Ernest Hemingway was a very important person in the early 1900’s Modernist Movement. And the information in the Kultur biographical video showed me how he was influenced in writing A Farewell to Arms, as well as many of his other works. Overall, the video used Hemingway’s life, including love and loss, to enhance a reader’s understanding of A Farewell to Arms. Hemingway’s life was obviously very influential in all of his works. Many of his books were based on true events that Hemingway was involved in. For example, The Green Hills of Africa was about his expeditions across the continent, For Whom the Bell Tolls spawned from his involvement in liberation groups during WWII, and The Old Man and the Sea was a reflection of his life on the water in Key West. A Farewell to Arms was also greatly influenced by Hemingway’s life. It is the story of when he joined the Italian Army in WWI as an ambulance driver until he was severely injured in the legs. He describes this scene in depth in the book, which shows that this was probably very important in his life. The video also shows how Hemingway’s writing style developed when he was reporting for the Kansas Star. It says that it was very event based, which is apparent in the novel. A Farewell to Arms relies mainly on what happened, not so much how the author felt. Also, the biography showed Hemingway’s interesting love life. It shows four wives and mentions numerous other romances. This accounts for the “game of a relationship” that Henry and Ms. Barkley play. In addition to love, the video also shows much loss in Hemingway’s life. He was plagued with bad relationships and a suicide-inclined family before his own depression and suicide in 1961. While A Farewell to Arms seems like a love story, it is ultimately a story of loss, just like Hemingway’s life.

In conclusion, the biographical video helped me to understand Ernest Hemingway’s life. This story of love and loss was very crucial to the understanding of that in A Farewell to Arms.

Ernest Hemingway’s life was one full of women and adventure. Furthermore, he played an important role in the liberation of Paris and the Modernist movement of the early 1900s. The information in the Kultur biographical video showed me how he was influenced in writing A Farewell to Arms, as well as many of his other works. Overall, the video used Hemingway’s life, including love and loss, to enhance a reader’s understanding of A Farewell to Arms. The video accomplished this by providing an in-depth timeline of Hemingway’s life that paralleled the events of the book.

Hemingway’s life was obviously very influential in all of his works. Many of his books were based on true events that Hemingway was involved in: The Green Hills of Africa was about his expeditions across the continent, For Whom the Bell Tolls spawned from his involvement in liberation groups during WWII, and The Old Man and the Sea was a reflection of his life on the water in Key West. A Farewell to Arms was also greatly influenced by Hemingway’s life. It is the story of when he joined the Italian Army in WWI as an ambulance driver until he was severely injured in the legs. He describes this scene in depth in the book, which shows that this was probably very important in his life.

The video also shows how Hemingway’s writing style developed when he was reporting for the Kansas Star. It says that it was very event based, which is apparent in the novel. A Farewell to Arms relies mainly on what happened, not so much how the author felt. This is shown in many ways, mainly through his relationship with Ms. Barkley. He never sows emotion or how he feels, he just says what happens. Also, the biography showed Hemingway’s interesting love life. It shows four wives and mentions numerous other romances. This accounts for the “game of a relationship” that Henry and Ms. Barkley play. In addition to love, the video also shows much loss in Hemingway’s life. He was plagued with bad relationships and a suicide-inclined family before his own depression and suicide in 1961. While A Farewell to Arms seems like a love story, it is ultimately a story of loss, just like Hemingway’s life.

In conclusion, the biographical video helped me to understand Ernest Hemingway’s life. This story of love and loss was very crucial to the understanding of that in A Farewell to Arms.

This is a song about death, and Connor Oberst makes some wonderful diction decisions to show this. His main way of creating the mood of the song is through his connotative word choice, and there are certain words that really make his point.

The first line of the song says that death may come in a holy wall of fire. This is very connotative to the reader. Holy: sacred, hallowed, blessed, almighty; this brings a superior and magnificent level to what Oberst is trying to say. This holy wall of fire is above you and would never measure up enough to avoid it or survive it. It is also almost oxymoronic or paradoxical, using holy and fire together.

Next Oberst mentions a black I-80 mile. This could have denotative meaning, just saying that the mile of road that you die on is black. But this doesn’t help make his point, and it is also very unlike Oberst. Black always carries dark and negative connotations. This strip of road will be your “Black Tuesday’ of miles traveled, the point where everything crashes and spirals into depression.

