Hemingway Short Story Discussion
From the video, you should note that a theme is more than a single word. Many students will not write thematic statements like the example from Frozen: “Don’t close out people that you love.” Rather, they’ll give an example of a motif, like “loneliness.” REMEMBER: Symbols are concrete objects (the doors) or maybe a color that has cultural significance. A motif is usually a representation of symbols, perhaps love, friendship, loneliness, or perseverance. A theme or thematic statement will be an author’s ultimate message that likely has nothing to do with the plot itself. Like in the video, Frozen’s plot has to do with two sisters, one with magical powers. Yet, its message is much more universal and – the filmmakers would argue – should be applied to all human lives.
For this discussion, you will indicate an understanding of these three literary elements. You will list – in this order – the title, a symbol, a motif, and a theme from one of the Hemingway stories you read.
While not a Hemingway story, this provides an example of what I’m looking for:
Title: “Little Red Riding Hood”
Symbol: Grandma’s Clothes
Motif: Trustworthiness
Theme: Everyone – especially children – should be wary of strangers.
Hemingway’s Short Stories
Now let’s use our skills in finding literary terms as we read some of Hemingway’s texts.
Definitely read these:
” Cat in the Rain
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” Hills Like White Elephants
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And choose one more of the following:
” The Short Happy Life of Francis Macomber
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” The Snows of Kilimanjaro
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” A Clean, Well-Lighted Place
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If you get lost as to the meaning in any of these (as many do for “Hills Like White Elephants”), Hemingway is a very well studied writer; you will have no trouble finding synopses on the internet to support your reading. This doesn’t mean that you shouldn’t try. Read the text, pull your best guesses as to symbols, motifs, and thematic statements. Should you then need, find support from the internet, then go back into the story to reevaluate.
Ernest Hemingway is arguably the most important literary figure of the 20th Century. Before his work, writers would fill pages with needless, flowery detail as if they were being paid by the word. Hemingway – with the encouragement of his mentor and colleague, Gertrude Stein – went the other way. His work is noticeably sparse. He leaves a lot to readers to imagine for figure out. His method is too extreme for academic writers who never want to leave ideas up to readers to figure out; everything needs to be spelled out to be convincing. As a literary writer, though, his iceberg technique demands that readers be attentive and imaginative. This means that he gives critics like us a LOT to work with as we analyze his texts.
Here’s an infographic on the iceberg theory:
6 Word Stories & The Iceberg Principle6 Word Stories & The Iceberg Principle
Take, for instance, his short story, “Baby Shoes,” the shortest short story in the English language, clocking in at a mere six words:
Is Your Writing Too Long, Too Short, or Just Right | Let’s Talk Nonprofit Blog
That’s it. But what can we extrapolate from these six words? These are not wealthy people, right? They have to – in their grief – concern themselves with posting this sale in the newspaper. That’s an extreme poverty. We could easily analyze these six words to discuss the impacts of poverty on parenting, especially grieving parents.
While you would NEVER leave this much interpretation up to readers of your academic essays, the concept of being concise is important to academic writers as well. Check out this advice on wordiness
for standardized test takers. It gives quality points for writers.
However, let’s take a moment for some literary writing. For this assignment, write a short story: ten words or less. It shouldn’t sound like a fortune cookie. There should be an insinuation of characters and their lives or values like in “Baby Shoes.” Do your best, and remember this lesson when you edit your work to eliminate words and phrases that don’t need to be there