With so many box office hits to behold at your local theatre, one often overlooks the quiet films that slink their way into the hearts of many. Director-Screenwriter Jean-Pierre Jeunet succeeds at making a visually and emotionally moving film that even crosses language barriers. Jeunet’s Amelie accomplishes a quiet impact that whispers quality over blockbuster.
Amelie Poulain is a young waitress living in Paris. She is a meek voyeur that enjoys the simple pleasures in life, like skipping stones and dipping her hand in bags of grain. Instead of mulling over her own loveless life, she focuses her good deeds on the people around her. This in turn gives her a sense of confidence that allows her to pursue her own love interest, Nino Quincampoix. Amelie is not your standard love story in Paris. It is the story of an awkward girl that is discovering life and love in the most unconventional manner. One may consider this film to be magical realism, for it continually displays magical elements in otherwise realistic settings.
The film begins with a biography of Amelie’s childhood. One of the first scenes is the young Amelie pressing her face against the camera and making funny faces at the omniscient viewer. This awareness of the audience lends to the unique approach that Jeunet takes in forming a close bond between the viewer and his characters. This awareness will repeat, but Amelie and Nino are the only characters that will acknowledge the viewer. As the childhood biography continues the audience quickly learns of Amelie’s lonely sheltered life. Her father, an ex-army doctor, only touches her during routine physical check up’s. As a result, Amelie’s heart races when her father touches her. He assumes that she must have a heart condition and concludes that she cannot attend school or play outside with the other children. Her mother, a nervous school mistress, home schools Amelie. She dies due to a freak accident when Amelie is still very young. The unbearable home life is only confirmed when Amelie’s pet fish attempts suicide by jumping out of his bowl on numerous occasions. To escape, Amelie nurtures an active imagination. Here the magical realism is introduced by showing Amelie playing doctor with her pet monster and imagining that LP’s are made like pancakes. The director brings a child’s imagination to life on film, setting the fanciful mood for the rest of the film.
The film takes a significant amount of time introducing each character with a quick biography and a short list of their likes and dislikes. The narrator even introduces a friend’s cat and states that its favorite thing is overhearing children’s stories. At this time Amelie addresses the audience as an adult while in a movie theatre by saying “I like looking back at people’s faces in the dark”. Here the audience begins to understand Amelie is a quirky young woman that prefers watching other people enjoy themselves rather than be concerned with her own happiness. In the following scene the camera pans over the charming skyline of Montmartre, and then lowers slowly to show Amelie facing out with her back to the camera. In this scene the audience sees Amelie’s connection to the world. Although she seeks solitude, she still desires to be a part of this world. As Amelie stands on the rooftop the narrator states that she wonders how many people are having an organism at this time. Amelie turns to the camera and answers “fifteen”. She once again addresses the audience and forms a closer bond. Almost as if the audience is one of her magical imaginary friends that is accompanying her in this story.
The turning point for the movie is when Amelie is stunned by the news of Princess Diana’s death on TV. She is so stunned that she drops her bottle cap which rolls away and hits a loose bathroom tile, exposing the lost treasure box. She discovers the lost treasure of a boy that lived in her apartment a long time ago. She vows to return the box to the owner. If he is delighted then she will become a “do-gooder”. After anonymously returning the box of treasures she discovers a sense of harmony and is delighted that she finds the owner happily overwhelmed. She continues her good deeds, which include helping a blind man cross the street. She proceeds to walk the blind man a few blocks, describing every detail and smell surrounding him. The blind man is literally enlightened. The camera pans from a heavenly angle and zooms down quickly on the old man looking upward. He then glows a radiant light, as if he’s seen enough now that he can die a happy man.
The most interesting relationship is between Amelie and her equally nosey neighbor, which they call the glass man. Mr. Dufayel (the glass man) is an avid painter that due to a rare disease is confined to the safety of his home. From there he becomes as much an omniscient viewer as the audience. In one scene Dufayel shares his current painting with Amelie. His is stuck on one girl’s facial expression in the painting and says “she’s in the middle, yet she’s outside”. Amelie responds “maybe she’s just different”. Dufayel then says “when she was little she didn’t play with other children”. Dufayel is implying that Amelie is the lost girl in his painting. This shows that his knowledge of her goes deeper than originally let on.
As the movie continues with Amelie’s works of good deeds the audience sees the transformation of her character from meek and voyeuristic to a more confident and involved character. Her path crosses with Nino, a fellow dreamer that works in a porn shop and collects discarded pictures from booths at the train station. Although they have never officially met, both characters share active imaginations and a fanciful theme in their lives. Magical realism is again displayed when the pictures of the dog and goose above Amelie’s bed talk about her while she’s sleeping. Nino also has talking pictures in his bedroom that tell him Amelie is his soul mate.