In the third line: the madness of the government and the vengeance of the sea. He could have used actions of the government and dangers of the sea, but this would be denotative and too weak. So he makes the government “mad”, now you don’t know what their thinking and they are a liability to your safety. Also, the sea is now out for vengeance. It is no longer just a dangerous, unpredictable body of water, but an ocean that is thirsty for revenge and out to get you. You have to watch your back and makes sure she’s not trying to sneak up on you or smash you with an ACME mallet.

Oberst then goes on to say that your life is eclipsed by destiny. This means that your life is completely overshadowed by your fate. And not just any shadow, but shadowed on a planetary level. Like the moon, your fate isn’t big enough to block out the sun (your life), but it is close enough.

Now Oberst uses Hell as death, saying hell is coming instead of death is coming. This is a very interesting choice. Most Americans believe in a heaven and a hell, and virtually all of those people believe that they will go to heaven when they die. However, Connor Oberst says hell is coming, not heaven. He chooses this word because it carries probably the worst connotations of any word in the world. The fiery lake, the pit of eternal suffering, this paints a very dork picture. And that is precisely why Oberst uses it, he doesn’t want his song to be “halleluiah, here comes heaven”. He wants it to be the holy wall of fire is coming to carry you off to hell.

In the second stanza, after the chorus, Oberst calls the soldiers insects. This is actually an effectively use of denotation on his part. He is saying exactly what he means, the soldiers are insignificant little bugs, bugs that are constantly poisoned, squashed, or incinerated with a magnifying glass.

Happily is another word used by Oberst to convey an emotion. But this shows of the emotion of war. It shows how readily it will just squash the little bug-soldiers. Then he goes on to talk about the soldiers “in the trenches”. We are not fighting any kind of trench war, but this brings up more negative connotations than “on the bases using computer guided missiles”.

Sometimes, when your in the perfectly right mood, a dark room can show you the most. See, when one is in a room with light, one tends to see the things touched by that light: the desk, the walls, the ever-spinning fan. But if that same person is in the dark, he or she starts seeing all the important things. I personally believe that the best way to see yourself is not through a mirror but in the dark. Only there are all distractions gone. You are forced to look at things you otherwise couldn’t see, the deep-inside-but-just-under-the-surface things. Your loves, your memories, your desires; especially your desires. For me, a dark room always shows me the things I want most, whether it be something important or just a light. For some reason, we tend to think that we need light, that we can’t live without it. Well, I have yet to meet a night that I couldn’t survive. The dark does make it harder to see with our eyes, but what are eyes? They show us nothing. Just the blatantly obvious things that all eyes can see. Can a blind man not see? On the contrary, I believe that he has the best view of all. He is always in that dark room. And while he might occasionally miss out on some small things, he would be the last to miss something important.

See, anything that your eyes show you, your hands can show you, or your ears, or your nose. But only when you stop looking with you eyes can you see most things. You can’t see feelings with your eyes; not love, not hate, not happiness or gloom, not hope and faith. But aren’t these the most important things, our most cherished possessions? These are universal. These things are our souls, the very fibers of our being. Anything you lay your eyes on can be taken away just as fast; but the things you can’t see have always been a part of you and always will.

So tonight, play that blind man. Sit in a dark room and start looking around. Eventually, you will find yourself, then you can truly appreciate all of those important things that you are made of.

