Farewell, My Lovely

Keep it the Heming-Way “There is nothing to writing. All you do is sit down at a typewriter and bleed.” - Ernest Hemingway It has been brought to my attention that the English Department is questioning the importance of teaching about Ernest Hemingway, who they say is a “simplistic” writer. A Farewell to Arms is an example of a novel Hemingway wrote which mirrors his life and many of his own experiences during the time he spent in World War I. He is familiar with the settings of his novels…

misconception that Ernest Hemingway is a boring writer, that he uses bland language and has no point to his writing. Hemingway is a very creative writer, he uses all of his surroundings and thoughts and feelings to piece together his work. In his novel, A Farewell to Arms, you do not find eloquent sentences, filled with details. Instead there are findings of short snippets and strange dialogue that isn’t written like normal dialogue. Hemingway’s novel is semi-autobiographical so most of what he…

• The Lovely Bones is a captivating novel by Alice Sebold that undoubtedly deserves to be included in the literary canon. • Puts a spin on the classic murder-mystery as it is told from the victim’s perspective, Susie Salmon • Telling the story from her own heaven, we gain a personal insight on the diverse range of flawed characters and how they change because of Susie’s death. • The book also features a variety of literary techniques that help to further enrich the story • These factors combined…

A common theme in literature is that of good versus evil. This proves to be true in Alice Sebold’s novel, The Lovely Bones. While it might be hard to imagine any good coming from the story of a brutal rape and murder of a fourteen year old girl, there are moments in the novel that illustrate this battle between good and evil. From the very beginning of the story, we are introduced to good in a young Susie and also to evil in Mr. Harvey. The cruelty with which Mr. Harvey treats this young…

the world. She has written fictional stories along with a personal experience. Writing of her own experience impacted her to write some of her other novels. Lucky was written of her experience and later she wrote a similar fictional novel called The Lovely Bones. Going through such a horrible experience has forever impacted the way she writes. Alice Sebold was born in Madison, Wisconsin on September 6, 1963. She is the second child. While she was growing up, her house was filled with…

People grieve in different ways, when they have been hit with a tragedy. The novel, “The Lovely Bones,” by Alice Sebold, teaches us this similar lesson. By seeing the characters go through denial, anger, and acceptance, the author shows us how the Salmon family comes to accept the death of their daughter and no longer allow her passing to tear the family apart. All of the characters in the book “The Lovely Bones” experience denial in one way or another. Abigail Salmon, Susie’s mother feels…

Lovely Bones by Alice Sebold is about a young girl named Susie Salmon in Pennsylvania who is raped and murdered by her neighbor Mr. Harvey on December 6, 1973 and watches her family and friends cope with her untimely death. Susie has a family of five, her included. Abigail, Jack, Lindsey, and Buckley. One day as she is walking home on her own, Mr. Harvey convinces her to come inside a hole he made in a cornfield. “It’s dark Susie,” he said. (3) When she is in the hole he says, “‘Take your…

Period of Grief The Lovely Bones by Alice Sebold follows the life of Susie Salmon, who is the victim of a brutal rape and murder at the hands of her neighbor Mr. Harvey. Once dead, Salmon and her family both struggle with accepting her death. Susie specifically struggles with letting go of life and those she loves back on Earth. For this reason, she and her family remain stuck in the In-Between, which is her own version of Heaven. With her case remaining unsolved for years, her family is…

A Farewell to Arms is a novel by Ernest Hemingway which takes place in Italy during World War I. Readers learn of the character Frederic Henry and his lover, Catherine Barkley. Throughout the entire novel, Hemingway uses nature and weather in symbolic ways to gain the attention of readers. One of the greater symbols is the rain. Most people would agree that rain means life and that it does not have a negative symbolic use, but Hemingway uses rain as a symbol for death and despair. During the…

Liesel says this: “‘Please,’ she said, ‘my papa’s accordion. Could you get it for me?’ She removed the injured instrument and laid it next to Papa’s body. ‘Here, Papa’” (Zusak 538). Even right before Hans death Liesel wants him to play the accordion because she knows it will comfort her, and…