A Moveable Gluten Free Feast!

In Ernest Hemingway’s autobiography, A Moveable Feast, first person point of view allows the reader to visualize Hemingway’s judgments of other characters, and learn about Hemingway’s life through his own reflections. Occasionally when he explains the setting, Hemingway tends to speak in the second person. Hemingway’s writing style includes a comedic and satirical tone. His supplementing humor is effective while reading about his life and encounters with other characters because the situational and verbal irony hold the reader’s interest. Hemingway addresses the characters in a humorous way and expresses his opinion of the characters without thinking before he speaks. The comical style is demonstrated when he describes Fitzgerald, “Scott was a man then who looked like a boy with a face between handsome and pretty. He had very fair wavy hair, a high forehead, excited eyes and a delicate long-lipped Irish mouth that, on a girl, would have been the mouth of a beauty. His chin was well built and he had good ears and a handsome, almost beautiful, unmarked nose. This should not have added up to a pretty face, but that came from the coloring, the very fair hair and the mouth. The mouth worried you until you knew him and then it worried you more,” (Hemmingway 231). When his good friend, Fitzgerald is ill from alcohol addiction, Hemingway believes that Fitzgerald is acting crazy and does not behave in a serious manner. His use of comedic tone throughout the novel adds layers of meaning even when he discusses serious events.

In addition to Hemingway’s effective use of an amusing tone, his style and narrative structure add layers of connotation. Hemingway confuses the reader and his writing style excludes important details from the novel. He does not specify character’s names and leaves out important plot points forcing the reader to use their imagination or to comprehend his stories at a deeper level. Hemingway also uses the seasons as a treatment of time. Spring is portrayed as the best time of life and fall is depicted as a sad time of his career. Hemingway explains the seasons and how they affect life when he states, “But you knew there would always be the spring, as you knew the river would flow again after it was frozen. When the cold rains kept on and killed the spring, it was as though a young person had died for no reason,” (Hemmingway 45). The novel is an example of form following content because the story line is structured based on the seasons and his most important memories, resulting in a confusing plot.

In AP Language, we are learning to understand a writer’s purpose, audience, subject, and genre and how they affect expository, analytical, and argumentative compositions. Hemmingway is efficient at painting a picture and helping the reader visualize scenes and characters. He uses satire, hyperboles, and polysyndetons to emphasize his own thoughts. He focuses on writing a novel has meaning and is worth the read. Throughout his writing career, Hemingway meets various writers that inspire him to create new techniques, such as confusing the reader and encouraging them to use their imagination. 

Work Cited

Hemingway, Ernest.  A Moveable Feast. New York: Scribner, 2009. Print.