Leave the cold hard look on your teachers face

Leave the work papers locked in your brown briefcase

Let the fugitive go and leave no trace today

Leave the president on his liar’s throne

Leave the leathernecks far away from home

Let the foreigners grow their own backbones today

Leave the Mexicans in their crowded cars

Leave the businessmen in their fancy bars

Let the diplomats who come here from afar remain

Leave your lover’s face in your lock-heart chain

Leave your soccer moms cheering at the game

Leave your ego bundled up in your name today

Everything it must belong somewhere

The waves smacking the shore, the bow tied up in her hair

Yeah everything it must belong somewhere

I see that and I know I can’t stay here

Leave the dinner plate on the TV tray

Leave the softball glove in and don’t go play

Leave the family time in the olden days today

Leave the sticky gum stuck to your right shoe’s soul

Leave the dead people in their six-foot hole

Let the fat kids sitting at their game controls remain

Everything it must belong somewhere,

The old ruins out in Egypt, and the new ones over here

Everything it must belong somewhere

I see that and I know I can’t stay here

Leave the oceans roar in your condo towns

Leave the constable to make his rounds

Leave the men in black on the Whitehouse grounds today

Leave your hopes and dreams in your pay load

Leave your wasteful trash out by the road

Let your daughters in their shopping mode remain

Everything it must belong somewhere

They kept the woman in the kitchen, Threw the man out to make his share

Yeah everything it must belong somewhere

I see that and I know a can’t stay here

Yeah, I see that and I know I can’t stay here

I listened this morning as I walked down to the sand

“Whooosh, Shhhh, Whoooosh, Shhhh, Whoooosh”

That ever-present sound of the ocean that is so familiar to all of us.

Then I stepped off of the rough, splinter-ridden walkway

And onto the cool, damp, morning sand

It ground its way through my toes, sending a cold shiver up my back

The sun was just coming up, a big, soft-glowing, red fireball

And it caught the rest of the sky on fire

With flames from yellow to orange to red,

And a few hints of pure white as it burned through the clouds

On the horizon sat three shrimp boats, just shadows in front of the fireball

Happily sending the stench of fresh fish to shore as they raked in their payload

Now the entire beach smelled like a pier, minus the aroma of old men and their Skoal

So I stood with the warm land breeze on my back

And the cold sea spray on my front, tasting the wet, salty air

It reminded me of getting a taste of that horribly salted ocean water when I was little

Then it started to rain, it was a delicate, warm mist

That fell with a low ‘pitter patter’ on the sand, but with the sound of a shower over the water

Then, before I drowned on the shore, I ran back home.

Today I watched the ocean. She just sat there, peacefully. Growing larger for a few hours as she slowly ate the beach. Then, just as fast, she shrank back down to sleep. And while she was asleep, I slowly approached her. I knew she was fun and refreshing, so I thought we would play. But it was dark now, and I guess she just didn’t recognize me, because every time I got close, she slapped me down. Apparently, she didn’t want to be bothered. I could understand that, most of the time I feel the same way: I wish I was ocean size, no one moves you and no one tries. She was the only one to survive besides Noah, so she could lie all day and soak in the sun, unbothered for ages. Until these men came to fish on her shores and swim across her belly. But that’s alright, because she could lash back if it really bothered her. She could swallow us all up if she wanted. So I think I’ll leave her be for now.

Personification: reference to abstraction or inanimate object(s) as though they had human qualities or abilities. Can be uses in an artful way or to bring clarity.

Personifying The Ocean: She…

Sat peacefully

Ate the beach

Went to sleep

Slapped me down

Didn’t recognize me

Didn’t want to be bothered

Survived the flood

Lay and soak in the sun

Has a “belly”

Lash back

Swallows us all

Allusion: explaining or clarifying something by referencing or alluding to another work: i.e. The Bible or a song.

Allusions…

Noah and the flood, The Bible- Genesis 7:17-24

“I wish I was ocean size, no one moves you and no one tries”

Pigs in Zen

Jane’s Addiction

Nothing’s Shocking

Today, there is a constant battle for “freedom” *cough,cough,oil*. When we think of this battle, we think of the Middle East: the war-torn home of many and the basin of the terrorist’s global Jihad against infidels. The government feeds us lines about how we are in war to defend our freedom and support the world of democracy. For the latter part, I think a strong global institution such as democracy has it’s own backbone and can support itself. It would be much more fitting to say that we are trying to spread democracy, not support it. And in our good-intentioned crusades for freedom, I believe we have become just a tad too imperialistic. I believe the Middle East should share the same freedoms we do; but at the same time, I don’t think it will happen until the people of that land are ready to accept it. We would not have had a successful revolution against mother England had we not particularly wanted it. France could not have just come over and killed all the Tories and called it a day, as we are trying to do now. Fun fact, in Saudi Arabia, the heart of the Mid-East, women who refuse to marry the man they are betrothed to are either stoned to death or drowned by their father, whichever one is their fathers choice. To me, it doesn’t sound much like a War on Terror is going to all of the sudden bring about a new, democratic desert oasis. Conversely, a strong democratic country will never lose its freedoms to any Islamic extremist group. So as for saying that we are fighting to defend our freedom absurd. There is nothing anyone could do to revert us into a dictatorship or enslave us and take away our freedom. We are however defending American lives, but not freedoms.

