Cross Country Snow seems like a typical Hemingway story. I don’t mean that in a negative way though. I’m not bored of his stories. I actually quite enjoy them. I love how he always hints at the nature of men and women. In Cross Country Snow, he portrays two men enjoying a physical activity together and having little to no conversation. This seems so typical of guys. I can just picture two friends out skiing or fishing or hunting, going about their day in almost total silence, but content nonetheless. After I read the story, I thought to myself what it would be like had Hemingway wrote a more strong female character into the story. I can imagine all the talking she would be doing, trying to stir up conversations about how great the skiing was. I can picture George saying that skiing is “too swell to talk about” and her just continuing on anyways.
I will take a moment here to say that I’m not a fan of these reading quizzes. I feel like they are so specific that at this point I’m not even reading the story, I’m merely jotting down details. I focus so much on the fact that they at APPLE strudel and the waitress was singing GERMAN OPERA that I sometimes miss the big picture. I’m less focused on the meaning of the story and more focused on looking up the definition for funicular and undulation. I understand the need for reading closely but the quizzes cause me to focus on minor details sometimes so the point of the story escapes me. Typically reading the story a second time around right before class solves this, but nonetheless, I felt like my blog was the perfect place to air this small grievance.
And I want to take this moment to tell whoever is reading this to go youtube Rusted Root’s On My Way for old time’s sake.
Moving on to Ten Indians. I absolutely loved the jesting that the boys were doing in the beginning. Once again, Hemingway wrote about a situation that is so true to boys’ nature. It is sometimes shocking how easily I can see my friends in that same situation; one guy giving his friend a hard time about the girl he is dating and then getting shut up because he can’t get a girl to start with. It’s sad when he discovers she’s doing whatever it is that she’s doing with another guy. I’m still not entirely sure what to make of this story (probably because I’m brain dead) so I’m going to wait and read it again tomorrow.
This post is so true haha. I guess I love Hemingway so much because of how well he writes about the man and masculinity, and you’ve pointed out a perfect point. While reading the story I couldn’t stop thinking about how much fun it all sounded: going out skiing with the bros and then just chilling afterwards talking about life. Little did I realize how little interaction is actually going on in this situation that I am envying until you pointed it out. Love it, well done.
ReplyDeleteI completely agree with your comments on the reading quizzes. I was so busy memorizing that Petoskey won the baseball game 5-3 and his dad caught perch to get the big picture. I didn't even connect the fact that the title is TEN Indians but only nine were seen on the trip back until I read it through a second time. As to the masculinity, you make a really good point. Even the woodcutters just "sat at the two tables, smoking and quiet," not discussing the work they had just done. Good catch.
ReplyDelete