As the movie builds up to its climatic conclusion of Amelie and Nino finally meeting, the film displays creative ways of showing Amelie’s growing love. At one point when she almost comes face to face with Nino she actually melts before the audience’s eyes. This is a great digital effect that conveys Amelie’s desperation and love for Nino. In this same scene Amelie is standing right behind Nino in the café. The director has no camera movement in this scene, which shows that something is happening between them. “To move the camera would disturb everything” says cinematographer Delbonnel. It is as if time was stopping for the two of them in the café. After Nino leaves the café, Amelie rushes to find him at the train station. As she finally approaches him in the busy station she hesitates and turns around to face the camera with a look of complete fear on her face. When she turns around to continue towards Nino she sees that he is no longer there. The camera pans out to show that not only is Nino gone, but the entire train station is empty. This moment and use of cinematography reveals Amelie’s deepest fear of being all alone. A fate she is not willing to succumb to.
After some help from friends and coworkers, Amelie and Nino finally meet. And as all good Parisian love stories go, they surely live happily ever after. The closing scene follows Amelie and Nino on his motor bike down the streets of Paris. Both acknowledge the camera and Amelie gives one last content look back at the camera.
Monday, July 21, 2008
Sunday, July 20, 2008
Ernest Hemingway's "Soldier's Home" a critique of the author and the character Harold Krebs
Ernest Hemingway is not only known for being one of America's most celebrated authors. The haunting of Hemingway’s darkest demons forever lives on in his characters. Like many authors Hemingway paralleled his fictional characters to his own tumultuous life. Many examples of how Hemingway pulled from his own personality and experiences lie between the pages of his stories. To follow I will present how Hemingway's life parallels those of some of his short story characters, specifically Harold Krebs in "Soldier's Home". Close consideration will be given to the similarities in the character Krebs’ childhood and upbringing compared to Hemingway's. I will also display how Hemingway modeled the character’s view of women after his own views. Following will be a closer look at the similarities between Hemingway's war experience and bouts with depression to those of the same character. To conclude I will present how the character Krebs’ attempts at escaping his emotions mirror Hemingway's own code regarding life and love.
Hemingway was born in Oak Park, a small suburb outside of Chicago. His father, Dr. Clarence Hemingway, was a Physician. His mother, Grace Hall Hemingway, was a trained singer that made the majority of the family's income by teaching voice lessons. Between his mother's feminist views and being the only boy in the family, Ernest suffered great oppression in his home life. After high school, Ernest would fore go college o pursue a career as a journalist. His true desire was to enlist in the army to fight overseas during World War II. His dreams of becoming a war hero were quickly deflated by his less that exceptional eyesight and his father's disapproval of his plans for his future. Shortly after taking a position as a cub reporter for the Kansas City Star, Hemingway left for France as an ambulance driver for the Red Cross. Only a short time after arriving, Hemingway experienced injuries and spent the rest of his stay in a hospital in Milan. The silver lining to his experience involved the infatuation with a stunning American nurse, Agnus von Kurowsky. He quickly fell in love with Agnus. Shortly after Hemingway returned to the states he received a Dear John letter from Agnus stating she had fallen in love with another.
After the war, Hemingway fell into a depressed mood. His family noted that he slept too much and seemed to have a lack in motivation. Most of his time was spent at the family lake house. There Hemingway drank and slept in late. In his early adulthood Hemingway's feelings of resentment towards his parents and his "suffocating domestic environment" in the Midwest seemed to grow. Throughout Hemingway’s life, he experienced great loss with a staggering number of suicides within his immediate family. He also suffered from the failure of more than one relationship. As a result the public witnessed the ongoing fight with mental and physical health issues, ultimately leading to his suicide in 1961. Like a train wreck, the public looked on as the talented writer self-destructed.
Much of Hemingway’s resentment towards his parents can be seen in his writing. Hemingway’s childhood was filled with an overbearing mother that neglected him emotionally. Hemingway’s mother, Grace Hemingway, “dominated her family, dictating the flow of family life” (Gale). Although Hemingway’s father was a physician, his earnings did not match those of Grace’s. Dr. Hemingway spent the majority of his time with at work, leaving Grace in charge of the family. Grace Hemingway, in all ways, was the head of the household. Grace was also a trained singer. She loved performing and “was by all accounts a dramatic woman, eager to draw attention to herself and less inclined to give attention to her children” (Gale). Grace’s self absorbed ways resulted in devastating loss in connection with her only son, Ernest. Similarities to Ernest’s own relationship with his mother can be found in the story of “Soldier’s Home”. The character Harold Krebs has a disconnection with his own mother. Hemingway writes; “She often came in when he was in bed and asked him to tell her about the war, but her attention always wandered” (Hemingway). God forbid Krebs’ mother did not use her manners and ask her son of his experiences in the war. Hemingway displays to the reader Mrs. Krebs’ true colors by showing her lack of interest in her own child. How very familiar this neglect is to Hemingway. Ernest also suffered from his mother’s constant nagging. “In a long 1920 letter, she warned him ‘Unless you come to yourself; cease your lazy loafing and pleasure seeking… and neglecting your duties to God and your savior Jesus Christ; there is nothing before you but bankruptcy” (McKenna). Ernest’s mother specialized in belittling his life and by conveniently preaching in such a religious manner. The character Krebs experiences a similar relationship with his mother. Mrs. Krebs nags Harold: “Have you decided what you are going to do yet, Harold? Don’t you think it’s about time? God has some work for everyone to do… there are no idle hands in his kingdom” (Hemingway). The reader sees the undeniable similarities between the young Hemingway and the character Krebs and the similar suffering they endured with their overbearing and disengaged mothers.
