![]() ![]() However, to expose details of the story, Hemingway often turns away from narrative commentary and instead makes use of compressed dialogue (Lamb 456). In many instances, a narrator is used in a work to convey necessary information. First, the literary device of omission will be considered. For many authors this is a difficult task, but Hemingway was able to use a number of literary devices that allowed for simple, but significant language. Now that an understanding has been given to explain why Hemingway would write such basic passages, an analysis can be given on how Hemingway was able to compress his dialogue, but create maximum meaning. Therefore, characters should be under, rather than over articulate, with language that is simple, calculated, and loaded with deep meaning. Here, with the use of precise suggestive language, there is a lot more room for analysis and connotations. One could ask what does the character mean exactly by “ok,” and so forth. For instance, a character could say, “Sally isn’t that pretty, but she isn’t ugly either,” or the character could say, “She’s ok.” While the first quotation has a straightforward meaning, the latter could suggest many things. When this is the case, what they intend to say, rather than what they are actually saying, is more striking because of its greater inner importance to the plot (Bowen 256). However, such things should be implied subtly, suggestively, and never through direct statement (Bowen 256). Hence, each piece of dialogue has an exact calculated purpose. She stated it must be “pointed, intentional, relevant. In “Notes on Writing a Novel,” Elizabeth Bowen cut to the crux of exactly why modern dialogue is so difficult to write. ![]() This is done through Hemingway’s use of omission, indirection, and irony.īefore delving into the analysis, it is necessary to explain the literary device of compression in dialogue. However, the entire contention of this paper is not simply pointing out Hemingway’s simplistic dialogue in these works, but asserting how Hemingway uses it to make maximum meaning. Through a close examination of passages from “Indian Camp,” Hemingway’s narrative technique will be revealed to show his dialogue being simple and laconic, yet powerfully meaningful and artistic. This is clearly evident in Hemingway’s “Indian Camp” in which he “for the first time employed the characteristic devices that distinguish his dialogue” (Pryce-Jones 21). Hemingway utilizes the device of compression in writing his dialogue, constructing minimal language, but somehow powerful meaning is generated. This paper explores Hemingway’s dialogue and in doing so an interesting detail has been found. However, there is not much sustained analysis of this element. While there has been much criticism on the biographical content of Hemingway’s work, Pryce-Jones was one to notice the art of Hemingway’s dialogue. “Hemingway’s art,” Alan Pryce-Jones asserted, “especially his innovative dialogue, might turn out to be his enduring memorial as a writer” (Pryce-Jones 21).
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