Essay #2: Comparative Analysis

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Carlos A. Beauchamp Iglesias

Prof. Leonardo Flores

English 3202

25 June 2007

Elements: connection between stories

Does story writers use elements as a way to identify them self ? This is a question were the only way of finding it’s answer is by reading two or more works of the same writer. Through the reading done in class we found that write have their own way of incorporate elements like symbolism, elements of narration , character types and many other. One author that capture my attention from the way he use elements in his stories was Ernest Hemingway. If we analyze Hemingway’s stories we can find that he use controlling characters types. This element make a very strong connection between Hemingway’s “A Very Short Story” and “Hills Like White Elephants” stories wish I’m going to compare base on the use of this element.

In both stories there is a situation between character were someone want the other to do something that he wants even when the other don’t want to or disagree. We can see this in “Hills Like White Elephant” were the man want to obligate the girl to have an abortion in a way like trying to make her the responsible of the abortion and not him when he was the one that wanted the abortion in the first place. We can see a similar situation in “A Very Short Story” were Luz make the man to get a good job. In these story she decide for him what he should do even when he disagree in the decision promising him

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that she was going to meet him in America when he gets a good job. Something that never happen.

By other way we can see how Hemingway use the controlling character at the end of the stories were he change the controlling character in other words the ones that where controlled at the beginning of the stories were the ones that at the end take control of the situation or the other character We can see this in “Hills Like White Elephant” were at the end the man go away from the woman for a wile and here is were she change her mind . When the men came back she told him that nothing was wrong with her saying in other words that she wasn’t going to do what he wanted . She decide to have control of her situation and have then her baby. In the other story “A Very Short Story” this is not so obvious but when we read the last paragraph very carefully we see that the man didn’t wrote back to Luz and this is a sing of control like if you didn’t come that is your problem.

As we saw the use of elements are very important to writers and in some way or another by analyzing the elements they use we can see or have an idea of who is that writer and what he think. Maybe we can find a reflection of his own experience on his works. In the case of Hemingway we saw that he uses controlling characters and with these we can infer that he is a very controlling or controlled person wish haven’t had any successful relation with any one maybe because of these. These is way reading others stories of the same writer help us understand better what we are reading.