StudentShare
Contact Us
Sign In / Sign Up for FREE
Search
Go to advanced search...
Free

Setting, Identity, and Theme in Hemingway and Cisneros - Book Report/Review Example

Cite this document
Summary
This paper "Setting, Identity, and Theme in Hemingway and Cisneros" focuses on the fact that it is surely not an accident that Ernest Hemingway chose to title his short story “A Clean, Well-Lighted Place” and that Sandra Cisneros chose to name her novel The House on Mango Street.  …
Download free paper File format: .doc, available for editing
GRAB THE BEST PAPER92% of users find it useful
Setting, Identity, and Theme in Hemingway and Cisneros
Read Text Preview

Extract of sample "Setting, Identity, and Theme in Hemingway and Cisneros"

Setting, Identity, and Theme in Hemingway and Cisneros It is surely not an accident that Ernest Hemingway chose to title his short story “A Clean, Well-Lighted Place” and that Sandra Cisneros chose to title her novel The House on Mango Street. Judging by the spare, terse prose that marks both these literary works, it is safe to assume that both writers chose their titles at least as carefully if not more carefully than they chose any other words. A comparison of titles leads one to another assumption: a central theme of both the short story and the novel will be the importance of place, and the descriptions of those places serve to locate that importance as it relates to the identity of the characters.

Both Hemingway and Cisneros employ a deceptively simple writing style to tell a deeper story of the search for identity through a connection to a place. Hemingway apply exercises an approach that relies mostly on dialogue to move the story forward. In this way the enclosed atmosphere of the café and the closed futures of the characters are expressed in a literary method that almost feels like listening to a play staged on a bare stage with very few characters. Cisneros also utilizes feelings of constriction to isolate her characters despite the obvious difference in length between the two works.

By writing in the form of small vignettes that are almost short stories in themselves, Cisneros places her much larger cast of characters firmly within the geographical boundaries of a barrio, and the utter lack of space felt by these characters as they struggle within these confines is expressed by the constricted structure of the writing itself. Hemingway and Cisneros both ground the importance of their setting in outlining their themes directly in their choice of title. What is important in Hemingway’s story isn’t so much the events that take place in the café as the fact that the café is both clean and well-lighted.

That the description is integral to the theme is expressed often and sometimes overtly over the course of the story, especially in the last paragraph. Cisneros gives added emphasis to the association between Esperanza’s identity and the setting of the novel through her decision of the title. While Hemingway’s character doesn’t want to leave the clean, well-lighted café because it means going back home to the darkness of the identity he has wasted a lifetime creating, Esperanza associates the house on Mango street with her struggle to escape and forge a new identity for herself as a writer.

Interestingly, both writers chose titles which can be read as ironic reflections of the main characters. Hemingway’s story, though significantly shorter and peopled by characters with far less artistic ability, is titled more descriptively and creatively. A sense of what the setting of the story actually looks like can be felt more acutely from Hemingway’s title than from Cisneros’. In the novel, Esperanza possesses keen powers of observation of even the most minute detail, yet the mundane, non-descriptive title given her story in no way reflects this ability.

Both titles, therefore, can be seen as directly ironic observations by the authors on the how the settings of their stories can impact the intellectual development of the characters. A café, after all, has traditionally been seen as a place where people go for good conversation, while a simple house in a ghetto rarely gets granted the same benefit of a doubt. Both Ernest Hemingway and Sandra Cisnero telegraph a major theme of their literary works through the choice of title. Using different methods, both authors craft stories using unadorned prose in order to construct thematic examinations of the effect of setting on a identity.

The structures of both “A Clean, Well-Lighted Place” and The House on Mango Street serve to reinforce the thematic claustrophobia of the locales of both stories.

