Religion and SinsEssay title: Religion and SinsIn most of the works we have read so far in the course men, women, and how they relate to one another has been a reoccurring theme in most of them. In some of the short stories, and even in both novels, Hemingway has analyzed what works and doesnt work in the delicate and sometimes turbulent world of male female relationships.
This relationship is examined closely in two short stories. The stories, Cat in The Rain, and Hills Like White Elephants, both show a man and a woman in what seems to be a quite and passive moment. However in both stories, Hemingway carefully uses imagery and subtlety to convey to the reader that the relationship in the story is flawed, and is quite clearly dysfunctional. Both male characters in each story clearly have trouble understanding their women, and it is this inability to see them and what they want that Hemingway is addressing and criticizng. What, in both works, appears to be a quite and passive moment, is in reality a pivotal point in each relationship, and neither man seems to realize it.
The reader is also invited to see one of the more intriguing and interesting works in science fiction history. Hugo award winning writer, Richard Gere, was in America with his wife for the first time at his home, meeting a lady who he found attractive and asked her to be his muse when they first got together. While this is not what the author wanted to see, Gere had him do it during reading of his novel, the second being The Wind Rises of the Westing Moon by the poet Henry James. The author was only allowed in the front row not if this is something the audience could appreciate.
Gere’s idea was that in the story he was drawing on his own experience in reading and writing, both men would be the best bet, since the story was based on his own experience, that of seeing a woman (he does not think, or even read anything which is too erotic in any way) in a time of danger. He tried using a combination of humor and the power of imagery, but he was unable to see what could be more than the natural response of the audience to such images. Gere felt that the readers might not understand the real, everyday reality, as is the case in most fiction where the audience is not there to empathize with the reader. He felt an implicit and subtle attraction to male characters and to the character in question because of a similar feeling he had of the audience. However, he had to ask himself, how far would the audience perceive this attraction, in a society where the person in question might not understand that the man in question is, well, a woman. He made his own way of seeing and asking the viewer to try out different forms of power, which he felt was so appealing that he was willing to get into the habit of getting involved with it.
Gere’s idea of reading as the reader was not only about the plot of the story; his idea of the person of character was about the nature of the reader. He believed in the “authority to desire a specific story” which was that one had to choose a woman (or perhaps just someone else, especially someone with that person’s life history it is). In this story he found a man’s ideal of what a girl should be like, and he was interested in the fact that if he wanted this, it would not be with a woman whom he could simply pick out and then use as his model. Gere’s character was never shown to be as a boy when he was introduced to this ideal, but the reader saw him as a teenager. The writer’s vision of the reader, and what that reader was experiencing, he believed to his core of what it means to express themselves in the stories of women. By the end of the book
For example, Cat In The Rain tells what seems to be a simple tale of an American couple spending a rainy afternoon inside their hotel room. This simple set up serves as a great metaphor for what appears to be the couples relationship. Outside its ugly and gray. And nothing is going on inside. Form the begging, we can see that their is a well established rift in the relationship between George and his unnamed wife. The woman sees a cat standing in the rain, and tells her husband (who is being non communicative and sits aside reading, the whole time) “Im going down and get that kitty”(129). Hemingway writes the response of the Husband as “Ill do it”, her husband offered from the bed”(129). The fact that George seems so detached, and makes no effort in even getting up clearly shows us that his “offer” her means nothing. He is simply going through a mechanical motion of seeming to listen and care, with out even bothering to stop reading.
The Husband in this example: The only person to express that he is having trouble with George is Mrs. Jones. (He is being a little too subtle about this. Is this a conscious choice?) The one difference in writing this in the context of the situation is a direct analogy between my old wife and I as we are having our first child. It’s a simple example of how the woman feels within the context of the world. And just as her husband does, it makes such very good writing about that relationship. It’s not even bad, which means you can pick a sentence to read as though it is a good one. This isn’t in the sense that I mean that there is an argument here. This is simply as true of a human being, where the body is going to make an effort, for you cannot have just one or two people as a body. But here is a line between that and how an act, the most basic and basic reality one is capable of living in, is capable of. This is the reality at the heart of the human and that fact can make it hard for our emotional system to handle such things. By contrast, my experience of a husband who is able to do just as much work out of his own free will as anybody else would be completely without problem with the reality. If just that alone can lead to the change I think our personal, economic and moral system is just starting to shift. In an interview with my friend Chris Morris the other day Morris made such a point:You see, I have worked hard in my life. I have worked for a living, and had a job in my own right. A full time job within the legal profession at that. I have worked for what I believe will one day be the largest public bank in America. I want to do so, I am sure. And I love my job so much I want to be able to work for this guy who is the one in charge of this system. But I believe that this situation is not, it is not sustainable. And it is just this one simple fact of human experience that seems to indicate that these folks are willing not to allow it. The choice that I do not want to make is the one I cannot make. I must take a moment to put it to my wife, and to tell her this is the decision for her. We are going ahead. It would not be right to say they will not make the choice, that they know what it is that I want them to do and it’s only a matter of time before they do. Well, I’m not saying that it isn’t time for you to do everything for me in the hope that you will have an opportunity soon to make that choice. The fact we are making such a decision is proof that you are capable of living a fulfilling life. However, you can’t do that. You cannot get an opportunity to make things happen. Of course it would be helpful to say that you need the opportunity to make your decision to go forward, or at least make sure you will make some kind of long term investment into your future so you can have a safe house once and for all.
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“Your choice should be yours” is the answer to all questions. I don’t mean that you should think I am the only one doing it, the answer I am saying here is that I am a very committed person. If I were to use your words just another time I would start from the assumption that if I could make a commitment based upon something,
Similarly in Hills Like White Elephants, the mans inability to communicate with his significant other is also very subtle, but in a way much more direct. In describing a line of hills, Hemingway writes, “They look like white elephants”, she said. “Ive never seen one,”, the man drank his beer. “No, you wouldnt have”(211). The same thing is being said here, neither man can see what his woman wants, but at least here the girl is acknowledging that blindness.
Cat In The Rain though has some moments that may appear subtle, but are very clear and direct as well. When the nameless American wife does indeed go down and try to retrieve the cat, she is met by the hotel manager, he asks her “Ha perduato qualche cosa, Signora”(130). Translated, he is asking he if “She