in several ways be characterized as similar, different, and a representative of the “Modern” man. Modernism was a cultural movement with roots in late nineteenth-century aestheticism and symbolism, prominent in Europe and the US, but with practitioners and theorists around the globe (Ryan, Castle, Eaglestone, and Booker).
Throughout the two pieces of literature both authors use symbolism to describe characteristics about the two main characters. Nick Adams seeks a return to simplicity after his harrowing experience in World War I and that Hemingway’s prose replicates the veteran’s internal quest for manageable simplicity (Cirino 115). This story describes Nick’s journey through a town he once knew, that is now burnt down and along a river. Throughout the story Nick seems very confident and precise when it comes to setting up his camp, making decisions, and has great knowledge of his natural surroundings. Nick is the only character throughout the story. There is mention of some friends Nick had in the past.
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"Hemingway's "big two-hearted river": nick's psychology of mental control."Papers on language & literature 47.2 (2011): 115. APUS Library. Web. 28 Dec. 2015.
Hemingway, Ernest. "Big Two-Hearted River Part I & II." Bookshelf Online. Scribner, a Division of Simon & Schuster Adult Publishing Group, 1925. Web. 28 Dec. 2015. .
Ryan, Michael, Gregory Castle, Robert Eaglestone, and M K. Booker. "Modernism." The Encyclopedia of Literary and Cultural Theory. Malden: Wiley-Blackwell, 2011. Web.
...Perloff, Marjorie. “Modernism without the Modernists: A Response to Walter Benn Michaels.” Modernism/Modernity 3:3 (1996): 99-105.
Cirino, Mark. “Hemingway’s ‘Big Two-Hearted River’: Nick’s Strategy and the Psychology of Mental Control.” Papers on Language and Literature 47, no. 2 (2011): 115-140. http://search.ebscohost.com/login.aspx?direct=true&db=a9h&AN=60914786&site=ehost-live&scope=site.
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.
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.
Hemingway constantly draws parallels to his life with his characters and stories. One blatant connection is with the short story, “Indian Camp,” in which an Indian baby is born and its father dies. As Nick is Hemingway’s central persona, the story revolves around his journey across a lake to an Indian village. In this story, Nick is a teenager watching his father practice as a doctor in an Indian village near their summer home. In one particularly important moment, Hemingway portrays the father as cool and collected, which is a strong contrast to the Native American “squaw’s” husband, who commits suicide during his wife’s difficult caesarian pregnancy. In the story, which reveals Hemingway’s fascination with suicide, Nick asks his father, “Why did he kill himself, daddy?” Nick’s father responds “I don’t kno...
Baker, Sheridan. "Hemingway?s Two-Hearted River." The Short Stories of Ernest Hemingway: Critical Essays. Ed. Jackson, J. Benson. Durham: Duke UP, 1975. 158.
In this particular story, the reader knows some things about nicks past. Hemingway doesn't say it, but Nick is an experienced fisher. This is shown by nicks actions. In the boat, Nick knows that even though the trout are feeding, they won't strike. When the trout broke the surface of the water, Nike instinctively pulled hard on one oar to turn the bait towards them. He also tells Marge not to take the ventral fin out of the perch. These things are the actions of a truly great fisherman.
In Big Two Hearted River, Ernest Hemingway used his own experiences he had during the war and the issues he had when injured in the war. As soon as Nick stepped off the train the reader could feel the disappointment that Nick had and the understanding that he was a troubled soul. At the same time this was Nick’s way to treat himself by staying close to nature and the simpler things in life. No matter how happy Nick would get he would continue to have flashbacks of things he has done and friends he has lost along the way. Throughout the short story by Hemingway, Nick will continue to move through his problems from the war by camping and catch his food from the river and the reader will be able to see Nicks pain and happiness.
Levenson, Michael H. A Genealogy of Modernism: A Study ofEnglish Literary Doctrine 1908-1922. New York: Cambridge UP,1984.
Modernism can be defined through the literary works of early independent 20th century writers. Modernism is exp...
In the beginning of the twentieth century, literature changed and focused on breaking away from the typical and predicate patterns of normal literature. Poets at this time took full advantage and stretched the idea of the mind’s conscience on how the world, mind, and language interact and contradict. Many authors, such as Fitzgerald, Steinbeck, and Twain, used the pain and anguish in first hand experiences to create and depict a new type of literature, modernism. In this time era, literature and art became a larger part of society and impacted more American lives than ever before. During the American modernism period of literature, authors, artists, and poets strived to create pieces of literature and art that challenged American traditions and tried to reinvent it, used new ways of communication, such as the telephone and cinema, to demonstrate the new modern social norms, and express the pain and suffering of the First World War.
Hemingway was very good at stating impressive amount of things in a one short sentence. “Hemingway’s mature style of writing short, declarative sentences developed at the Star”(Oliver 3). He acquired this skill from working at a Newspaper company. He uses minimal amount of words to make a powerful point. “Mr. and Mrs. Elliot tried very hard to have a baby” (1). This short sentence itself raises many questions and it states many things; the inability of the Mr. Elliot to satisfy his wife sexually or questioning Mr. Elliot sexual preference and as well as of Mrs. Elliot. “The liquor had all died out of him and left him alone” (171). This short line describes how lonely the character of Nick Adam feels and how sad he feels for the loss of her girl friend Marjorie. “‘Well, Doc,’ he said, ‘that’s a nice lot of timber you’ve stolen’” (7). This particular sentence has so much weight that it shakes th...
The main characters of Hemingway’s short stories demonstrate honor, courage, and endurance, in
Introduction: Modernism is a word that is generally used to understand "new and distinctive features in the subjects, forms, concepts and styles of literature and the other arts in the early decades of the present century, but especially after World War I." (Abrams 167) More often than not "Modernism" engages in "deliberate and radical break" (Abrams 167) with some of the more traditional foundation of art and culture.
Hemingway uses the conversation between Nick and his father, concerning the suicide of the Indian, to show his distaste for his own father’s suicide.