Although Hemingway’s father nutured his son’s love of sports and the outdoors, his lack of a backbone in the family superseded. “The discovery of his father’s apparent cowardice… and his suicide several years later left the boy with an emotional scar” (Gale 2ed, 17Vols). Hemingway portrays Krebs’ father in a similar light, writing “His father was non-committal” (Hemingway). Despite his absence in the everyday Hemingway household, the doctor maintained a devout Christian role and was very strict with the Hemingway children. “Nineteen going on thirty, he (Ernest) still did not own a library card… his father refused him that privilege” (McKenna). The character Krebs suffers from a similar controlling relationship with his own father. Hemingway writes “Before Krebs went away to the war he had never been allowed to drive the family motor car”. Both Hemingway and the character Krebs manage to bow at the mercy of their emotionally absent, controlling fathers.
Hemingway, like many authors, creates his characters with the same likes and dislikes as himself. “In the autumn of 1920, Hadley was twenty-eight, a tall young woman with bobbed auburn hair” (Beegel). Hadley was Hemingway’s second love and his first wife. When Hemingway wrote “Soldier’s Home” in 1925, he displays Krebs’ preference in women to his own. Hemingway writes “There were so many good-looking young girls. Most of them had their hair cut short… He liked their bobbed hair and the way they walked”. Hemingway also shares his history of interacting with women with the reader in the relationships Krebs has with the women in his own family. Author Susan Beegel writes that “Hemingway grew up in a female-dominated household, used to quarreling and competing with his older sister, Marcelline, and showing off for three admiring younger sisters”. Hemingway showing off for his admiring sisters carries an uncanny resemblance to the relationship Krebs has with his younger sisters. This is evident when Hemingway writes “In the evening he practiced on his clarinet… He was still a hero to his two younger sisters”. The reader is also invited to glimpse of Hemingway’s views of himself in regards to women when he writes about how Krebs “liked the girls that were walking along the other side of the street”. Hemingway implies that the girls walk on the other side of the street in order to avoid the awkward Krebs. Hemingway portrays Krebs as a monster in the eyes of women. The irony is that Hemingway was actually a good looking man and found adequate success with women throughout his life. He, however, sees himself as a. Hemingway is the awkward and inadequate character Krebs.
It is known that Hemingway suffered from depression for most of his life. “In November 1960 he was sent to the Mayo Clinic and diagnosed as suffering from diabetes, cirrhosis of the liver, and depression so severe that his psychiatrist prescribed electroshock treatments” (Literary pg. 35). His sister Marcelline recounts his mood by stating “In between (his) extrovert activities Ernie had quiet, almost depressed intervals… She describes her brother as staying in bed for long periods of time, drinking on the sly to ease his pain, retreating from family activities and showing little inclination to forge on adult identity for himself” (Stewart). This speculation displays Hemingway’s manic moods and his lack of motivation to do much of anything productive. This description parallels the character Krebs after his return from the war. Hemingway writes “During this time, it was late summer, he was sleeping late in bed, getting up to walk down town to the library to get a book, eating lunch at home, reading on the front porch until he became bored and then walking down through the town to spend the hottest hours of the day in the cool dark of the pool room”. The character Krebs, like Hemingway, was displaying the same depressed mood. His day was quite mundane as it only consisted of him “practicing his clarinet, strolling down town, reading and going to bed” (Hemingway). Hemingway also evokes to the reader Krebs’ severe depression by writing “His mother would have given him breakfast in bed if he had wanted it”. This implies that Krebs was not eating and his mother would even resort to bringing it to him in bed if it meant he would eat something. Author Susan Beegel writes “For months after his return home in January 1919, Hemingway hung around his parents’ home and cottage drinking and smoking clandestinely, hunting and fishing with friends, swimming and boating with local girls”. Although Hemingway appears to have possessed a more active and social role after his return from the war, Krebs represents how alone and depressed Hemingway felt inside.
