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Of the stories on the syllabus the one that I most closely related to was “The Big Two-Hearted River” by Earnest Hemmingway. During my first reading of this story it was the setting and the action of the main character Nick Adams that I connected with. Reading the opening sentences, grand visions of my childhood danced through my head. The story took me back to happy times of summers spent alone with my grandfather in the mountains of West Virginia. Like Nick, the camping and fishing trips were a welcomed relief from the city life and school for me. Although we were in a different area of the country the wilderness seems to be the same. Like Nick I remembered being dropped off near the edge of the wilderness to hike in and go camping near the river. “The river just showed through the trees” (Hemingway 480). As with the main character the river always intrigued me as a child. It was many things such as the smell, the sound, and the being apart of nature that I liked. Most of all I really loved having the one on one time spent with my grandfather. Just as Hemmingway describes, we to would tromp through the mountains for what seemed like forever. We make the trek all in order to find that perfect spot to set up camp. I often felt as Nick did “His muscles ached and the day was hot but…felt happy” (Hemingway 468). When we came across that spot, a quote from the story says it best “He was there, in the good place” (Hemingway 471), and “The river was there” (Hemingway 467). A sense of happiness filled my body because I knew what was soon to come. We would set up the camp and get something to eat. I could feel Nick’s pain of being “very hungry” (Hemingway 470); this was one of the down sides of the trip. My grandfather would not stop just to eat we would have to find are site then we would take a break for a quick snack before setting up camp. First we would survey the site and plan the best placement for our things. Hemingway wrote “He pegged the sides out taut and drove the pegs deep” (470), this passage brought flash backs of my grandfather telling me how important it was to get the lines tight and drive the tent pegs deep into the ground.
In the essay “Once More to the Lake,” E.B. White, uses diction and syntax to reveal the main character’s attitude towards the lake in Maine. He has an uncertain attitude towards the lake throughout the essay because he is unsure of who he is between him and his son. On the ride there White, pondering, remembering old memories, keeps wondering if the lake is going to be the same warm place as it was when he was a kid. The lake is not just an ordinary lake to White, it’s a holy spot, a spot where he grew up every summer. “I wondered how time would have marred this unique, this holy spot-the coves and streams, the hills that the sun set behind, the camps and the paths behind the camps” (29). White’s diction and syntax
Follow The River by James Alexander Thom is about Mary Ingles gruesome but yet courageous tale of her remarkable 1,000 mile journey home after she had escaped form the captivity of the Shawnee Indians. Through Mary Ingles hard work and determination she proved that all obstacles big and small can be overcome.
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.
Life can bring unexpected events that individuals might not be prepared to confront. This was the case of O’Brien in the story, “On the Rainy River” from the book The Things They Carried. As an author and character O’Brien describes his experiences about the Vietnam War. In the story, he faces the conflict of whether he should or should not go to war after being drafted. He could not imagine how tough fighting must be, without knowing how to fight, and the reason for such a war. In addition, O’Brien is terrified of the idea of leaving his family, friends and everything he loves behind. He decides to run away from his responsibility with the society. However, a feeling of shame and embarrassment makes him go to war. O’Brien considers himself a coward for doing something he does not agree with; on the other hand, thinking about the outcome of his decision makes him a brave man. Therefore, an individual that considers the consequences of his acts is nobler than a war hero.
