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Ernest Hemingway And David Foster Wallace: A Literary Analysis

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Ernest Hemingway’s “Hills Like White Elephants" and David Foster Wallace’s “Good People,” are respected, yet controversial text within American literature. In Both works they confront the hard-hitting reality of how couples face the struggles of an unwanted pregnancy when it occurs. These stories deal with realism at their cores but deal with them in their very own ways. Both stories share similarities and differences with each other and it’s all based on the authors Ernest Hemingway and David Foster Wallace views on these themes as well as their relationship. The similarities in both pieces begin with the vague dialogue we begin to read with very little detail or depth between both couples. In “Hills Like White Elephants" actually start to …show more content…

In ‘Good People” the more modern contemporary version of “Hills Like White Elephants" we are introduce to the thought of abortion in the fifth paragraph "What if he was just afraid, if the truth was no more than this, and if what to pray for was not even love but simple courage, to meet both her eyes as she says it and trust his heart?". Another one of the first similarities depicted from these stories would be that both men are very misogynistic or described in the class “the Nice Bustard”, they both want the women to have abortions. The way they persuade their thoughts to their partners are different, for example in “Hills Like White Elephants" we see the man being very pushy towards the girl trying to down play the fact that it is a serious surgical operation by stating “it’s really an awfully simply operation, jig.” (Hemingway, 1927). In “Good people” the man is pushy in a nice way so it’s soddenly caught if your paying attention to him, for example he states “I think it's the best thing to do. But I don't want you to do it if you don't really want to." But he follows it with and if I do it you'll be happy and things will be like they were and you'll love me? This is where that ‘Nice Bastard” Approach comes in (Wallace, 2007). Another similarity and difference would be what coping mechanisms both

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One similarity is the situation these two narrators are put through.

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The short story "Hills Like White Elephants," is about a couple that is really young and the is having a issue about abortion. The author uses a lot of rhetorical devices to convey his message but mostly use imagery and symbolism. The way that the story is told by the author the reader can see the story told in their head. The way that the author describe the hills and the town that they was in it shows a lot of imagery. The story also picture the couple waiting for the train that they had been waiting for.

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Before I read David Foster Wallace’s commencement speech “This is Water” and Sanford J. Ungar’s article “The New Liberal Arts”, I thought the liberal arts degree was a futile degree and meant nothing to society. After reading the passages it altered my perspective. Wallace and Ungar attempt use the rhetorical devices to meticulously explain the importance of getting a degree in the liberal arts by using pathos and the nods the opposition to support their ideals. However, Wallace’s use of pathos is descriptive and engaging and his nods to the opposition are thorough, while Ungar’s is indirect and his nods are shorthanded. Wallace is specific in the way he uses pathos in his commencement speech.

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The shooting style in of both films are similar but what is being said about the subjects is completely

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The two stories have similar plots. They are both about men who met a woman and fell in love with her, but in one way or another, she got away from them. They spent several years of their lives gaining money and rising up in society just to get her back.

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In “This is Water,” the author, David Foster Wallace, argues that the interpretation of life is a conscious and intentional decision, only learning by being aware of exercising and taking control of how one thinks. In his 2005 Commencement Address, Wallace begins by introducing the topic of life and how each person perceives it, especially regarding a liberal arts education. Wallace later explains the concept of different realities, meaning that two different people can perceive the same experience with two different meanings. Wallace uses the example of both a Christian and an atheist, and how the atheist was caught in a blizzard and cried out to God for help, and moments later a group of Eskimos wandered by and took him back to camp. The Christian saw this as a miracle from God, while the Atheist saw a group of

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By using this point of view to portray how helpless the main character, Lane Dean, feels, readers will learn that entering an early parenthood is not always a good option for those who are young and unprepared because many problems and questions will arise. In Lane’s scenario, he does not know if he wants to keep the baby at first. Yet, his problems evolve to doubts as he begins to question his goodness, his love for Sheri and his faith in God. Therefore, the important message that readers can receive from “Good People” is the standards of becoming “a good person” are unknown because everyone has distinct views on what is right or

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Although, they have similarity, the two stories has major differences also. First, both author differs the way they introduce and develop their lead characters to the reader. Second, they also differ in perspective from which their stories are being told. Third, they differs on the choice of settings and how it impact to the stories.