As discovered thus far, Hemingway’s war experience was less than ideal. His less than perfect eyesight kept Hemingway from enlisting in the army as a soldier during World War I. Although the young Hemingway still participated in the war as an ambulance driver, his “own war story embellishments are recounted by Reynolds” (McKenna). Hemingway’s pride superseded his conscience. From Milan, Hemingway wrote letters to his family telling of his experiences during the War. Author Matthew Stewart recounts “Besides putting on the brave and happy face the later letters could well constitute a bid for public attention”. Stewart continues “Hemingway’s early letters were delivered to the local press by his parents, and Hemingway’s subsequent letters were surely written under the apprehension that they might well find a public audience”. The character Krebs experiences a similar desire to be heard and respected for his time in the war. Hemingway displays this when he wrote “His town had heard too many atrocity stories to be thrilled by actualities. Krebs found that to be listened to at all he had to lie…” Author J.F. Kobler notes that “Ernest Hemingway’s ‘Soldier’s Home’ is the author’s mea culpa for his exaggerations about his role in World War I”. The reader can see the same blame lying with the character Krebs as Hemingway writes “Krebs acquired the nausea in regard to experience that is the result of untruth or exaggeration”. The guilt of his lies and exaggerations about the war were making Harold Krebs physically ill. Both Hemingway and the character Krebs are portrayed as guilt ridden soldiers. The difference is Hemingway dealt with his guilt by writing a an autobiographical story about his war lies.
As proven thus far, Ernest Hemingway experienced an unconventional home life compared to most young people. His feminist mother and his absent father essentially created the monster within Hemingway that he would fight for his entire life. To try to repress his emotions and avoid an outcome similar to his parents, Hemingway used emotional barriers to escape his fear. Hemingway believed that “It is the code of the hero who suffers from an unreasonable wound, and who is inwardly tough and outwardly reticent. One must show no emotions and form no emotional attachment” (Pidgeon). He believed that by becoming hard and showing no emotions he would remain protected from the hurt of the world. Like Hemingway, the character Krebs portrays a similar code. As his mother nags and preaches to him about his less than exceptional life “Krebs looked at the bacon fat hardening on his plate” (Hemingway). At this moment the author uses symbolism to compare Krebs’ hardening emotions to that of “the bacon fat hardening on his plate”. Krebs is becoming numb to the constant berating of his parents. Hemingway was not only building up emotional barriers against his parents. Over the years, he had become emotionally detached from the opposite sex. “In Hemingway’s code, love is dangerous and therefore inadmissible since to love is to render oneself vulnerable to fate. When you love you lose, and the law lies beyond the will of man” (Pidgeon). This code is sadly dark and cold. It is apparent in the story of “Soldier’s Home” that Hemingway modeled the character Krebs’ own alienation from emotions to his own. After Harold’s return from the war “He liked the girls that were walking along the other side of the street” (Hemingway). One may first notice the distance between Krebs and the girls and feel pity for the character. However, one might consider that Krebs feels more comfortable with the distance. Krebs states that “you did not need a girl”, especially “not now when things were getting good again” (Hemingway). Both Hemingway and the character Krebs are searching for a way out of their paralyzing emotional baggage. They find this escape in emotional barriers.
Ernest Hemingway suffered from an unconventional family life that undoubtedly left him emotionally scarred. His domineering mother and cowardice father left Hemingway with a less than perfect model of how to be a mentally strong and persevering man. As Hemingway once said “The writer’s job is to tell the truth, all you have to do is write one true sentence. Write the truest sentence you know” (Gale). As depressing as it may have been, Hemingway indeed wrote the truest sentence he knew. He, undoubtedly, wrote several true sentences. Writing was Hemingway’s outlet. It was his fate to share his life within the pages of his stories. In “Soldier’s Home” Hemingway brings his pain to life, to be forever immortalized in the character Harold Krebs.
Hemingway was born in Oak Park, a small suburb outside of Chicago. His father, Dr. Clarence Hemingway, was a Physician. His mother, Grace Hall Hemingway, was a trained singer that made the majority of the family's income by teaching voice lessons. Between his mother's feminist views and being the only boy in the family, Ernest suffered great oppression in his home life. After high school, Ernest would fore go college o pursue a career as a journalist. His true desire was to enlist in the army to fight overseas during World War II. His dreams of becoming a war hero were quickly deflated by his less that exceptional eyesight and his father's disapproval of his plans for his future. Shortly after taking a position as a cub reporter for the Kansas City Star, Hemingway left for France as an ambulance driver for the Red Cross. Only a short time after arriving, Hemingway experienced injuries and spent the rest of his stay in a hospital in Milan. The silver lining to his experience involved the infatuation with a stunning American nurse, Agnus von Kurowsky. He quickly fell in love with Agnus. Shortly after Hemingway returned to the states he received a Dear John letter from Agnus stating she had fallen in love with another.
