Hemmingway, Eliot, Faulkner

            Ernest Hemmingway’s “The Snows of Kilimanjaro” reminded me of “To Build a Fire” in a sense that they were both trying to survive the outdoor elements.  They also both have unresolved endings which I think are interesting. 

I also thought that Eliot’s “The Love Song of J. Alfred Prufrock” was strange especially after talking about it in class.  When I first read the poem I thought it was odd how the writer’s attitude towards his lover and himself changes.  At first he seemed to have confidence and then it begins to fade.  He talks about cheap hotels, which I thought was especially funny, and in the end drowning.  The whole idea of irony really paints a complete picture of the love song.  Like we talked about in class the title itself is ironic and seems more like a business type title rather than someone writing a love letter.  Half way through his love song he simply gives up on his love because he believes that he is insufficient and insignificant.  It seems that Eliot used modernism and irony both within his poem.  The whole question of “you and I” seems to raise a question like we talked about in class.  He sees himself as two potential visions: one that he will get his love and the other that he will never get his love.  He is not sure of who he is and there is an uncertainty of communication.

Faulkner’s “Rose for Emily” is interesting because it is non-linear and jumps around with the story.  The tension between old south and new south seems to be centered around Ms. Emily and the town.  Through taxes, smells, and other problems the question of values and tradition seem to butt heads against new culture of the town and more importantly of the south.  The town was becoming modernized and Ms. Emily holds on to what was and what she knew.