Finding Style
An author 's style is like his or her signature. It stems from their unique combination of literary elements, and how they weave these aspects into their work. Authors ' styles can be near indistinguishable or the complete antithesis of each other, as in the case of William Faulkner and Ernest Hemingway. However, despite the obvious contrasts in the two author’s writings, there are several similarities in their work. Their short stories, Faulkner 's "A Rose for Emily," and Hemingway 's "In Another Country," as well as their novels, As I Lay Dying and A Farewell to Arms, show the development of their style through the use of characterization and themes.
Hemingway uses characterization in his short story "In Another Country" …show more content…
The men in the hospital have experienced physical loss of some sort, the Narrator has experienced the loss of his friends, and the Major has experienced the loss of love. The Major in "In Another Country" warns the Narrator that if a man "is to lose everything, he should not place himself in a position to lose that. He should not place himself in a position to lose. He should find things he cannot lose" (Hemingway "Country" 805). Bitter over his own loss, the Major believes that people should detach themselves from human emotions to protect themselves from losing anything. This somber viewpoint is central to Hemingway 's negative and foreboding style. Another theme in Hemingway 's story is the effects of war. In the story, the soldiers "were all a little detached" (Hemingway "Country" 803). The war was now distant from these wounded soldiers, and they were left to pick up the pieces of their lives and try to heal. Hemingway 's style is to write about the common everyday struggles of man, not glorify honor and bravery. The wounded men had to recover not only physically, but mentally as well. While in the hospital, the Narrator reflects on his feelings about the war and his future "I was very much afraid to die, and often lay in my bed afraid to die and wondering how it would be when I went back to the front again" (Hemingway "Country" 804). This momentary glimpse inside his mind reveals the true …show more content…
His sentences are short and to the point, absent of ornate language and eloquent descriptions. An article from The New York Review of Books notes "Hemingway 's reliance on standard fictional conventions--(dash) the simple declarative sentence, the single narrative voice, and a linear sense of time" (Doctotow 1). Hemingway provides the reader with a skeletal outline, allowing them to become involved in the story by filling in the details. His conciseness is one of the main components of his personal style. Back and forth dialogue between the characters resembling a natural flow of conversation is his signature mark. Hemingway 's work 's reflect a grim outlook on life, and finish without a happy ending. The final sentence in A Farewell to Arms follows Henry, who “after a while…went out and left the hospital and walked back to the hotel in the rain” (Hemingway Farewell 332). The novel ends without any resolution for Henry who is left broken and alone. Hemingway 's style, with its choppy sentences and generic language, reflects this dark
An author 's style is like his or her signature. It stems from their unique combination of literary elements, and how they weave these aspects into their work. Authors ' styles can be near indistinguishable or the complete antithesis of each other, as in the case of William Faulkner and Ernest Hemingway. However, despite the obvious contrasts in the two author’s writings, there are several similarities in their work. Their short stories, Faulkner 's "A Rose for Emily," and Hemingway 's "In Another Country," as well as their novels, As I Lay Dying and A Farewell to Arms, show the development of their style through the use of characterization and themes.
Hemingway uses characterization in his short story "In Another Country" …show more content…
The men in the hospital have experienced physical loss of some sort, the Narrator has experienced the loss of his friends, and the Major has experienced the loss of love. The Major in "In Another Country" warns the Narrator that if a man "is to lose everything, he should not place himself in a position to lose that. He should not place himself in a position to lose. He should find things he cannot lose" (Hemingway "Country" 805). Bitter over his own loss, the Major believes that people should detach themselves from human emotions to protect themselves from losing anything. This somber viewpoint is central to Hemingway 's negative and foreboding style. Another theme in Hemingway 's story is the effects of war. In the story, the soldiers "were all a little detached" (Hemingway "Country" 803). The war was now distant from these wounded soldiers, and they were left to pick up the pieces of their lives and try to heal. Hemingway 's style is to write about the common everyday struggles of man, not glorify honor and bravery. The wounded men had to recover not only physically, but mentally as well. While in the hospital, the Narrator reflects on his feelings about the war and his future "I was very much afraid to die, and often lay in my bed afraid to die and wondering how it would be when I went back to the front again" (Hemingway "Country" 804). This momentary glimpse inside his mind reveals the true …show more content…
His sentences are short and to the point, absent of ornate language and eloquent descriptions. An article from The New York Review of Books notes "Hemingway 's reliance on standard fictional conventions--(dash) the simple declarative sentence, the single narrative voice, and a linear sense of time" (Doctotow 1). Hemingway provides the reader with a skeletal outline, allowing them to become involved in the story by filling in the details. His conciseness is one of the main components of his personal style. Back and forth dialogue between the characters resembling a natural flow of conversation is his signature mark. Hemingway 's work 's reflect a grim outlook on life, and finish without a happy ending. The final sentence in A Farewell to Arms follows Henry, who “after a while…went out and left the hospital and walked back to the hotel in the rain” (Hemingway Farewell 332). The novel ends without any resolution for Henry who is left broken and alone. Hemingway 's style, with its choppy sentences and generic language, reflects this dark