After the war, Hemingway fell into a depressed mood. His family noted that he slept too much and seemed to have a lack in motivation. Most of his time was spent at the family lake house. There Hemingway drank and slept in late. In his early adulthood Hemingway's feelings of resentment towards his parents and his "suffocating domestic environment" in the Midwest seemed to grow. Throughout Hemingway’s life, he experienced great loss with a staggering number of suicides within his immediate family. He also suffered from the failure of more than one relationship. As a result the public witnessed the ongoing fight with mental and physical health issues, ultimately leading to his suicide in 1961. Like a train wreck, the public looked on as the talented writer self-destructed.
Much of Hemingway’s resentment towards his parents can be seen in his writing. Hemingway’s childhood was filled with an overbearing mother that neglected him emotionally. Hemingway’s mother, Grace Hemingway, “dominated her family, dictating the flow of family life” (Gale). Although Hemingway’s father was a physician, his earnings did not match those of Grace’s. Dr. Hemingway spent the majority of his time with at work, leaving Grace in charge of the family. Grace Hemingway, in all ways, was the head of the household. Grace was also a trained singer. She loved performing and “was by all accounts a dramatic woman, eager to draw attention to herself and less inclined to give attention to her children” (Gale). Grace’s self absorbed ways resulted in devastating loss in connection with her only son, Ernest. Similarities to Ernest’s own relationship with his mother can be found in the story of “Soldier’s Home”. The character Harold Krebs has a disconnection with his own mother. Hemingway writes; “She often came in when he was in bed and asked him to tell her about the war, but her attention always wandered” (Hemingway). God forbid Krebs’ mother did not use her manners and ask her son of his experiences in the war. Hemingway displays to the reader Mrs. Krebs’ true colors by showing her lack of interest in her own child. How very familiar this neglect is to Hemingway. Ernest also suffered from his mother’s constant nagging. “In a long 1920 letter, she warned him ‘Unless you come to yourself; cease your lazy loafing and pleasure seeking… and neglecting your duties to God and your savior Jesus Christ; there is nothing before you but bankruptcy” (McKenna). Ernest’s mother specialized in belittling his life and by conveniently preaching in such a religious manner. The character Krebs experiences a similar relationship with his mother. Mrs. Krebs nags Harold: “Have you decided what you are going to do yet, Harold? Don’t you think it’s about time? God has some work for everyone to do… there are no idle hands in his kingdom” (Hemingway). The reader sees the undeniable similarities between the young Hemingway and the character Krebs and the similar suffering they endured with their overbearing and disengaged mothers.
Although Hemingway’s father nutured his son’s love of sports and the outdoors, his lack of a backbone in the family superseded. “The discovery of his father’s apparent cowardice… and his suicide several years later left the boy with an emotional scar” (Gale 2ed, 17Vols). Hemingway portrays Krebs’ father in a similar light, writing “His father was non-committal” (Hemingway). Despite his absence in the everyday Hemingway household, the doctor maintained a devout Christian role and was very strict with the Hemingway children. “Nineteen going on thirty, he (Ernest) still did not own a library card… his father refused him that privilege” (McKenna). The character Krebs suffers from a similar controlling relationship with his own father. Hemingway writes “Before Krebs went away to the war he had never been allowed to drive the family motor car”. Both Hemingway and the character Krebs manage to bow at the mercy of their emotionally absent, controlling fathers.
Hemingway, like many authors, creates his characters with the same likes and dislikes as himself. “In the autumn of 1920, Hadley was twenty-eight, a tall young woman with bobbed auburn hair” (Beegel). Hadley was Hemingway’s second love and his first wife. When Hemingway wrote “Soldier’s Home” in 1925, he displays Krebs’ preference in women to his own. Hemingway writes “There were so many good-looking young girls. Most of them had their hair cut short… He liked their bobbed hair and the way they walked”. Hemingway also shares his history of interacting with women with the reader in the relationships Krebs has with the women in his own family. Author Susan Beegel writes that “Hemingway grew up in a female-dominated household, used to quarreling and competing with his older sister, Marcelline, and showing off for three admiring younger sisters”. Hemingway showing off for his admiring sisters carries an uncanny resemblance to the relationship Krebs has with his younger sisters. This is evident when Hemingway writes “In the evening he practiced on his clarinet… He was still a hero to his two younger sisters”. The reader is also invited to glimpse of Hemingway’s views of himself in regards to women when he writes about how Krebs “liked the girls that were walking along the other side of the street”. Hemingway implies that the girls walk on the other side of the street in order to avoid the awkward Krebs. Hemingway portrays Krebs as a monster in the eyes of women. The irony is that Hemingway was actually a good looking man and found adequate success with women throughout his life. He, however, sees himself as a. Hemingway is the awkward and inadequate character Krebs.
