"If a writer of prose knows enough about what he is writing about he may omit things that he knows and the reader, if the writer is writing truly enough, will have a feeling of those things as strongly as though the writer had stated them. The dignity of movement of the iceberg is due to only one-eighth of it being above water. The writer who omits things because he does not know them only makes hollow places in his writing."
Knowing that Hemingway purposefully omits certain parts from his stories, complete one of the following in at least 400 words:
- Consider the short story "Cat in the Rain." Write the ending that you think Hemingway might have intended.
- Consider the short story "Out of Season." Write the ending that you think Hemingway might have intended.
- Consider the short story "Hills Like White Elephants." Write the beginning that you think Hemingway might have intended.
Be sure that your writing not only reflects the elements of a short story, but also reflects the style of the story that you have chosen. For example, "Hills Like White Elephants" is mostly a dialogue between two characters. It would not make sense stylistically if you wrote the beginning of the story in rich prose. Think about it!
If you need to, feel free to send me a copy to look over before posting.
I will take in consideration the short story, " Cat in the Rain" written by Hemingway.
ReplyDeleteI read the conclusion of this short story, and I found it very interesting to be analysed. I think that for the conclusion of this short story, Hemingway wanted to tell to the readers, many hidden themes, that are common in everyday life, and also in many relationships.
This is a story of an American couple, who is spending their holidays in an italian hotel. It is a rainy day, and the woman tries to protect a cat from the raindrops. Then she got back in her hotel room, and tell her wish to have a cat to her husband. The husband does not care about what she says, he is just interested on his readings.
The short story ends with a knock at the door.
After analysing this ending, I think the author wanted to portray the marriage problems. Any relationships, based on love or friendship, must be based on communication. IF there is no communication, then it means that there is no relationship. In this novel, the woman tries to talk to her husband, but he is careless. He pays no attention on his wife's wishes, he is just interested on his readings.
George, the husband does not understand the problem of his wife and therefore of their relationship, because when she talks about letting her hair grow to make her become more female, he just tells her with disinterest that he likes it the way it is.
One of the last sentences, when the wife says that she wants spring again. This sentence has a very strong meaning. It means that she wants a new and better relation with her husband, and like spring which is the end of winter, her " wish to have a new spring" symbolize the wish to end this difficoult situation with her husband and try to improve it.
When someone knocks the door and brings the cat to the woman, is a clear message that things are starting to change for the woman. The cat is a message that her wishes are starting to become true, and probably even her relationship with her husband that she has wished to improve, maybe will improve one day.
The arrival of the cat, is a message of hope for the wife, because finally she has received what she wanted, for the first time.
Guido Cafaggi
Guido,
ReplyDeleteYou have analyzed the story very well, including its symbols. I agree with you on your analysis, too. However, the assignment was to actually write the ending of the story. Be careful and stay attentive to writing prompts so that you are not caught like this! Please rewrite so that you have responded to the prompt of writing the omitted ending of the story.
Here are some other grammatical tips to pay attention to:
We had discussed your comma usage. Now, with everything you write, review your usage of commas. Generally, you put too many. Remember, use them after a clause or phrase or to make a list. Commas are aural placemarks--they tell you when to pause when reading something aloud. Look at this sentence: "I think that for the conclusion of this short story, Hemingway wanted to tell to the readers, many hidden themes, that are common in everyday life, and also in many relationships." I would rewrite it as: "I think that for the conclusion of this short story, Hemingway wanted to tell to the readers many hidden themes that are common in everyday life and also in many relationships."
Be conscious of your verb tenses. Here you switch from present to past. When discussing or analyzing a literary text, use present tense. You wrote: "It is a rainy day, and the woman tries to protect a cat from the raindrops. Then she got back in her hotel room, and tell her wish to have a cat to her husband." You should have written: "It is a rainy day, and the woman tries to protect a cat from getting wet. Then she GOES back to her hotel room and TELLS her wish to have a cat to her husband."
I like that you were trying to use varied vocabulary, but "Cat in the Rain" is not a novel, it is a short story.
Towards the end you wrote that the woman wanted to grow her hair to "become more female." You should have written to "become more feminine."
Sentence fragment: "One of the last sentences, when the wife says that she wants spring again." How would you change this to make it complete?
In sum, review the grammatical changes I suggested so you can incorporate them into other pieces of writing, but rewrite the composition so that it addresses the prompt.