So, as for the true price of freedom, it is impossible to assess at this time. There is now new freedom fetus to fight for, and no endangered freedom to defend. However, there are many other reasons why we are currently in a war, and I believe we still have good reasons to fight.

Mrs. Robinson

Honors English III

A Blind Man in the Dark

It’s not that I’m watching to see something happen, I just like to look. Stars never really change while I watch them like other things do. People watch clouds to see the faces change, and they watch clocks to see time change, but a stargazer doesn’t watch for change. And even though stars aren’t in constant shift like clouds or time, these is always a certain freshness to looking at the night sky. You may think that you know what the nocturnal sky looks sky looks like, but every time you really looked you are amazed and overwhelmed by the beauty and abundance of stars. No matter how often you do it, it never gets old. The amazement never dwindles.

On this particular night, I was on the beach. I don’t remember why I went, but it was the sky that compelled me to stay. I caught a glimpse of the cosmological beauty and I couldn’t walk away. That is when I realized that the best place to witness phenomenon of the night. There are usually no lights on the beach to brighten up the atmosphere, so the exquisite luster of these heavenly bodies illuminates the sky. And at the beach, on a very clear night, you can look straight across the ocean and see stars. They go all the way to the dark horizon. You can also see the moon’s bright shadow shimmering on the rolling water. Every now and then, you will see a shooting star. It will appear in the corner of your eye, a beautiful streaming tail of light. No matter how bright it actually is, it will seem to illuminate the entire sky. This is a true magnificence, something that will in your heart for the rest of the night. Shooting stars also have the astonishing ability to make you a child again. No matter how silly it may seem, you will make a wish on this magically divine bullet. So I sat there on the beach running my fingers through the cool, gritty sand, listening to the supple roar of the ocean, and I felt myself being enveloped with the chilly, moist ocean breeze. The beach is fun during the day, a place for recreation. You can swim, surf, fish and tan. But the beach isn’t very interesting as it sits under the sun. It is much more beautiful and peaceful at night, and a good place to just sit and think. This night, while I sat on the beach thinking, I felt like I was lying on my bed trying to fall asleep. I was in my dark room under my cool sheets. The waves were notes of soft music. The breeze was the soft wind of the air vent. And there were the stars. They were all the tiny lights you see at night: the little green dot on the computer monitor, the glow of the alarm, the blinking midnight clock on the stereo that you never bother to set.

Sometimes, when your in the perfectly right mood, a dark room can show you the most, just like you can see the most on the beach at night. When you are in a room with light you tend to look at the things touched by that light: the walls, the television, the ever-spinning fan. Much like how I look at the stars when I’m on the beach. But if you sit in the same room in the absolute dark, you start to see all the important things. I personally believe that the best way to see yourself is not through a mirror, but in the dark. Only there are all distractions gone. You are forced to look at things you otherwise couldn’t see, the deep-inside-but-just-under-the-surface things: your loves, your memories, your desires; especially your desires. Whenever I’m in a dark room, I really start to think about the things I want, whether it be something important, or that I just want the light back.

For some reason, we tend to think that we need light, that we can’t live without it. Well, I have yet to meet a night that I couldn’t survive. The dark does make it harder to see with our eyes, but what are eyes? They show us nothing, just the blatantly obvious things that all eyes can see. Can a blind man not see? Could Ray Charles not see his piano keys? Could Homer, the great storyteller, not see the things he spoke of. On the contrary, I believe that he has the best view of all. He is always in that dark room. And while he might occasionally miss out on some small things, he rarely ever misses the big picture. Anything that your eyes show you, your hands can show you, or your nose, or your tongue. But only when you go into that dark room and stop looking with you eyes can you see most things. You can’t see feelings with your eyes; not love, not hate, not happiness or gloom, not hope and faith. But aren’t these the most important things, our most cherished possessions? These feelings, these emotions, are our souls, the very fibers of our beings. Anything you lay your eyes on can be taken away just as fast as it came. But the things you can’t see have always been a part of you and always will.

