Blog Entry # 1: Rhetorical Strategies in A Farewell to Arms
· Simile: “You look healthy as a goat” (Hemingway 99)
· Imagery: “There were big guns too that passed in the day drawn by tractors, the long barrels of the guns covered with green branches and green leafy branches and vines laid over the tractors” (Hemingway 4)
· Invective: “Go to hell” (Hemingway 13)
· Repetition: “sure that this was all and all and all” (Hemingway 13)
· Alliteration: “racks of rockets” (Hemingway 23)
· Allusion: “Napoleon victories; any Napoleon. I wished we had a Napoleon” (Hemingway 36)
· Hyperbole: “But millions of fools like you don’t know it” (Hemingway 66)
· Euphemism: “with malaria, a nice boy, also thin” (Hemingway 107)
· Assonance: “I don’t drink and I don’t run around. I’m no boozer and whorehound” (Hemingway 123)
· Cliché: “had bitten off more than they could chew” (Hemingway 133)
· Homily: “That is why the peasant had wisdom, because he is defeated from the start. Put him in power and see how wise he is” (Hemingway 179)
In the novel, A Farewell to Arms, Hemingway uses a variety of rhetorical strategies to develop his style. These include simile, imagery, invective, repetition, alliteration, allusion, hyperbole, euphemism, assonance, cliché, and homily. In a broad perspective, these rhetorical strategies substantiate a single concept: imagery. Hemingway’s use of rhetoric allows him to create a vivid image of war and love, an image that the reader is able to indentify with. For example, when describing the opening scene for the novel, Hemingway states that “there were big guns too that passed in the day drawn by tractors, the long barrels of the guns covered with green branches and green leafy branches and vines laid over the tractors” (Hemingway 4). In this instance, the utilization of imagery places the reader in the shoes of the narrator, and allows him or her to identify with the plot. Hemingway’s style can be viewed as one of objective, an objective that focuses on allowing the reader to relate to what is occurring in the story. These rhetorical strategies are crucial to developing this style in a clear and effective way.
Hemingway’s use of an objective style serves no purpose other than to paint a picture for the reader. As you mentioned, his rhetorical strategies lead toward a single concept, and with that concept being imagery, it is important that Hemingway does whatever he can to paint a crystal clear picture. The more detail this picture has, the better the reader can relate to what the characters are going through. For example, men and women with loved ones at home during the war today can relate to what Henry is feeling when he is away from Catherine for an extended period of time. When soldiers go into battle, they do not know if the last time they saw their loved ones will be the last memory they have of them.
ReplyDeleteAs imagery is the key component to the understanding of Hemingway's novel, all of these rhetoricla strategies play a part into creating that sense of imagery in which we are able to become further intertwined with the happenings of the book. I also used the example of the guns being covered with the green leaves in my blog entry and i believe that that specific detail serves as a wonderful example as to the kind of rhetorical strategies that Hemingway uses to set the stage for his story.
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