Silar Marner VS Indian Camp. Compare and contrast.

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Literature                                                Eugenia Toh

Compare & Contrast Assignment                        08A03C.

Silas Marner and Indian Camp.

The two passages vary largely from each other in both theme and technique. This discrepancy is derived mainly from the differing era’s they were written in, George Eliot’s Silas Marner and Ernest Hemingway’s Indian Camp being done so in 1861 and 1939 respectively. It is known that most writers’ concerns during the High Victorian period commonly consisted of idealistic portrayals of an utopist society embellished with a mood of determined realism. This is indeed a stark contrast to works from the daring Modern era, where there is newfound courage to acknowledge and face the bleak hard truth of the grim human struggle with reality. These concepts are very often expressed, intentionally or not, as themes in writing.

        A clear example of this variance is the very fact that George Eliot, in Silas Marner, presented the world as morally ordered where there is the ambiguous presence of Fate, in an omniscient form, rewarding and punishing each individual for his actions. This fact is blatantly conveyed in the representation of a character like Silas, whom was previously marginalized. However, due to his admirable deed of “acting like a father to a lone motherless child”, despite his bare ability to survive himself taking into consideration his poverty stricken status, Fate deemed him well-deserving and awarded him with a chimerical life.  The trait of society being revolved around the perfection of virtues, where what is done determines what is done to us, promotes some sort of epiphany, signaling the maturing or realization process in the characters. Ernest Hemingway, however, diverges from this path. Though much of the story does not follow the orthodox pattern of an initiation, Nick, the protagonist in Indian Camp, does not come to any conclusion or realization in the end. The incompletion of his maturing process contradicts the ideals of Silas Marner drastically, as instead of learning something and being enriched; Nick loses his innocence and human purity. This disappearance of a perfect world where the honest truths of reality, in this case being how Nick had to bear witness to both a harsh suicide and the difficulties of childbirth, is blatantly defying the classic features of Victorian writing. What further amplifies this idea of realism is the illustration of discomfort that Nick faces. When Nick arrives at the camp, the “young Indian stopped and blew out his lantern”, the literal shift from lightness to darkness insinuates the figurative separation for Nick as he no longer sits in his comfort zone but instead is thrust into an abyss of unfamiliarity.

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        Apart from factors like subject matter, the writer’s technique undoubtedly emphasizes the distinction between the time periods of the passages. Hemingway’s short story, Indian Camp, is written in simple, direct, unadorned prose. The plot is uncomplicated, yet has the ability to convey intended themes, such as the loss of innocence, to the reader clearly and impactfully. He focuses on allowing the characters to grow and speak by themselves, instead of consistently narrating. This is exemplified by the frequent use of dialogue. Each spoken line is tastefully phrased to accustom the reader to the behaviors and traits the characters possess. ...

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