Reflections of Themes

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Isaiah Ku ENG 214 – Readings in Fiction Professor Miriam N. Kotzin December 01, 2014 Reflections of Themes In a well-written story, there is a theme that portrays the main idea of the story and usually depicts the central meaning of a literary work. The theme ties everything together and focuses the point of the story around that idea. What attracts me to these fiction stories are that they can show how creative someone can be by incorporating any theme that inspires the author. In my opinion, the short stories “Hills Like White Elephants” by Ernest Hemingway, “The Short Happy Life of Francis Macomber” by Ernest Hemingway, and “Red Fox Fur Coat” by Teolinda Gersão all provide an underlying message that relates to one another. Hemingway is one of my favorite authors because I feel as if he captures the essence of reality that people can relate to as well as portray a more fictitious setting that most people usually don’t come across. *Although these short stories all have different multiple themes within themselves, you can tie them all together to the inner struggles and conflicts that the characters face throughout the story. First, in the short story “Hills Like White Elephants” by Ernest Hemingway, a setting is described at a train station that is indicative of how the relationship between the protagonists are at a crossroads. This setting is so meaningful because of the fact that on one side of the station it seems to be dry and barren symbolizing emptiness, loneliness and death, while the other side is full of light and hills that emphasize life and fertility. We can see throughout the story that the girl is torn between the choices she has to make and constantly looks over at the two landscapes in between the station. Moreover, once the train arrives, she will have to make the final decision on which direction to head towards that could affect her life
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