It is known that Hemingway suffered from depression for most of his life. “In November 1960 he was sent to the Mayo Clinic and diagnosed as suffering from diabetes, cirrhosis of the liver, and depression so severe that his psychiatrist prescribed electroshock treatments” (Literary pg. 35). His sister Marcelline recounts his mood by stating “In between (his) extrovert activities Ernie had quiet, almost depressed intervals… She describes her brother as staying in bed for long periods of time, drinking on the sly to ease his pain, retreating from family activities and showing little inclination to forge on adult identity for himself” (Stewart). This speculation displays Hemingway’s manic moods and his lack of motivation to do much of anything productive. This description parallels the character Krebs after his return from the war. Hemingway writes “During this time, it was late summer, he was sleeping late in bed, getting up to walk down town to the library to get a book, eating lunch at home, reading on the front porch until he became bored and then walking down through the town to spend the hottest hours of the day in the cool dark of the pool room”. The character Krebs, like Hemingway, was displaying the same depressed mood. His day was quite mundane as it only consisted of him “practicing his clarinet, strolling down town, reading and going to bed” (Hemingway). Hemingway also evokes to the reader Krebs’ severe depression by writing “His mother would have given him breakfast in bed if he had wanted it”. This implies that Krebs was not eating and his mother would even resort to bringing it to him in bed if it meant he would eat something. Author Susan Beegel writes “For months after his return home in January 1919, Hemingway hung around his parents’ home and cottage drinking and smoking clandestinely, hunting and fishing with friends, swimming and boating with local girls”. Although Hemingway appears to have possessed a more active and social role after his return from the war, Krebs represents how alone and depressed Hemingway felt inside.
As discovered thus far, Hemingway’s war experience was less than ideal. His less than perfect eyesight kept Hemingway from enlisting in the army as a soldier during World War I. Although the young Hemingway still participated in the war as an ambulance driver, his “own war story embellishments are recounted by Reynolds” (McKenna). Hemingway’s pride superseded his conscience. From Milan, Hemingway wrote letters to his family telling of his experiences during the War. Author Matthew Stewart recounts “Besides putting on the brave and happy face the later letters could well constitute a bid for public attention”. Stewart continues “Hemingway’s early letters were delivered to the local press by his parents, and Hemingway’s subsequent letters were surely written under the apprehension that they might well find a public audience”. The character Krebs experiences a similar desire to be heard and respected for his time in the war. Hemingway displays this when he wrote “His town had heard too many atrocity stories to be thrilled by actualities. Krebs found that to be listened to at all he had to lie…” Author J.F. Kobler notes that “Ernest Hemingway’s ‘Soldier’s Home’ is the author’s mea culpa for his exaggerations about his role in World War I”. The reader can see the same blame lying with the character Krebs as Hemingway writes “Krebs acquired the nausea in regard to experience that is the result of untruth or exaggeration”. The guilt of his lies and exaggerations about the war were making Harold Krebs physically ill. Both Hemingway and the character Krebs are portrayed as guilt ridden soldiers. The difference is Hemingway dealt with his guilt by writing a an autobiographical story about his war lies.
As proven thus far, Ernest Hemingway experienced an unconventional home life compared to most young people. His feminist mother and his absent father essentially created the monster within Hemingway that he would fight for his entire life. To try to repress his emotions and avoid an outcome similar to his parents, Hemingway used emotional barriers to escape his fear. Hemingway believed that “It is the code of the hero who suffers from an unreasonable wound, and who is inwardly tough and outwardly reticent. One must show no emotions and form no emotional attachment” (Pidgeon). He believed that by becoming hard and showing no emotions he would remain protected from the hurt of the world. Like Hemingway, the character Krebs portrays a similar code. As his mother nags and preaches to him about his less than exceptional life “Krebs looked at the bacon fat hardening on his plate” (Hemingway). At this moment the author uses symbolism to compare Krebs’ hardening emotions to that of “the bacon fat hardening on his plate”. Krebs is becoming numb to the constant berating of his parents. Hemingway was not only building up emotional barriers against his parents. Over the years, he had become emotionally detached from the opposite sex. “In Hemingway’s code, love is dangerous and therefore inadmissible since to love is to render oneself vulnerable to fate. When you love you lose, and the law lies beyond the will of man” (Pidgeon). This code is sadly dark and cold. It is apparent in the story of “Soldier’s Home” that Hemingway modeled the character Krebs’ own alienation from emotions to his own. After Harold’s return from the war “He liked the girls that were walking along the other side of the street” (Hemingway). One may first notice the distance between Krebs and the girls and feel pity for the character. However, one might consider that Krebs feels more comfortable with the distance. Krebs states that “you did not need a girl”, especially “not now when things were getting good again” (Hemingway). Both Hemingway and the character Krebs are searching for a way out of their paralyzing emotional baggage. They find this escape in emotional barriers.