I will discuss about the “Hills Like Elephants”. I found this short story very interesting, even though the first time I read it, it did not make any sense. I had to reflect a lot on what the “white elephants” meant in the content, but finally I came to a conclusion, with some help of internet. The entire short story talks about these two people talking about an operations, that at the beginning from the reader point of view is a mystery, but then when the girl refers to the hills as “white elephants” she was talking implicitly about the operation, that in the story is considering abortion as a “solution”. When the girl first talks about the elephants she was considering the all abortion thing, but then when she takes back what she said about the hills is almost obvious that she is referring to keeping the baby she is carrying. This short story is related, as “The Old Man And The Sea”, to the famous iceberg theory. The setting choice also has a valuable significance. When an unexpected pregnancy comes people are used to stay in a certain situation that almost stops time and their lives. The train station in a desolated valley has exactly this significance, in fact it refers at the point in which the American (the guy) and the girl are; trying to find a solution, but still with no answers. In my opinion Hemingway should have had spent more lines on describing the landscape and more information on the characters and maybe concentrate more on the fact that they were standing in the middle of something in this case in the middle of Barcelona-Madrid, abortion-non abortion, to make this metaphor more evident. Personally, although, I wouldn’t have changed nothing more, in fact if more information was added the all iceberg theory would’ve be less remarked. The beginning in fact is perfect for Hemingway’s style in writing his stories.
ReplyDeleteDimitrije Miskovic
ReplyDeleteEnglish B
29.November.2010
Ms. Gelso
I will take in consideration the first one, ‘Cat in the rain.’
The woman desperately wants a cat and she needs some changes in her life. A phrase that supports this claim is: “I want it to be spring”. This phrase has hidden meaning. She wants some changes in her life because her husband doesn’t care about her and she wants to have a cat. At the end she got it.
In my opinion Hemingway’s end would be something like this one.
‘’Excuse me,’’ she said, ‘’the padrone asked me to bring this for the Signora.’’
Oh my God it’s lovely. Thank you very much, said the American wife.
The woman that brought the cat leaves closing the door behind her.
Oh how cute is this kitty? Look at it George. It’s adorable, said the American wife.
I don’t really care about a stupid kitty. Stop distracting me. Don’t you see that I am reading? Come on, go away and have a walk with your new cat, George said.
The American wife takes a kitty and leaves the room. She went for a walk. She sat in the bar and she was pretty sad. She was thinking and stroking a little kitty. At a certain point an old man came to her.
May I sit next to you signora, said the old padrone?
Oh Hi..Well yeah..of course, confusingly said the American wife.
What does this beautiful lady do here alone, asked the padrone?
I am just spending some time with my new kitty and I am trying to clear my mind. Thank you very much for this lovely creature. I really need something that will share my love and I need something that I can take care about, said the American wife.
You’re welcome. That’s the least of all the thing that I would do for you. You made my day when I saw you trying to get that little kitty. That was something that I haven’t seen for a long time, said the old padrone.
Well thank you. I was so sorry for that little kitty and since my life is terrible in last few days, I felt even more sorry and then I decided to go and get him. I felt that we share something in common, said the American wife.
Why is your life terrible, asked the old padrone? Is it possible that a woman, that beautiful, can have some problems?
Unfortunately yes. My husband doesn’t care about me and he is really selfish. I cannot understand him, and that’s why I feel this way, answered the American wife putting her head down.
I am really sorry for you signora. Sometimes life doesn’t go the way we want it to go. But people usually say that meeting a new person can help you a lot, said the old padrone.
Maybe. In these moments I need somebody who will support me, and someone who will give me the strength to move on, desperately answered the American wife.
I can help you, and that’s why I am here, said the old padrone.
They were both sitting in silence, holding their hands together, and the American wife was happy. The old padrone was happy too, but this story ended up here. Nothing more happened. The American wife got what she wanted and she is finally happy.
I will discuss the short story “Cat in the rain”. In “Cat in the rain” Ernest Hemingway narrates about an American couple in vacation in Italy. The story is brief, but the content is very much. The couple is clearly going through a negative period, the woman and the man are very different. We can understand the woman is very immature, probably the man is many years older than her. This is shown because the woman wants the cat as soon as she sees it under the rain. The woman and the cat have a thing in common, they are not living an happy life and they both need affection. For this reason the woman wants to help the cat, exactly as a small girl would do. She also calls the cat “kitty” and she constantly repeats she wants the cat, her behaviour is typical of a small girl. On the other hand the man is completely different. He reads all the time and doesn’t care of what the woman wants or says. He suggests her to read a book and stops listening to her. The man doesn’t care about her for this reason the woman wants the cat and also seems to like the “padrone”. The “padrone” serves the woman and treats her nicely, probably the “padrone” is also younger than the man therefore he probably has the same age as the woman. In conclusion with this short story Hemingway shows how it is very difficult for a couple to love happily together when there is a big difference in years.
