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The theme of loneliness in literature
The theme of loneliness in literature
Loneliness In Hemingway'S Clean, Well-Lighted
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Minimalism is a style of writing where the author presents a plot in brevity with few details and allows the reader to draw his or her conclusions. Few noteworthy characteristics of minimalistic fiction include use of plain language, short and simple sentences, symbolism, objective viewpoint, omission of character description, and unresolved main conflict. Well-known American writer, Ernest Hemingway, in his short story “Cat in the Rain” employs this minimalistic aesthetics effectively to achieve the theme of loneliness along with the notions such as nihilism and the lack of resolution.
The use of short, simple sentences, mostly without descriptive language, is a distinctive element of minimalism which helps to emphasize the theme of loneliness in the story. The basic qualities of minimalism like not using adjectives or adverb to color the noun and verb transcend a lonesome feeling. “She went on up the stairs. She opened the door of the room. George was on the bed, reading” (Hemingway 534). This excerpt shows the brevity of Hemingway’s writing and the lack of detailed description. Similar to the bare sentences and bleak language, the protagonist also lacks happiness and joy in her life adding to the theme of loneliness. Furthermore, it must be noted that by using simple sentences, Hemingway seems to make most impact. Throughout the story, Hemingway constantly reminds one that the American “wife was looking out of the window” (Hemingway 535). Constant repetition of this simple sentence has a poignant effect. When contrasted with the busy routine of the square, this sentence creates an image that the protagonist is confined. Even though she is physically not restrained to go outside, it sheds light upon the notion that she feels li...
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...the figurative language compounded with the use of symbolism cleverly conveys the theme of loneliness. The cat not only symbolizes the protagonist’s domestic desires due to her solitary life, but also channels protagonist’s emotional turmoil as she feels unloved and dissatisfied with her marriage. The cat is meant to fill the American wife’s void and emptiness which accentuates the lonely ambience. On other hand, third person objective narrator and lack of character information creates the nihilistic perspective. While not being able solve the deep conflicts, Hemingway does not really have a resolution. Overall, these minimalistic techniques are very effective and make the short story more intriguing.
Works Cited
Hemingway, Ernest. "Cat in the Rain." The Bedford Introduction to Literature. Michael Meyer. 9th ed. Boston: Bedford/St. Martins, 2008. 533-35. Print.
The main focus of A Clean, Well-Lighted Place is on the pain of old age suffered by a man that we meet in a cafe late one night. Hemingway contrasts light and dark to show the difference between this man and the young people around him, and uses his deafness as an image of his separation from the rest of the world.
We notice, right from the beginning of his life, that Ernest Hemingway was confronted to two opposite ways of thinking, the Manly way, and the Woman way. This will be an important point in his writing and in his personal life, he will show a great interest in this opposition of thinking. In this short story, Hemingway uses simple words, which turn out to become a complex analysis of the male and female minds. With this style of writing, he will show us how different the two sexes’ minds work, by confronting them to each other in a way that we can easily capture their different ways of working. The scene in which the characters are set in is simple, and by the use of the simplicity of the words and of the setting, he is able to put us in-front of this dilemma, he will put us in front of a situation, and we will see it in both sexes point of view, which will lead us to the fundamental question, why are our minds so different?
For many years, the narrative technique of Hemingway has been under debate. Writers before him had already achieved works that bear the characteristics of the modern short story, and many of their works could stand today, with those of Hemingway and of writers like Faulkner, as representative short stories of modern times. What distinguishes Hemingway both from his predecessors and from his contemporaries, however, is the theory he produces to deal with the challenge of spatial limitation which every short story writer has to face: how can he say more than his space actually allows him to say? The principle of the iceberg, as the theory is called by Hemingway, leaves distinctive imprints on his short stories: a clipped, spare style, naturalistic presentation of actions and observations, heavy reliance on dramatic dialogue, and a pattern of connection extending backwards and forwards between the various stories.
Above all, Hemingway wants to make the reader understand how one person’s selfishness and needs can manage to manipulate another one by pretending to care. He also proves how women at times can be easily influenced by the people they love. They are tricked into believing they are everything to them. He shows a couple’s different point of views and their inability to understand and listen one another. For the most part, Hemingway send the message that everything is possible. A woman does not need a man’s approval for anything. Women are successful, strong and can overcome the biggest things in life.
reading Hemingway’s works is to think that because the writing is simple the meaning behind it
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.
Growing up in a rich atmosphere of culture, religion, and the sciences, Ernest Hemingway was always surrounded by different perspectives and thoughts of the world around him. There was a restlessness in him that wanted to discover and explore new things. Beginning as early as high school, his inner-writer began to emerge and his stories were often read aloud to the class as examples of what the other students should strive for. These stories are rarely spoken of nowadays, but display his early talent. While the majority of people are mostly familiar with Hemingway’s well-known works in his later years, some of his earliest pieces that he contributed to the world are often forgotten. (Reef 53).