Ernest Hemingway suffered from an unconventional family life that undoubtedly left him emotionally scarred. His domineering mother and cowardice father left Hemingway with a less than perfect model of how to be a mentally strong and persevering man. As Hemingway once said “The writer’s job is to tell the truth, all you have to do is write one true sentence. Write the truest sentence you know” (Gale). As depressing as it may have been, Hemingway indeed wrote the truest sentence he knew. He, undoubtedly, wrote several true sentences. Writing was Hemingway’s outlet. It was his fate to share his life within the pages of his stories. In “Soldier’s Home” Hemingway brings his pain to life, to be forever immortalized in the character Harold Krebs.
A Compare/Contrast by Groom
Authors are given only so many tools to help convey their message to the reader. Such tools as symbolism, foreshadow, characterization and plot are some of the more prevalent tools that any well respected author will use at their pleasure. Where the freedom lies is in how an author chooses to manipulate these story building blocks. Many stories become linked in an almost kismet manner by similar use of any of the aforementioned. Although Hawthorne’s Young Goodman Brown and Jackson’s The Lottery were not purposely created to complement one another, they are eternally linked for their likeness in regards to their dark plot, symbolic use of characters, and noted use of foreshadowing of something horrible to come.
In The Lottery, Jackson describes the morning of the lottery as “clear and sunny, with the fresh warmth of a full-summer day” (Jackson). This is an ironic description to what’s to come later that day. In contrast, Young Goodman Brown begins with a more somber description. Hawthorne, without hesitation, introduces the setting of this story in the first sentence “Young Goodman Brown came forth at sunset into the street of Salem village” (Hawthorne 128). Hawthorne and Jackson both introduce plots with a static community. In Young Goodman Brown, Hawthorne depicts a town that not only is known for its ritualistic witchcraft, but for the rituals of burning witches at the stake. He continues to present a community that is paralyzed by tradition by describing the numerous amounts of familiar faces Goodman Brown sees at the meeting in the forest. Hawthorne writes “Among them… appeared faces that would be seen next day at the council board of the province, and other which, Sabbath after Sabbath looked devoutly heavenward…” (Hawthorne 137). The author is evoking the image of a ritualistic community that is as stagnant as a murky lake. In comparison, Jackson depicts a similar plot with a village that cannot turn their heads on tradition in The Lottery. As with Young Goodman Brown the reader gets the idea that the traditions have long been in place. The villagers in The Lottery would appear to the reader to have more fear of breaking tradition. This is apparent when the author writes of the old box that “ Mr. Summers spoke frequently to the villagers about making a new box, but no one liked to upset even as much tradition as represented by the black box” (Jackson). The villagers are so concerned with changing even a minor detail that they avoid replacing the shabby black box.
Both The Lottery and Young Goodman Brown use character names to symbolize deeper meaning in the story. In The Lottery, Hawthorne names two main characters Mr. Summers and Mr. Graves. As the reader turns the pages, it becomes evident that the author is evoking great symbolism and foreshadowing by naming the orchestrators of the lottery Summers and Graves. The author is implying that every summer there will be graves. Hawthorne evokes the image that Summers and Graves represent death in the small village. They are, in essence, the Grim Reaper. In Young Goodman Brown, the author once again uses the names of the main characters to represent symbolism in the story. After seeing what Young Goodman Brown’s initial intentions were in the forest, the reader sees the symbolism in his name. He may not be so “good”. Even more capturing is the name of his “aptly named goodly” wife, Faith (Hawthorne). With her pink ribbons and supposed suitable name, Faith symbolizes Goodman Brown’s religious faith and his innocence. All which is to be lost this night if he doesn’t “pray tarry with me this night, dear husband, of all nights in the year” (Hawthorne 129). The author displays great use of play on words in the story. As Goodman Brown states when he is late to his meeting “Faith kept me back” (Hawthorne 130) the reader is provoked to imagine what horrible thing is about to happen.
Both authors succeed at foreshadowing the dark outcomes of their plots. In The Lottery, Jackson begins to hint to the dark conclusion in the second paragraph by describing how the “feeling of liberty sat uneasily on most” of the school children (Jackson). She continues with demonstrating the preparations of Bobby Martin stuffing “his pockets full of stones” (Jackson). The author continues with heavy foreshadowing throughout the story with even hinting to the death of Tessie Hutchinson when Mr. Summers says “thought we were going to have to get on without you, Tessie” (Jackson). This is a clear foreshadow of her death. The foreshadowing in Young Goodman Brown is just as frequent, yet more subtle. Hawthorne does not make it as clear as to who is facing death at the end. Instead the reader is made aware of the impending “death” of innocence. Goodman Brown tells his wife Faith to “go to bed at dusk, and no harm will come of thee” (Hawthorne 129). This statement warns the reader of something bad that is going to happen after dusk. The author also alerts the reader to a loss by using the pink ribbon in Faith’s hair as a symbol of her virtue and his faith. Towards the end of the story Goodman Brown “seized it, and beheld a pink ribbon” from a tree branch. Brown cries “My Faith is gone” (Hawthorne 136). The pink ribbon is his lost faith and her lost innocence.