ReplyDeleteConsider the short story "Cat in the Rain." Write the ending that you think Hemingway might have intended.
ReplyDeleteErnest Miller Hemingway (1899 –1961) began as a writer of short stories in his early life. As Carlos Baker believed, Hemingway learned how to adapt the iceberg theory to "get the most from the least, how to prune language how to multiply intensities, and how to tell nothing but the truth in a way that allowed for telling more than the truth". Infact what Baker is trying to explain is that Hemingway’s writing style of the iceberg theory allows the hard facts to float above water, while the “supporting structure” and the symbolism, operates out-of-sight, because it’s under water.
The short story "Cat in the Rain" is about an American couple that spends their holidays in an Italian hotel during a rainy day. The American woman sees a cat in the rain from the window of the hotel, and immediatley wants to get it to offer him protection, but it was too late since it had gone away. Once returned to the hotel room, she starts a conversation with her husband George, telling him how much she wants to have a cat and how much she wants other things. Her husband George, is annoyed and they have a discussion on it. At the end the maid, who has found the cat, brings it to the American woman.
As I have already said, Ernest Miller Hemingway uses the iceberg theory in his short stories, and therefore this theory is also present in the "Cat in the Rain." Because of this, the ending that I think Hemingway might have intended is different than what he presents, because reading through this short story, I had the impression of something that was missing, since the end doesn’t give a big meaning to the story.
The firt theme Hemingway might have intended is evident from the spontaneous reaction of the woman after seeing that cat. This action may represent more than one conclusion of iceberg theory. It may represent a childish spontaneous reaction she has as a little girl may have in looking a cat. This childish view is also strengthened by her, when she calls the cat “kitty”. On the other hand the woman wants to protect the cat, and this way of protectionism, may represent maternity, and may represent an adult behaviour.
Another theme found under the water of the iceberg is the Marriage problem. For this problem also, Hemingway might whanted to intend something less superficial than what it is represented in this short-story. When the young American woman comes back in the hotel room, she is excited of the idea of having a “kitty” and this may represent a need to be responsible or to take care for something, and this will eventually make her grow up. On the other side, George doesn’t need this anymore since he has already grown up, shown by his serious behaviour. Therefore we can understand why the couple is having problems with their marriage; because they are on different levels. Only with this analysis the reader may understand what Ernest Hemingway is hiding under a normal problem in a relationship.
In conclusion, it is evident how Ernest Miller Hemingway uses the iceberg theory by reading under the lines, and by feeling that something is missing. By doing so, it is evident and clear that the ending of a superficial reader may be different than what Hemingway might have intended. Therefore, the short-story "Cat in the Rain" by Eernest Hemingway is a perfect example of how this great writer uses the iceberg theory to make his masterpieces stronger.
I will re-take in consideration the first short story, written by Ernest Hemingway "Cat in The Rain". From the short story we can easily understand that the woman would love to have cat, to take care of it. He can see that from the text, when she says " I would love to have this kitten".. Ernest Hemingway finishes the short story with the knocking at the door...
ReplyDeleteIn this assignment I will give my personal conclusion to this story.
"Who is at the door" George said
" It's the signora of the hotel" a voice cried
" What do you want?" shouted George
" I think that your wife, wanted to have this cat, he has no owner and I think that he would love to live with a happy family like yours"
From the bed, the woman suddenly stood up and run at the door, she was crying for happiness, she hugged the cat and run with him in the toilet.
George seemed very disappointed, in fact he slammed the door on the face of the signora.
Then George run to the toilet and he sees his wife singing with the cat
" What is this, I don't want animals at home, you have to through him"
"NO!, I will not" cried the woman
" I dont' want this cat, cats smells awfully bad and the consume a lot of my money, he will eat and therefore we will loose so many money if we keep him!"
"No please, keep him, he's so nice and calm, he will not make us spend a lot, he's so innocent, look at him!"
" No, I am the husband, and we must not keep him!"
" Ok, if you don't want this cat, I will escape with him, because I don't want an arrogant husband such as you, I want a happy and joyful man, not sad and gloomy like you!. We will go away!"
"Wife, what are you saying, are you mad, you will come back this time, without this cat!"
The wife ran out the door and slammed the door
The days passed and the wife did not come back from his husband. George thought a lot during these days and understood that he made a big mistakes with his wife.
Guido Cafaggi