Ernest Hemingway was an intricate and dedicated writer who devoted a significant portion of his life to writing multiple genres of stories. Throughout his stories, the similarities in his style and technique are easily noted and identified. Two of the short stories he wrote contain themes and motifs that specifically explain the plotline. The first story, “The Snows of Kilimanjaro,” sets its scene in the depths of a desolate area in Africa, where the main characters, Harry and his wife, decide to make their home. After living there for a few years, Harry ventures out and falls into a thorn bush, thus infecting his leg with gangrene. A few weeks later, he finds himself on the brink between life and death, unable to treat such a severe infection. Throughout the whole story, his life is flashing before his eyes as he recalls all of the major events that occurred in his past. By nightfall, Harry is acting unusual, and he begins to feel as if life is not worth living anymore. After he drifts off to sleep that evening, his wife goes to check on him and discovers that her husband has passed away (Hemingway 52-77). The second great work of Hemingway, “The Short, Happy Life of Francis Macomber,” is also set in a deserted section of Africa. Francis and his wife, Margot, are on a safari adventure along with their tour guide named Wilson. The way these three characters interact with each other creates tension and provides an adequate plot for the story. The trip begins with the couple intending on hunting big game. At first they track down a lion that continuously roars throughout the night, and later decide to chase after buffalos. To add to the complications of the trip, Margot has an intimate relationship with their tour guide. The story c...
Coming home from the grueling experience of being a soldier in World War I, he felt ecstatic when he saw a trout swimming in the stream. The perils of war took a devastating toll on Nick, as he suffered from a physical wound while in action. The camping trip here is like an oasis, which will let Nick to recover from all the distress. “Nick looked down into the pool from the bridge. It was a hot day. A kingfisher flew up from the stream. It was a long time since Nick had looked into a stream and seen trout. They were very satisfactory...Nick’s heart tightened as the trout moved. He felt all the old feeling.” (178) The healing process begins here with Nick re-acclimating himself with one of his favorite hobbies: fishing. “He started down to the stream, holding his rod...Nick felt awkward and professionally happy with all the equipment hanging from him...His mouth dry, his heart down...Holding the rod far out toward the uprooted tree and sloshing backward in the current, Nick worked the trout, plunging, the rod bending alive, out of the danger of the weeds into the open river. Holding the rod, pumping alive against the current, Nick brought the trout in...” (190,193,195) Nick finally reels in a trout after the big one got away, getting to the feeling of relaxation and washing away the horrors of war. By pitching his tent out in the forest and being able to function by himself so smoothly, Nick shows how he represents the trait of stoicism. He did not complain or stop living, coming back with the trauma of war. Going camping, he is able to relieve himself through using all the nature around him, showcasing his
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...
I wasn’t even outside but I could feel the warm glow the sun was projecting all across the campsite. It seemed as if the first three days were gloomy and dreary, but when the sun on the fourth day arose, it washed away the heartache I had felt. I headed out of the trailer and went straight to the river. I walked to the edge, where my feet barely touched the icy water, and I felt a sense of tranquility emanate from the river. I felt as if the whole place had transformed and was back to being the place I loved the most. That day, when we went out on the boat, I went wakeboarding for the first time without my grandma. While I was up on the board and cutting through the wake of the boat, it didn’t feel like the boat was the one pulling and guiding me, it felt like the river was pushing and leading me. It was always nice to receive the reassurance from my grandma after wakeboarding, but this time I received it from my surroundings. The trees that were already three times the size of me, seemed to stand even taller as I glided past them on the river. The sun encouraged me with its brightness and warmth, and the River revitalized me with its powerful currents. The next three days passed by with ease, I no longer needed to reminisce of what my trips used to be like. Instead, I could be present in the moment, surrounded by the beautiful natural
In September of 1919, after returning to his home and readjusting to his old life, he went on a fishing and camping trip with friends to Michigan’s Upper Peninsula. The trip inspired the short story, Big Two-Hearted River, in which his somewhat biographical character, Nick Adams made a return to his favorite fishing grounds after coming home from the war. Nick found that the area had been through some sort of fire, and the scorched trees and blackened insects represented Hemingway’s feelings that nothing was the same. A place which had once been so familiar and positive in his eyes was transmogriphied into a province of melancholy and woe.
Can you imagine having to leave everything you have ever known to live in a country on the verge of war? Lesley Shelby, the main character in One More River by Lynn Reid Banks, knows exactly how it feels. This Jewish Canadian girl has to emigrate to Israel with her family. Through the determination and courage of one person we see how challenges, complications, and differences of the world are overcome.