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Comparison/Contrast Essay 1 “Good People” and “Hills Like White Elephants” are stories that portray young couples facing an unwanted pregnancy and the decision of whether to terminate the pregnancy or keep the child. Jig in “Hills Like White Elephants”, is headstrong and knows what she wants to do about the pregnancy, will have the baby and the American will likely stay with Jig. Despite the decision she make concerning the pregnancy, his feelings of affection are genuine for her and the child. In the story “Good People” Sheri will likely terminate the pregnancy despite her religious convictions.

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The second similarity is how in both cases the fathers were ashamed of their daughters. In the video it shows Orion being ashamed of his daughter and as a result he says hurtful objects to her. One of them was he saying how a white woman will have a black child. In the book it shows how Mayella was a disappointment to Mr.Ewell. Mr. Ewell had beaten her up and told the town Tom had raped her.

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The two stories chosen are “Hills Like White Elephants” by Ernest Hemingway written in 1927 and “The Horse Dealer’s Daughter” by D.H. Lawrence written in 1922. I decided to compare selfishness in both of these stories. The “Hills Like White Elephants” main characters are the American and girlfriend Jig, deals with an unwanted pregnancy and an operation. The story takes place at a train station, the two characters over a couple of beer strike up a conversation regarding Jig condition.

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It is widely known that a lack of communication within a relationship almost always puts a detrimental strain on it. In Ernest Hemingway’s Hills Like White Elephants, the narrative revolves around an unspoken conflict between a woman named Jig and her significant other, referred to as the American man. In the story, Jig and the American man are travelling in Spain. At a train station, they are talking about an “operation” (Hemingway 476) Jig is to have; one can infer they are talking about an abortion.

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In the stories “Popular Mechanics”, written by Raymond Carver, and “Hills Like White Elephants”, written by Ernest Hemingway, show the struggles that sometimes happens while being in a relationship. In “Popular Mechanics” Carver shows the struggle of being cheated on and the fight between the couple over their baby. The baby becomes more of an item when they fight trying to show who is a better person and parent. In “Hills Like White Elephants” Hemingway shows that not everyone wants to have a baby and that it can change your life drastically. The couples in “Popular Mechanics” and “Hills Like White Elephants” are arguing over a baby, are splitting up, and the stories have settings that represent what is happening.

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Even though both of these stories include the theme of reaching for something you don’t quite have may be in place in totally different texts that use their imagery in different ways, you can still find similar themes in both pieces of

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The novel, The Sun Also Rises, by Ernest Hemingway, describes the life of some people from the Lost Generation in post-World War I Europe, but mostly in Paris, France and Pamplona, Spain. This novel rotates around Jacob, or Jake, Barnes’, the narrator’s, life; which mostly includes drinking with his friends, Robert Cohn, a Jewish man who is often verbally abused by his “friends”, Ashley Brett, an attractive woman who Jake is in love with, Bill Gorton, a good friend of Jake’s, and a couple others. Their life in dull Paris seems to revolve around spending money and drinking, but when they go to colorful Pamplona, Spain, they have an amazing time during the fun-filled fiesta. Ernest Hemingway uses the “iceberg theory” when he presents Jake Barnes to the reader; he does not directly tell you a lot about Jake, but through Jake’s thoughts and emotions, one can tell that he was injured in the war, he is not a very religious person, he would rather do what he loves, instead of what he must, and he does not like to be honest with himself, despite the fact that he is one of the more honest characters in the novel. Ernest Hemingway does not directly let the reader know that Jake is injured in a special place; he allows the reader to interpret that from Jake’s thoughts and memories.

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