So that night, sitting in the sand, I gained a whole new perspective on myself. This short trip to the beach showed me how much I appreciated the simple beauty of nature. It showed me that light isn’t always the means of sight; but most of all, it showed me a way to look at myself and find out who I am. It feels like the stars have shown me more about myself than they showed Galileo about the universe, or that they showed Christopher Columbus about navigation. And even if stars are not your crystal ball, they are always a true splendor. They have a way of making you forget about your grievances and truly appreciate the natural beauty.

So tonight, play that blind man. Sit under a night sky or lie in a dark room and start looking around. You will most likely find something magnificent. And if you are luck, you’ll eventually find yourself, and then you can truly appreciate all of those things that you are made of.

Mrs. Robinson

English III

November 17, 2007

The Power of Paper: how Hemingway

expresses himself through A Farewell to Arms

In the mid to late 1910s, Ernest Hemingway served as an ambulance driver for the Italian Army in World War I. A few years later, Hemingway wrote A Farewell to Arms, an autobiographical novel that follows Frederic Henry, the fictional representative of Hemingway, through his trials and tribulations in the war. Hemingway uses the character Henry as a fictional proxy to present his own troubles with alcohol, relationships, and politics in a way that attracts the reader and consoles himself.

World War I was a horrible war of attrition that desensitized as well as demoralized its soldiers. Hemingway, being no exception to this, developed a strong addiction to alcohol during his service. However, in A Farewell to Arms, Hemingway is very subtle about presenting his alcoholism through Henry. Henry says about wine, in a near drunken state that, “It is a wonderful thing. It burns out the stomach completely.”(172.) In the same breath, Henry glorifies alcohol even though he recognizes its dangers. But while he does frequently show Henry enjoying and even sometimes abusing alcohol, Hemmingway does not give his fictional self the normal alcoholic characteristics. There are a few reasons why he does this. First, because no one wants to be none as an alcoholic. Second, most alcoholics, including Hemingway, do not recognize the extent of their problem. And finally, Hemingway wants the reader to like Henry, and therefore himself. On one hand it is important to Hemingway to make the reader favor Henry’s character, but on the other he cannot completely ignore his drinking problem.

Another area where Hemingway fictionalizes his account of World War I is in his relationship with an English nurse. During his martial career, young Hemingway fell passionately in love with a nurse who eventually ran off with another Italian soldier. In A Farewell to Arms, however, it is quite the opposite; it is the nurse, Catherine Barkley, who becomes so attached to Henry. Hemingway gives an example of Henry’s apathy towards his relationship when Henry thinks “‘I knew I did not love Catherine Barkley nor had any idea of loving her. This was a game, like bridge, in which you said things instead of playing cards.’ “(30.) Also in A Farewell to Arms, the nurse dies instead of running off. Hemingway depicts his wartime love story in this fashion for reasons that are more internal than just attracting the reader. By writing it off as just a fling, he consoles himself about his lost love. As for Ms. Barkley dying in the novel, this could show spite or resentment towards the real life nurse for breaking his heart.

Hemingway also utilizes Henry as a way to express his political views. Several times in A Farewell to Arms, Henry expresses his views on the war. He says thing like,” and I had seen nothing sacred, and the things that were glorious had no glory and the sacrifices were like the stockyards at Chicago.” (185) Here Henry is talking about the war and it is very clear that this is the view of the speaker as well as the author himself. Hemmingway also takes a shot at the judicial system when Henry says,” I do not think they believed a word of the story and I thought it was silly but it was like law court. You did not want something reasonable, you wanted something technical and then stuck to it without explanations.” (281) Once again, this was the view of the speaker as well as the author. It was very important to Hemingway that he express his views on such subjects. Everyone needs to make a statement, and there is no better way for an author to do that than through a novel inspired by first hand experience.

In conclusion, Frederic Henry is utilized by Ernest Hemingway as a fictional messenger of many of his personal problems including alcoholism, bad relationships, and his problems against politics. Furthermore, Hemingway presents Henry in a way that is favorable to the reader and a consolation to himself. This shows us a new importance of books; it shows us how a work of literature, even a fictional novel, is not just a story but a gateway into the heart and soul of another person.