T.S. Eliot’s, “The Love Song of J. Alfred Prufrock”, and Ernest Hemingway’s, Big Two-Hearted River (Part I and II), are two pieces of literature filled with lots of symbolism, imagery, and allegory. During this assignment, there will be a comparison and a contrast of the main characters in these two pieces. T.S. Eliot’s, J. Alfred Prufrock and Ernest Hemingway’s, Nick Adams are alike but different at the same time and both display symbolizations of the “modern” man on their own way.
Although they are present it was difficult to find the similarities of J. Alfred Prufrock and Nick Adams. Each piece reads as if both men are middle-aged currently going through life in search of themselves. As the story begins Hemingway, introduces Nick as …show more content…
From the tone of the writings it seems that although both characters are alone, the tone of Eliot is that J. Alfred Prufrock does not want to be alone and is searching for a lover but afraid of the outcome if he approaches her. Eliot writes, “time to turn back and descend the stair… they will say: how his hair is growing thin” (177). In this stanza, Prufrock is imagining the negative that might come if he speaks to the women and it causes him to back away and let the moment pass. The tone from Hemingway is that Nick Anderson is at peace being alone. He is actually enjoying the time to himself to reflect on what has happened and what is to come. Hemingway captured Nick’s happiness as he wrote about his dinner. First Nick announces to no one the he had the right to eat whatever he carried (Hemingway, 166). This announcement possibly comes from time spent being told what to eat and when. Further, in the story, Nick actually announces his happiness when he takes the first bite of the food he has prepared. Another contrast of the two characters are the lives they lived. From Hemingway’s writing, it seems that Nick lived a simple life hiking by the river sleeping outdoors and catching his own fish for dinner. In the contrast, Eliot’s writing depicts J. Alfred Prufrock as living a middle to high-class life. It’s not easy to tell which as one stanza speaks of half-deserted streets, and one-night cheap hotels (Eliot, 176), where another stanza speaks of visiting women who talk of Michelangelo (Eliot, 177). In the days of this poem Michelangelo was mostly talked about by people in the higher social
Although they are present it was difficult to find the similarities of J. Alfred Prufrock and Nick Adams. Each piece reads as if both men are middle-aged currently going through life in search of themselves. As the story begins Hemingway, introduces Nick as …show more content…
From the tone of the writings it seems that although both characters are alone, the tone of Eliot is that J. Alfred Prufrock does not want to be alone and is searching for a lover but afraid of the outcome if he approaches her. Eliot writes, “time to turn back and descend the stair… they will say: how his hair is growing thin” (177). In this stanza, Prufrock is imagining the negative that might come if he speaks to the women and it causes him to back away and let the moment pass. The tone from Hemingway is that Nick Anderson is at peace being alone. He is actually enjoying the time to himself to reflect on what has happened and what is to come. Hemingway captured Nick’s happiness as he wrote about his dinner. First Nick announces to no one the he had the right to eat whatever he carried (Hemingway, 166). This announcement possibly comes from time spent being told what to eat and when. Further, in the story, Nick actually announces his happiness when he takes the first bite of the food he has prepared. Another contrast of the two characters are the lives they lived. From Hemingway’s writing, it seems that Nick lived a simple life hiking by the river sleeping outdoors and catching his own fish for dinner. In the contrast, Eliot’s writing depicts J. Alfred Prufrock as living a middle to high-class life. It’s not easy to tell which as one stanza speaks of half-deserted streets, and one-night cheap hotels (Eliot, 176), where another stanza speaks of visiting women who talk of Michelangelo (Eliot, 177). In the days of this poem Michelangelo was mostly talked about by people in the higher social