Hemingway uses a specific
style of writing his novel, A Moveable
Feast. He recalls his time in Paris
through first person perspective. All of his memories and opinions of the
people he met are from his own viewpoint. A
Moveable Feast is very detailed and conveys Hemingway’s feelings throughout
the novel in every experience he has.
The tone is matter-of-fact because Hemingway is looking back on all his
encounters and can write about them in a way in which he says it like it
happened. Hemingway goes into deep
detail about every instance. He includes
street names, restaurant names, and every detail about the scenery where he
goes. These details allow us to
experience Paris as he sees it. Also,
Hemingway uses polysyndetons often in his novel which is somewhat confusing by
having so much information in one sentence.
As Hemingway works in a café, he, “went back to writing and entered far
into the story and was lost in it. He
was writing it now and it was not writing itself and he did not look up nor
know anything about the time nor think where he was nor order any more rum St.
James” (Hemingway 18). Hemingway’s style
of including detail allows the audience to experience his encounters and make
their own impressions of the people he meets.
The
chapters in the novel follow the time in Hemingway’s life and the events that
transpire. Because Hemingway is looking
back at what happened, some details could have gotten mixed around and be
portrayed differently than what actually happened. The sequence of events, therefore, makes the
story confusing and hard to follow. Hemingway
uses the seasons as a pathway for time, as well. He sees spring as the best time of life while
fall is leading to depressing times. The
occasions in A Moveable Feast are
part of Hemingway’s prime time of life, or his spring. Hemingway shows his opinions towards the seasons
and how they affect life when he says, “you expected to be sad in the
fall. Part of you died each year when
the leaves fell from the trees and their branches were bare against the wind
and the cold, wintry light. But you knew there would always be the spring, as
you knew the river would flow again after it was frozen… When spring came, even
the false spring, there were no problems except where to be happiest” (Hemingway
39). The seasons help portray how Hemingway
feels about certain events.
In
AP Language, we study style in literary works and how style affects the
argument made or the story. Hemingway
uses style in his novel, including polysyndetons and extra details, to help
give personality to his work and put emphasis on certain parts. The novel goes over Hemingway’s problem of
writing a novel and writing something meaningful. Hemingway goes over the difficulties he
encounters when he meets the different writers and how to work with all of
them. A Moveable Feast is an autobiography because it goes over Hemingway’s
own life in Paris. The novel begins in
the early 1920s when Hemingway is about 25 years old. This is a time in his life when he meets many
important writers and tries to develop his writing into something more
substantial.
Works Cited
Hemingway, Ernest. A
Moveable Feast. New York: Scribner, 2009. Print.
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