Tuesday, May 19, 2015

Tuesday, May 19 "In Another Country" by Ernest Hemingway code hero background





Ernest Hemingway
Learning Targets:
1. I can cite strong and thorough textual evidence to support analysis of what the text says explicitly as well as inferences drawn from the text, including determining where the text leaves matters uncertain.
2. I can determine two or more themes or central ideas of a text and analyze their development over the course of the text, including how they interact and build on one another to produce a complex account; provide an objective summary of the text.
3) I can analyze the impact of the author's choices regarding how to develop and relate elements of a story or drama (e.g., where a story is set, how the action is ordered, how the characters are introduced and developed).

4) I can determine the meaning of words and phrases as they are used in the text, including figurative and connotative meanings'


5) I can analyze how an author's choices concerning how to structure specific parts of a text contribute to its overall structure and meaning as well as its aesthetic impact.
6) I can analyze a case in which grasping a point of view requires distinguishing what is directly stated in a text from what is really meant (irony)
In class: vocabulary quiz
Introducing Ernest Hemingway and the Code Hero
(class handout / copy below)
We are reading the background information on the Code Hero with the goal of applying the ideas to Hemingway's short story " In Another Country," which we will read in class on Wednesday.
Excerpts from Hemingway's novels. How do these relate to the idea of the code hero?
1.Every day above earth is a good day.

 The Old Man and the Sea
2. A man can be destroyed but not defeated.

The Old Man and The Sea
3. Being against evil doesn't make you good.                                                                      Islands in the Stream


4. Always do sober what you said you'd do drunk. That will teach you to keep your mouth shut.


5. Courage is grace under pressure.




Hemingway Code Hero

Hemingway Code: Hemingway's protagonists are usually 'Hemingway Code Heroes,' i.e., figures who try to follow a hyper-masculine moral code and make sense of the world through those beliefs. Hemingway himself defined the Code Hero as 'a man who lives correctly, following the ideals of honor, courage and endurance in a world that is sometimes chaotic, often stressful, and always painful.' This code typically involves several traits for the Code Hero: (1) Measuring himself against the difficulties life throws in his way, realizing that we will all lose ultimately because we are mortals, but playing the game honestly and passionately in spite of that knowledge. (2) Facing death with dignity, enduring physical and emotional pain in silence (3) Never showing emotions (4) Maintaining free-will and individualism, never weakly allowing commitment to a single woman or social convention to prevent adventure,travel, and acts of bravery (5) Being completely honest, keeping one's word or promise (6) Being courageous and brave, daring to travel and have 'beautiful adventures,' as Hemingway would phrase it (7) Admitting the truth of Nada (Spanish, 'nothing'), i.e., that no external source outside of oneself can provide meaning or purpose. This existential awareness also involves facing death without hope of an afterlife, which the Hemingway Code Hero considers more brave than 'cowering' behind false religious hopes. The Hemingway Code Hero typically has some sort of physical or psychological wound symbolizing his tragic flaw or the weaknesses of his character, which must be overcome before he can prove his manhood (or re-prove it, since the struggle to be honest and brave is a continual one). Also, many Hemingway Code Heroes suffer from a fear of the dark, which represents the transience or meaninglessness of life in the face of eventual and permanent death.


No comments:

Post a Comment