Read More
Cite this document
  • APA
  • MLA
  • CHICAGO
(“Setting, Identity, and Theme in Hemingway and Cisneros Book Report/Review”, n.d.)
Retrieved from https://studentshare.org/literature/1504069-setting-identity-and-theme-in-hemingway-and-cisneros
(Setting, Identity, and Theme in Hemingway and Cisneros Book Report/Review)
https://studentshare.org/literature/1504069-setting-identity-and-theme-in-hemingway-and-cisneros.
“Setting, Identity, and Theme in Hemingway and Cisneros Book Report/Review”, n.d. https://studentshare.org/literature/1504069-setting-identity-and-theme-in-hemingway-and-cisneros.
  • Cited: 0 times

CHECK THESE SAMPLES OF Setting, Identity, and Theme in Hemingway and Cisneros

Should Ernest Hemingway Be Read

Nevertheless, just like in “Hills Like White Elephants,” perhaps these details are unnecessary and they do not serve a practical purpose in hemingway's prose.... (Name) (Professor) (Subject) (Date) Should Ernest hemingway Be Read?... It is said that during Ernest hemingway's lifetime, he was “very probably America's most famous writer” and that his works are widely read and recognized “not just in the English-speaking world” but everywhere else (Young 5)....
4 Pages (1000 words) Essay

The Old Man and the Sea by Ernest Hemingway

The old man and the Sea by Ernest hemingway The old man and the Sea by Ernest hemingway has been renowned as a masterpiece in the whole of fiction due to its narrative techniques, plot structure, symbolisms, characterization, unity and themes.... Similarly, the symbolisms and the unique characterization of hemingway have offered new dimensions to the meaning and significance of the novel.... This paper seeks to analyze hemingway's The Old Man and the Sea in terms of the structure of the work, the characterizations in the novel and the significance of the novel....
8 Pages (2000 words) Research Paper

Cather, Hemmingway, and Fitzgerald

For instance, hemingway and Cather both crafted skeletal sentences so as to make sure that the sentences had a clear understanding.... The writing styles of Cather, hemingway and Fitzgerald, are uniquely different.... hellip; hemingway was mostly thought to have acquired his writing styles from his previous war experience.... In his story, The Hills like White Elephants, he uses a great deal of dialogue, action, as well as suspense to create the joy in reading it (hemingway 4)....
6 Pages (1500 words) Essay

Setting of Farewell of Arms

Setting of Weather in hemingway's A Farewell to Arms Hemingway's narrative extends its meaning through the extensive use of metaphors of nature.... Rama (2007) observes the following in this connection: There appears some association in hemingway's mind between “Cat in the rain” and Catherine of A Farewell to Arms (called Cat by Henry).... The setting of weather in A Farewell to Arms has been manipulated by hemingway through the symbols of dryness and cold, frost and rain....
5 Pages (1250 words) Research Paper

The Hemingway Hero

Ernest hemingway has written several short stories that feature different characters.... hellip; In this paper, we examine three characters who we can consider a hero and one character who is not a hero. The heroes from the stories of hemingway have static set of characteristics.... In words, the hemingway heroes are "courageous, confident and introspective", and "he does not let his fears get to him (http://engliterarium.... om) "Although Ernest hemingway's heroes have different names they are fundamentally the same person, drawing from the same traumatizing experiences....
3 Pages (750 words) Essay

Only Daughter by Sandra Cisneros

The object of the paper "Only Daughter by Sandra cisneros" is a story about Sandra cisneros, the only daughter in a family of six brothers.... nbsp;… Sandra cisneros' writings were mainly because of her father and the community at large in trying to portray the cultural practices, which dominated her community.... According to the father of Sandra cisneros, girl education without a husband is meaningless.... It is at this point that he begins to regard cisneros as being a financially successful writer....
2 Pages (500 words) Book Report/Review

Hemmingway and OConnor

In the civilized society, family ties have been sacred and respected, for they are a building brick of successful life and great support for an individual.... Thereby, a normal sufficient family presupposes right distribution of familial roles among the family members, which are to… However, in the short stories to be discussed, the reader faces the abnormal, dysfunctional specimens of families....
5 Pages (1250 words) Essay

Hemingway and Women

This paper "hemingway and Women" discusses how Hemingway portrays women in relation to the two books-The Sun Also Rises and In Our Time.... Ernest hemingway echoes a number of issues repeatedly throughout the books that he authors during his writing career.... hemingway uses the story of “Mr.... Going by this pattern of behavior, the couple represents the issue of the Lost Generation that hemingway addresses in the book The Sun Also Rises....
11 Pages (2750 words) Essay
sponsored ads
We use cookies to create the best experience for you. Keep on browsing if you are OK with that, or find out how to manage cookies.
Contact Us