In Jackson’s The Lottery and Hawthorne’s Young Goodman Brown, both authors uses similar static plots with characters that hold true to deep traditions, no matter how demented they may seem. The characters in both stories symbolize grave outcomes and a loss of innocence. In conclusion, the reader is provoked by the authors to understand the deeper meaning behind the rituals of the two small towns and the effect on the lives of those involved.
In The Lottery, Jackson describes the morning of the lottery as “clear and sunny, with the fresh warmth of a full-summer day” (Jackson). This is an ironic description to what’s to come later that day. In contrast, Young Goodman Brown begins with a more somber description. Hawthorne, without hesitation, introduces the setting of this story in the first sentence “Young Goodman Brown came forth at sunset into the street of Salem village” (Hawthorne 128). Hawthorne and Jackson both introduce plots with a static community. In Young Goodman Brown, Hawthorne depicts a town that not only is known for its ritualistic witchcraft, but for the rituals of burning witches at the stake. He continues to present a community that is paralyzed by tradition by describing the numerous amounts of familiar faces Goodman Brown sees at the meeting in the forest. Hawthorne writes “Among them… appeared faces that would be seen next day at the council board of the province, and other which, Sabbath after Sabbath looked devoutly heavenward…” (Hawthorne 137). The author is evoking the image of a ritualistic community that is as stagnant as a murky lake. In comparison, Jackson depicts a similar plot with a village that cannot turn their heads on tradition in The Lottery. As with Young Goodman Brown the reader gets the idea that the traditions have long been in place. The villagers in The Lottery would appear to the reader to have more fear of breaking tradition. This is apparent when the author writes of the old box that “ Mr. Summers spoke frequently to the villagers about making a new box, but no one liked to upset even as much tradition as represented by the black box” (Jackson). The villagers are so concerned with changing even a minor detail that they avoid replacing the shabby black box.
Both The Lottery and Young Goodman Brown use character names to symbolize deeper meaning in the story. In The Lottery, Hawthorne names two main characters Mr. Summers and Mr. Graves. As the reader turns the pages, it becomes evident that the author is evoking great symbolism and foreshadowing by naming the orchestrators of the lottery Summers and Graves. The author is implying that every summer there will be graves. Hawthorne evokes the image that Summers and Graves represent death in the small village. They are, in essence, the Grim Reaper. In Young Goodman Brown, the author once again uses the names of the main characters to represent symbolism in the story. After seeing what Young Goodman Brown’s initial intentions were in the forest, the reader sees the symbolism in his name. He may not be so “good”. Even more capturing is the name of his “aptly named goodly” wife, Faith (Hawthorne). With her pink ribbons and supposed suitable name, Faith symbolizes Goodman Brown’s religious faith and his innocence. All which is to be lost this night if he doesn’t “pray tarry with me this night, dear husband, of all nights in the year” (Hawthorne 129). The author displays great use of play on words in the story. As Goodman Brown states when he is late to his meeting “Faith kept me back” (Hawthorne 130) the reader is provoked to imagine what horrible thing is about to happen.
Both authors succeed at foreshadowing the dark outcomes of their plots. In The Lottery, Jackson begins to hint to the dark conclusion in the second paragraph by describing how the “feeling of liberty sat uneasily on most” of the school children (Jackson). She continues with demonstrating the preparations of Bobby Martin stuffing “his pockets full of stones” (Jackson). The author continues with heavy foreshadowing throughout the story with even hinting to the death of Tessie Hutchinson when Mr. Summers says “thought we were going to have to get on without you, Tessie” (Jackson). This is a clear foreshadow of her death. The foreshadowing in Young Goodman Brown is just as frequent, yet more subtle. Hawthorne does not make it as clear as to who is facing death at the end. Instead the reader is made aware of the impending “death” of innocence. Goodman Brown tells his wife Faith to “go to bed at dusk, and no harm will come of thee” (Hawthorne 129). This statement warns the reader of something bad that is going to happen after dusk. The author also alerts the reader to a loss by using the pink ribbon in Faith’s hair as a symbol of her virtue and his faith. Towards the end of the story Goodman Brown “seized it, and beheld a pink ribbon” from a tree branch. Brown cries “My Faith is gone” (Hawthorne 136). The pink ribbon is his lost faith and her lost innocence.
In Jackson’s The Lottery and Hawthorne’s Young Goodman Brown, both authors uses similar static plots with characters that hold true to deep traditions, no matter how demented they may seem. The characters in both stories symbolize grave outcomes and a loss of innocence. In conclusion, the reader is provoked by the authors to understand the deeper meaning behind the rituals of the two small towns and the effect on the lives of those involved.
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