Ernest Hemingways A Clean Well Lighted Place and Flannery OConnors A Good Man Is Hard to Find - Assignment Example

 The Invisible Truth The world and all earthlings can be subjects initiating introspection for those who like to see more than what is visible to a simple man’s eye. Every single object placed here, and every single move made, has a meaning, sometimes a masked meaning which is visible only to those who seek them. Ernest Hemingway’s a clean well lighted place and Flannery O’Connor’s a good man is hard to find depict deeper meaning than just what is hidden behind the lines used in the text. Both the texts play with words on a similar theme- i.e. the visibility of truth is not always assured and one needs to search further to comprehend and decipher life. In fact it not only man whose countenance, behavior and truth behind existence is floundering; every single object that exists around us is symbolic none of which can be interpreted merely by looking at it. Both the writers have selected vastly different approaches to the fairly related theme. To understand what exactly is the truth one needs to be able to accept the fact that what is visible is not always the truth. Both the story subtly touch upon the fact that deeper implications maybe present to what someone sees right in the front. A clean well lighted place by Ernest Hemingway is a short story where we do not find too many characters. The story consisted of just three main characters- the old man at the bar and the two waiters. The old man at the bar who preferred the clean and quaint café and sat there late into the night till he was drunk, sets the theme of the small story. The dialogues between the young and the old waiters who discuss about the old man’s habit of drinking into the night without caring about anything have much deeper implications. The reader has the task of inferring the speaker from what is spoken. In the short story a good man is hard to find uses several characters- the grandmother, son, daughter-in-law, the two children Misfit and the other killers who through their various actions and verbal expressions too shed light on the core theme of the story. It is however to be noted that both the stories end in a similar manner where we see the characters introspecting on what was the reality of their actions and existence but somewhere the doubt about the subject matter clung on to them. A high percentage of similarity between the two short fiction stories lies in the fact that both of them are related to movements or styles of writing the origins of which are mostly related to violence or tragedy. Ernest Hemingway’s story can be related today with the concept of existentialism which was “philosophical movement with literary applications rather than a literary movement with philosophical pretensions “(Flynn, 2012 p 248). After World War 1 most styles of writing portrayed the personal inner wants of the writers who wanted to seek change and a better life. The writers questioned their existence. This style was taken up by Hemingway’s in his short story –A clean, well lighted place. A profoundly similar connection maybe drawn between O’Connor’s short story and Southern American Gothic literature, the core style of writing of which has been derived from parts of South America and maybe related to their ways of life. Parts of South America have an unsettling past because of the civil wars, slavery and negligence. The concept of “nothingness” can be seen the writing.” After all its insomnia. Many must have it” (a clean well lighted place) shows that the character who speaks in the context tries and consoles himself of his own existence and tries to find an answer to his own “nothingness”. In the other story Misfit says “it’s no pleasure in life” which depicts that his earlier conclusion that murder and blood spilling was good for him was actually not which he realized at the end. It seems he suddenly became aware of the “nothingness” or the hollow inside of him which he has no reason for. Ernest Hemingway slowly builds upon the theme where he portrays an old man drinking away without caring for anything else while two waiters serving him try and draw conclusions about the old man’s life. Gabriel a critic concludes that the dialogues between the two “Clearly can only be accounted for as part of a deliberate plan, a function of the author's mode of execution” (Gabriel, 1961, 544).The conclusions are actually thematic in nature since they try and explain the old man’s existence. “It was all nothing and a man was nothing too” is the famous line from the short story which strikes the cord since the entire theme of the story maybe seen through this one liner monologue. On the contrary, in the story a good man is hard to find, the facial expression of Misfit when he “sprang back as if a snake has bitten him” showed his state of emotion when he realizes that his previous belief the happiness of his existence lied in murder was totally untrue since he later realized that killing was no real pleasure nor the explanation for life. However, Ernest Hemingway does not too much of visual symbolisms to depict his theme whereas O’Connor uses various visual symbols Another important part of the stories is that man cannot judge things merely by the look. In Ernest Hemmingway’s story, the waiters tried to derive the background of the old man merely by his drinking habit and in the O’Connor’s story too, the killers at first were presented as friendly and good fellows. This same theme is seen in one of the exhibits at Santa Barbara Museum of art where John Divolo’s dogs chasing my car is on display. The pictures show dogs running at high speed behind the vehicles. It portrays a car speeding away while the canines run towards it trying to cope up with the speed of the car. However, the pictures merely show their movement but not their intention i.e. by simply looking at the picture we can just say that the dogs were chasing the car but this is just an assumption. No one can state the reason behind the dogs chasing the cars. There may be numerous reasons that could have compelled the dogs to chase the speeding car which means that the artists’ portrayal was not just to show a few dogs following a car but also teach us the truth about being able to understand something much deeper than what visible in the portrait Thus, looks are not always enough to understand things beyond the visual presentations because in most cases the reality hides behind the curtain of visibility and waits to be realized by minds which are capable of discovering it. On a personal level, I preferred O’Connor’s way of expression since the all throughout the story there were various things that slowly helped the story reach its climax and highlights the central theme i.e. the truth behind man’s existence, a question that lies unanswered but the search for which remain. From the very starting of the story several signs and symbols were strewn around that spelled the impending doom on the family. The first thing that struck me is when the grandmother dressed herself well ensuring to keep certain signs that would help in identification if they met an accident .This was perhaps one of the first signs of the approaching end. The next symbolic scene was when the family sighted the graveyard with five or six graves. This scene too was really symbolic because as we know at the end of the story the entire family ends in graves. Later on when the family eats at the Tower it must be noted that the tower has been described as a “long and dark room” as if symbolizing the room where Jesus and his disciples had their last supper. This was also true in this case since the family too had their last supper at the Tower. Another symbolic representation of the tower lies in the fact that in the bible tower often represented high structures which were believed to be a connection between man and God. In the story too, the family enters the tower before being killed by Misfit and the other killers. The way in which the grandmother lies and deceives is very much important. She received her son and brought the cat because of whom the accident was caused and the entire family had to face Misfit. After the accident the lying intensified especially during the last hours when the grandmother continuously is seen saying “you’re a good man at heart” to Misfit whereas at the very beginning she was tried to stop the visit saying Misfit was lose on and was dangerous. All this shows that looks, expressions and everything else can be deceiving and talking about the story the title fits well since even the grandmother in the story was not really good since she deceived and lied (language and literature, 2004) Ernst Hemingway’s story though short managed to reach build the story around the theme on basis of introspection and verbal language. O’Connor’s story was more vivid and long and presented the theme through symbols, signs, expressions and actions of the characters. The themes were very subtly presented in both the stories and needs to be derived from between the lines. Both the short stories have beautiful and different approaches to the theme about man and his unanswered question about life and life forms and the failure of things to be interpreted merely from the outwardly appearance. They beautifully highlight that it is extremely easy to cover up the truth but equally hard to unravel and understand it. REFERENCES Gabriel, Joseph F. "The Logic of Confusion in Hemingway's 'A Clean, Well-Lighted Place." College English 22 (1961): 539-46. Print. "Flannery O'Connor." Language & Literature 9 (2004): 1-27. Web. Flynn, Thomas R. "Toward the Concrete." The Journal of Speculative Philosophy 26.2 (2012): 248-53. Print. Santa Barbara Museum of Art. "SBMA: Exhibitions Current John Divola." SBMA: Exhibitions Current John Divola. N.p., n.d. Web. 20 Nov. 2013 Read More