Communication

Honestly, I was way too tired to re-read "Hills Like White Elephants" at 11:30 PM last Tuesday night. I still had to finish my other homework and get a decent amount of sleep so that I wouldn't sleep through all of my classes the following day. Little did I know that this would be a very bad decision. 

"Hills Like White Elephants" is possibly the most confusing short story that I have read to date. Granted that I have read very few in my life span, I must say that this will always remain at the top of the list under the "Most Convoluted Short Story" category. Never before have I read a story with so many allusions, symbols, and implicit themes. I would have picked up on a lot of these elements if I had read a short background on the historical time period during which this story was written, but not doing so resulted in nothing more than utter confusion. 

How was I suppose to know what 'to let the air in' or 'everyone does it' refer to? To an uninformed reader, it could mean a multitude of things! I remember thinking of travel and adventure when I was reading the story. The phrasing is a bit odd, but 'to let the air in' made me think of breathing fresh air at a national park. I thought 'everyone does it' meant that everyone goes on intrepid journeys. The context was perfect too - the couple had their bags packed, they were at a train station, and they were discussing their future. The implicit theme that Hemingway placed in the story is beautifully crafted and only a diligent reader would understand all of his allusions.

The lesson that I am going to take from this experience is that it is always good to re-read a story when it is understood the first time. It will allow for better comprehension skills and will advance my critical thinking ability as well. I hope that I do not have to learn this lesson the hard way again - through confusion and frustration.

Characterization

Characterization is possibly the most important element in a text. Long after readers forget the plot of a story,  they still usually remember the characteristics of the main character. For example, when I was in seventh grade, I read "Cry, the Beloved Country". This novel expresses the touching relationship that a father and son have with each other. Honestly, though, I don't remember much more in the plot than that. I remember that the story took place in Johannesburg, South Africa during a time with the apartheid was still strong -that's about it, though! I do, however, remember the characteristics/personalities of the character. The father was a priest who was very sincere and caring. He tried to help as many people as possible and was very donated his time to the public very generously. The lawyer, the priest's brother, was very arrogant and materialistic. He showed no affection towards his brother and shooed him away because talking to him was a waste of time...

You get the point! The characters have made long lasting impressions on me, while the plot only was a temporary impression. I believe that authors usually write an interesting plot in order to buy the reader's attention and interest. Some authors even try to convey their themes through the plot. Most, however, rely on the actions of the characters to highlight a certain unifying idea. The characters add flavor to the text because they bring their personalities and their backgrounds, which adds diversity to the story. I believe that characterization is the most important element in a text because it is the vehicle through which the author completes all goals he wants accomplish through the novel.

Literary Devices in 'The Child by Tiger'

The Child by Tiger by Thomas Wolfe got me thinking about all the different literary devices that an author has in his/her arsenal. Similes, metaphors, diction, imagery, hyperbole, ambiguity, euphemism, deux es machina, en media res, flashback, foreshadowing... the list goes on and on!  All authors of literary fiction (and in some cases, commercial fiction) strive to convey a deeper meaning to the reader. This deeper meaning can be a moral or a theme, but it usually is present to allow the reader to view a certain topic from a different perspective. Take The Child by Tiger as an example. The last few paragraphs use a multitude of devices: allusion, ambiguity, and oxymoron (I'm probably missing a bunch!). These devices make the reader pass judgement on what he/she just read. Does the story have a meaning beyond what is superficial? Honestly, when I read Thomas Wolfe's work for homework, I read like a commercial fiction short story. I stormed right through it without taking time to contemplate all that the author had written. It was a mistake. After the discussion last class, I realize that this story was more about how attitudes change when certain actions are undertaken by a man from a different race. This story was set in the pre-civil war era and yet, even though I live in the modern era, I still was racist and biased against Dick Prosser. I did not bother to think about his background, but immediately blamed everything on him. It is sad that I thought this way (something that I've been trying to fix). I believe that Thomas Wolfe's goal with this short story was to make the reader realize that there are two facets in every person in society.