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In order for a writer to make his readers understand the hidden meanings of events, literary techniques such as characterization, point of view, symbolism, setting and them must be present. "The serious writer's goal is not to tell us a story, to entertain or to move us, but to make us think and to make us understand the deep and hidden meaning of events." This quote by Maupassant reveals why Hemingway, the author of the short story "Hills Like White Elephants," and Russell Banks the author of "Blackman and White woman in a dark green Rowboat" use literary techniques.
Ernest Hemingway in Milan, 1918
Ernest Hemingway's house- Key West, FL
Chinese Bank of ChinaAnn Charters says in appendix III of "The Story and Its Writer, in all successful fiction characters come alive as individuals. They must materialize on the page through the accumulation of details about their appearance, actions, and responses, as seen, heard, and felt physical realities." Hemingway in "Hills Like White Elephants." tells us little about the physical appearance of the characters, Jig and her boyfriend. We do not even know the first name of the man. The lack of physical details about the characters makes them less than flesh and blood to most readers. However Hemingway is able to reveal the figure of his characters through their thinking. For instance, Jig boyfriend says "But I don't want anybody but you. I don't want any one else" This shows how Jig's boyfriend like most young guys is not ready to keep up with the responsibilities of pregnancy. Unlike Hemmingway, Banks gives the physical details about his characters. He describes the Black man as tall, slender and muscular. He also describes the white woman as a girl, "actually, twenty or maybe twenty-one". Like Hemmingway, Banks's
Markham 2
characters remain anonymous. This allows the reader to understand...