"Get a Seeing-Eyed Dog" Reflection

It was the beginning of Thanksgiving break and I finally had made it on board my flight to Tulsa, Oklahoma. Beforehand, I spent a good hour creeping on people from behind my magazine.  I find the airport a prime place for people watching, and let’s be honest, we all do it. Carrying a giant black backpack and pushing my luggage down the suffocating aisle, I felt rather embarrassed for causing such a nuisance. About to topple over while attempting to shove my giant suitcase in the petit compartment, several hands hurried to prevent a catastrophe about to ensue. After crawling to my window seat and stepping on a woman’s foot, I made it to my seat thankfully with no causalities. Usually I try to sleep because flights are quality snoozing time, but excitement of family, friends, and the beautiful smorgasbord of turkey and pie overtook me. Instead, I reached for my literature book and commenced reading, “Get a Seeing-Eyed Dog.” Reading this on the airplane was an interesting experience due to the bumps and the rather annoying, talkative bunch behind me. Despite this, I really enjoyed the short story. I was so perplexed with the relationship between the couple. The man seemed to be in love with his wife, yet he was conspiring a plan for her to leave because he didn’t want to destroy her life. I couldn’t help but wonder was it because he wanted her to be free or was there a deeper meaning, perhaps because she couldn’t take care of him incredibly well? Because I am a romantic at heart, I went with the former thought, and took it as the ultimate form of sacrifice. I looked around the plane and gazed at the couples surrounding me. And then I thought more about Hemingway and his ambiguous writing style. While I would like to think this of the injured man, I realized there is more to the story, like any relationship. As much as she would probably want to be with him, they both know that patience will ware thin. Both of the people in this relationship are living a life full of lies, pretending that everything is ok. The man, trying his best not to hurt her while the woman plays the role of a nurse.  The image of a seeing eyed dog is fascinating because a dog would be able to help the man without the burdens of a relationship.

Hills Like White Elephants

The first time I read this story was in my AP Literature class in high school. Honestly, I hardly remember what I first thought about the story, so it was refreshing to reread this infamous Hemingway piece.  I am always intrigued with the settings of Hemingway’s stories. Africa, Spain…each place seeming so exotic and intriguing mimicking the secrecy of each character. Despite each adventurous location, the characters seem stagnant almost, dwelling in emotional ambiguity. While the reader is attempting to melt the iceberg and discover the character’s background, the characters themselves are trying to discover the same thing, figuring out each other. Hemingway captures the emotions and the struggles in relationships, especially in miscommunication. 

Jig is truly a fascinating character. She is innocent but certainly not stupid. The way she snaps back by pleading, “please please please please please please please stop talking,” was quite revolutionary, especially in comparison to the female character in the “Snows of Kilimanjaro.” Hemingway is the essence of modernism by writing about taboo topics such as abortion. Although not clearly said, the discrete messages such as “it’s really an awfully simple operation” and the white elephants themselves mimicking pregnancy therefore hint at the subject. I enjoyed reading this story because of Hemingway’s clever writing techniques by not revealing what the character is thinking. By doing so, one attempts to dive into the character’s mind and tries to comprehend each inner emotional struggle in relation to what the character actually say. 

Reflection on The Short Happy Life of Francis Macomber

Yesterday evening, I decided to leave my home at the GrandMarc and go to Starbucks for a prime study environment. Usually I sit on my couch in the living room of my apartment but that simply would not be the case that evening because of the fowl stench of salmon looming in the atmosphere after my roommate decided to take a sudden interest in cooking.  We have now revoked her cooking rights after last evening’s disaster. I walked into Starbucks and I automatically felt warm and fuzzy, partially from the smell of coffee rather than salmon, and also from the jazzy music playing and the enticing study foods calling my name. Coffee and parfait in my hand, I sat down in a comfy chair and began reading Hemingway’s “The Short Happy Life of Francis Macomber.” The title itself was intriguing because, automatically we know that Francis Macomber will in fact die. The question taunting my mind was how, and knowing Hemingway, it will be what we least expect. Naturally, Hemingway commenced his short story with the iceberg effect. Well played. I was completely confused with the conflicting emotions concerning the lion: Margaret, obviously rooted in frustration over the lion predicament, Macomber slightly paranoid with his cowardly behavior and attempts to play it off, and Wilson, obviously embarrassed to be in Macomber’s presence.  In this short story, it seemed that Hemingway described in detail the appearances of the characters not to mention the mixture of emotions Macomber was experiencing throughout the story. This was rather refreshing because Hemingway typically uses brief, yet powerful sentences, with not much emphasis on description. My favorite line was on page 11, “the fear was still there like a cold slimy hollow in all the emptiness…” The motif of fear was prominent throughout the story, especially at the end. Macomber lived a fearful life, relying on his money, constantly struggling to break free from his fear by attempting to be something that he could never be such as wearing the uniform of a man on a Safari. It wasn’t until he actually did break free from his fearful life that we realize Margot’s fear, forcing her to kill her own husband. Knowing that her husband would leave her and unwilling to cope with that fact, Margot’s fear for the future consumes her and thus, transforms her husband into becoming the prey, the victim of the hunt. However the title still lingers, more specifically the word “Happy” to describe Macomber’s life. It was in his final moments that he was truly a man, and most likely the most comfortable he was with himself. His wife, all knowing that she could no longer take advantage of his money or rely on her beauty forces her to become the huntress.