There is a different story brewing in The Sun Also Rises by Ernest Hemingway, one told from Jake's point of view. Contrary to in Mrs. Dalloway, as we read this book there is only one perspective that we get which forces us as readers to judge the validity of our source. When we were given many different points of view, we were able to decide for ourselves what seemed most trustworthy, but in with Jake as the sole narrator, we will be spending a lot of time talking about his biases and credibility.
Another difference that, in my first impressions of the book, I have noticed is the difference in sentence format. The sentences formulated by Woolf are longer and less precise which stems from the fact that it is free indirect discourse and the sentences often emulate thoughts. Meanwhile in The Sun Also Rises, the sentences are more direct which is partially Hemingway's style, and also because these sentences are not depicting thoughts as often as in Woolf's novel. These differences in the sentence structure has affected me as I read these books. The long sentences in Mrs. Dalloway often forced me to go back and check if I understood what was happening. Contrastingly, in the first chapters that we have read, these short, direct sentences are easier to read, but as Mr. Mitchell alluded to in class they only give us the tip of the iceberg and we must deduce ourselves the rest of the story.
From Free Indirect Discourse to Jakes narration is quite a jump in writing styles. Just one example being that Woolf almost never listed the physical attributes of the outside world to set a scene, but in the first sentence of the third chapter Jake does exactly that in a long sentence. We will have to adapt to these differences as we delve into The Sun Also Rises, but I know that I am definitely looking forward to analyzing this book in class.
From Free Indirect Discourse to Jakes narration is quite a jump in writing styles. Just one example being that Woolf almost never listed the physical attributes of the outside world to set a scene, but in the first sentence of the third chapter Jake does exactly that in a long sentence. We will have to adapt to these differences as we delve into The Sun Also Rises, but I know that I am definitely looking forward to analyzing this book in class.
I too was struck by the stark difference in narrative style from Woolf to Hemingway. In my opinion, the simple and direct style of Hemingway is hugely more engaging. In the novel by Woolf, much of the narrative was inside the heads of the main characters, or, in the case of the extended passage about Bourton, set long in the past with characters reminiscing. I prefer Hemingway, where the events of the novel are taking place in the physical realm. I find this novel much more engaging.
ReplyDeleteJake's reliability as a narrator has already come up--as it almost inevitably does with any first-person narrative. It's not a question simply of whether the narrator is intentionally trying to mislead the reader, but more an acknowledgment of that narrator's *investment* in the story as a participant, a character and not just an observer. He has some kind of agenda when he's depicting these other characters, and he's often revealing a lot about himself and his values, even when he appears to be sitting back, passively, just reporting what he's seeing.
ReplyDeleteYou're right that we don't encounter the same kind of reliability questions with Woolf's narrative style--we trust that the narrator is portraying these characters' interiority "accurately." But we still deal with similar issues of intersubjectivity, or the limitations and biases that shape people's view of one another, which are both piercingly accurate and necessarily incomplete: Peter Walsh, for example, has some profound insight into Clarissa and her character, and his is a valuable perspective in shaping our view of her more generally. But if we *only* had his view--if he were the single narrator of the novel--consider what we would miss, how unreliable such an account might be, even if he were not intentionally trying to distort.
I agree with this, Jake's narration seems extremely straightforward and mostly focused on surface-level events and things, in contrast to Woolf. As we've been starting this book, I've actually been thinking about how this is the only "normal" book in terms of narration that we've had in this class, as both Baker's style and Woolf's switching between the points of views and thoughts of characters were new and different to me.
ReplyDeleteYeah, the differences in style are huge. At first, I was kind of frustrated with Woolf's writing. It just seemed to drone on without accomplishing much at all; and to repeat itself (she'll make these lists of synonyms), but then I got used to it. And then I started to find it kind of fun and interesting. And now that I'm reading The Sun Also Rises, I find the writing boring. Who knows, maybe I'll get used to it. But I keep expecting to get more than just the superficial aspects of the story. I suppose there's some fun in trying to figure out what's going on without being explicitly told (though there was also some of that in Mrs. Dalloway).
ReplyDeleteYeah, the differences in style are huge. At first, I was kind of frustrated with Woolf's writing. It just seemed to drone on without accomplishing much at all; and to repeat itself (she'll make these lists of synonyms), but then I got used to it. And then I started to find it kind of fun and interesting. And now that I'm reading The Sun Also Rises, I find the writing boring. Who knows, maybe I'll get used to it. But I keep expecting to get more than just the superficial aspects of the story. I suppose there's some fun in trying to figure out what's going on without being explicitly told (though there was also some of that in Mrs. Dalloway).
ReplyDeleteI found the switch from Mrs. Dalloway to The Sun Also Rises frustrating. Mrs. Dalloway gave us so much insight into the thoughts of each character that it would be easy to guess what each character would do in any given situation, but now with Hemingway's novel, I am left with many questions. Does Cohn know Jake is so condescending towards him? Does Brett *really* love Jake? Reading between the lines can offer some insight and potential answers but we may never truly know. It bugs me. The surface level writing seems, in comparison to Mrs. Dalloway, sort of dry if you don't read into the text.
ReplyDeleteEven though I had to keep on going back to try and muddle my way through the thoughts of Woolf's characters, I find it almost equally frustrating trying to read The Sun Also Rises. With Woolf, it was mostly her style of writing that I was getting caught up in; the fact that I was absorbing so many characters' thoughts wasn't a problem. But now, like you mentioned, we're reading the novel of an author who uses very succinct sentences. We're also experiencing the story through the lens of Jake, and we can only absorb his thoughts. It's actually really annoying not being able to know what other characters are thinking, especially Brett!
ReplyDeleteI found that for both books, I had to return to and re-read sections to understand what was going on. In Mrs. Dalloway, the confusion stemmed from her long sentences and the initial shock of free indirect discourse. In the Sun Also Rises, I got confused during dialogues, because there were stretches without markers such as "he said," and because the conversation moved very quickly.
ReplyDeletePersonally, I like Hemingway's The Sun Also Rises much better than Woolf's Mrs. Dalloway. The short and direct sentences are easier to understand and the story itself I find more entertaining. While there are certainly aspects of the story that are difficult to understand, I don't have to go back and struggle to figure out what's happening. I'll admit I'm guilty of reading a chapter of The Sun Also Rises and having to use Sparknotes to understand what happened, but overall, Hemingway leaves just enough clues to know what's happening.
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