Ernest Hemingway pulled from his past present experiences to develop his own thoughts concerning death, relationships, and lies. He then mixed these ideas, along with a familiar setting, to create a masterpiece. One such masterpiece written early in Hemingway's career is the short story, "Indian Camp." "Indian Camp" was originally published in the collection of "in Our Time" in 1925. A brief summary reveals that the main character, a teenager by the name of Nick, travels across a lake to an Indian village. While at the village Nick observes his father, who is a doctor, deliver a baby to an Indian by caesarian section. As the story continues, Nick's father discovers that the newborn's father has committed suicide. Soon afterward Nick and his father engage in a discussion about death, which brings the story to an end. With thought and perception a reader can tell the meaning of the story. The charters of Nick and his father resemble the relationship of Hemingway and his father. Hemingway grew up in Oak Park, a middle class suburb, under the watchful eye of his parents, Ed and Grace Hemingway. Ed Hemingway was a doctor who "occasionally took his son along on professional visits across Walloon Lake to the Ojibway Indians" during summer vacations (Waldhorn 7). These medical trips taken by Ernest and Ed would provide the background information needed to introduce nick and his father while on their medical trip in "Indian Camp." These trips were not the center point of affection between Ed and Ernest, but they were part of the whole. The two always shared a close father-son bond that Hemingway often portrayed in his works: Nick's close attachment to his father parallels Hemingway's relationship with Ed. The growing boy finds in the father, in both fiction and life, not only a teacher-guide but also a fixed refuge against the terrors of the emotional and spiritual unknown as they are encountered. In his father Ernest had someone to lean on (Shaw 14). In "Indian Camp," nick stays in his father's arms for a sense of security and this reinforces their close father-son relationship. When Nick sees the terror of death, in the form of suicide, his father is right there to comfort him. From this we are able to see how Nick has his father to, physically and mentally, "lean" on, much like Hemingway did (S...
In conclusion, Hemingway uses three writing skills, which are "telling fact”, “using quality statement” and “drawing inferences to readers". They make his story more incisive and vivid. After reading his Big Two-Hearted River, I do have a clear idea about what he was writing about, and when I read the story, what he describes really showed up as some pictures in my brain. What I learned from Hemingway’s novel and Dr. Hammond’s book is to use those three powerful skills into my future writing.
School should be four days a week with an extra hour added to each school day because it would save money for the school system, increase student motivation, stimulate the economy, and promote student achievement. There has been a decrease in education due to the small amount of resources, causing classrooms to be bigger and children not being able to extend their knowledge. Even though the economy has been falling, each school district has been working hard to promote student education, which could mean trading a traditional school schedule for a four-day school week. Replacing a normal school schedule for the four day school week can raise the school budget tremendously. (Hart, Demand Media).
Hemingway's protagonist, Nick, in the short story "Indian Camp" rides curiously asking "where are we going, Dad? (28). Yet, being secure while Nick lay back with his father's arm around him (28). Upon arrival of the shanty lined beach, life's lesson begins to unfold. Nick's sympathy for the woman screaming in pain because of delivering a baby without anaesthetic unleashed a feeling of compassion. Nick's apathy for the final stage of the...
Some may say that adding a twenty minute rest period is illogical because schools would have to extend their days; students would be going to schools longer, so what’s the point? Well, studies show that on average school hours are from 6.22 and 7.17 hours. The average number of hours that schools are open is 6.93 (Education). In reality a twenty minute rest time is very reasonable with the average number of hours of school in America being so low, schools should use some of those extra hours in favor of the student 's well being. For example, adding a twenty minute rest time for kids to take a break, relax, and sleep to refuel before going to their next class; this is a better solution than loading students with homework on top of sleep deprivation and stress. “I agree with your theory, however, I do