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Essay on Short stories

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The short stories “The Snows of Kilimanjaro” and “The Short Happy Life of Francis Mocomber” were both written by world renowned author Ernest Hemingway. The two stories are written completely unrelated to each other; however, both stories have vast similarities in the time and place in which they take place. Hemingway is a writer that is very methodical in his word choices. When reading these two stories a second time the reader finds considerable differences in the writing style the author uses in each story. To demonstrate, three sentences from each story will be compared and contrasted to show the differences in word usage, word connotation, and to find which story is written better. The initial pair …show more content…

The word “plummeted” as defined in the American Heritage Dictionary “is to fall straight down; plunge”.
The two words are close in meaning; however, “plummeted” is a better word for the sheer reason that the reader can directly visualize the vultures dive toward earth. When the word “plummeted” is heard a person thinks of plunging to death or fall at in incredible rate. “Plummeted” is much more dramatic and defining then the word “planed.” The word “Planned” could have various images connected with it. “Planed” leaves the reader too many options when visualizing the vultures decent to the ground. For example the reader might visualize the vulture gliding down to the ground or zigzagging to the ground. The word ‘Plummeted” is a better defined and more dramatic word. Making the sentence, “On the far bank of the stream Macomber could see, above the trees, vultures circling and plummeting down,” the better sentence of the two.
The next two sentences, “’You Bitch,’ he said,” from the “Snows of Kilimanjaro” and “’Why not let up on the bitchery just a little, Margot,’ Macomber said, cutting the eland steak and putting some mashed potato, gravy and carrot on the down-turned fork that tined through the piece of meat,” again have similarities. For example, in each sentence the husband is calling his wife a bitch of sorts; however, it is the use of this word that makes these sentences

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