“The plain was rich with crops; there were many orchards of fruit trees...but the nights were cool and there was not the feeling of a storm coming.'; The elaboration and choice of diction in this book is extraordinary. Hemingway uses so many words to describe the little things in this book. “There was a great splashing and I saw the starshells go up and burst...biting his arm, the stump of his leg twitching,'; is another great example of how he uses much elaboration in the novel.
The material objects that Hemingway uses to convey the theme are beer, the good and bad hillsides, and a railroad station between two tracks. The beer represents the couple’s, “the American” and “the girl’s”, usual routine activity they do together. This bothers the girl because “that’s all [they] do … look at things and try new drinks.” This shows that the girl is tired of doing the same thing and wants to do something different, like having a baby and a family, instead of fooling around all the time. She wants to stop being a girl and become a woman. Hemingway then presents the reader with two contrasting hills. One hill on one side of the station is dull, desolate, and barren; “it had no shade and no trees”, very desert like. However, the other hill on the other side of the station is beautiful, plentiful in nature, and had “fields of grain and tress along the banks of the Ebro River.” Also on each side of the station where each hill is, there is a train track. These objects are symbolic devices prepare the reader in realizing that the characters are in a place of decision. The railroad station is a place of decision where one must decide to go one way or the other. The t...
When a writer picks up their pen and paper, begins one of the most personal and cathartic experiences in their lives, and forms this creation, this seemingly incoherent sets of words and phrases that, read without any critical thinking, any form of analysis or reflexion, can be easily misconstrued as worthless or empty. When one reads an author’s work, in any shape or form, what floats off of the ink of the paper and implants itself in our minds is the author’s personality, their style. Reading any of the greats, many would be able to spot the minute details that separates each author from another; whether it be their use of dialogue, their complex descriptions, their syntax, or their tone. When reading an excerpt of Hemingway’s A Moveable Feast one could easily dissect the work, pick apart each significant moment from Hemingway’s life and analyze it in order to form their own idea of the author’s voice, of his identity. Ernest Hemingway’s writing immediately comes across as rather familiar in one sense. His vocabulary is not all that complicated, his layout is rather straightforward, and it is presented in a simplistic form. While he may meander into seemingly unnecessary detail, his work can be easily read. It is when one looks deeper into the work, examines the techniques Hemingway uses to create this comfortable aura surrounding his body of work, that one begins to lift much more complex thoughts and ideas. Hemingway’s tone is stark, unsympathetic, his details are precise and explored in depth, and he organizes his thoughts with clarity and focus. All of this is presented in A Moveable Feast with expertise every writer dreams to achieve. While Hemingway’s style may seem simplistic on the surface, what lies below is a layered...
Every work in literature is open to interpretation, and every person is entitled to their opinion. In a story shorter than 1,500 words, less than that of this paper, Ernest Hemingway’s A Clean, Well-Lighted Place has garnered serious debate and criticism. Written and published in 1933, Hemingway’s story containing a theme about nothing in several contexts has definitely given many critics something to talk about, but not about the usual theme, irony, or symbolism. For the past 55 years, the critics continue to debate the conflicting dialogue between the two main characters, and whether the inconsistency was intended by Hemingway or a mistake by the original typesetter.
...ugh, will have a feeling of those things as strongly as though the writer had stated them.’ Hemingway was not big on self-analysis; he said upon receiving his Nobel Prize that "a writer should write what he has to say and not speak it." But the facts of his life are important, for Hemingway he believed that a good writer ought to draw always upon personal experience for his material. He wrecked his body in pursuit of a macho ideal. He wrecked his relationships in pursuit of… well, who knows what exactly he was after. After a lifetime of celebrating striving and stoicism, Hemingway ended his life wracked in mental and physical pain. Whatever his personal challenges, Hemingway's professional legacy is clear. American prose is different because of him, and his unique style has influenced art, film and countless other writers. We can only imagine that Papa would be proud
... seemingly simplistic. Hemingway discovered a way to demonstrate the complexity of the human spirit and identity through simplistic diction, word choice, and sentence structure. The story is only a small part of the deeper inner complex of the narrative. The short story allows a fluidity of thoughts between the individual and the characters without ever actually describing their thoughts. With no ending the story is completely left to interpretation providing no satisfactory ending or message.
Through the characters' dialogue, Hemingway explores the emptiness generated by pleasure-seeking actions. Throughout the beginning of the story, Hemingway describes the trivial topics that the two characters discuss. The debate about the life-changing issue of the woman's ...
Moreover, Ernest Hemingway has succeeded very well in this story in showing that individualism of the people living with their own problem is in many case the cause of split and despair. --------------------------------------------------------------------- [1]All further references are to this edition : Ernest Hemingway, "Cat in the Rain" . The Short Stories of Ernest Hemingway, ed. Jackson J. Berson (Dwham, North Carolina: Duke University Press, 1975). [2] John V. Hagopian, "Symmetry in 'Cat in the Rain'", College English, XXIV (December 1962).