A Moveable Feast Literary Elements

Memoir

The vast majority of the action takes place in Paris in the 1920s, during the time when Hemingway first moved from America to Europe. The action takes part during Hemingway’s marriage with his first wife, Hadley.

The story is related from a first person subjective point of view. The narrator of the story is also the author of the book and he recalls the important events that took place in his life through the book he wrote.

The tone and mood varies greatly from one chapter to another, from anguish to happiness and from desperation to hopefulness.

The protagonist may be considered as being Hemingway but there is no antagonist in the story.

The major conflict is an internal one and is the result of Hemingway’s desire to be seen as a valuable writer and his need for money.

In the series of events described in the novel, the climax can be considered the moment when Hemingway went to Stein’s house while she and her partner where engaged in sexual intercourse. After that, Hemingway became distant with Stein and tried to separate himself from her.

In the third chapter, Hemingway talks about the life he had with his wife and the happiness they had despite not owning many material things. At the end of the chapter, he expresses his hope that their situation will continue to be the same for an extended period of time. Shortly after that, he expresses his regret, telling the reader that he should have knocked on wood, thus foreshadowing the fact that his and his wife’s situation will change in a short period of time.

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It is alluded that the reason why Hemingway stopped going to Stein’s house was because he became bothered by her lesbian relationship. While he was an author and quite a libertine person, he was still a traditional man who saw lesbianism and gay relationships as being a disease that needs to be cured.

One of the images that affect Hemingway the most is that of the dead man found in the snow. While in Austria, he heard about people being trapped in the snow and then dying slowly and painfully while no one found them. An image that stayed with him was that of a man who was found in the snow. Due to the weight of the snow, his neck was broken and the bone became visible. This showed that even though someone may think that a place was safe, the reality was completely different and that dangers could be in fact lurking behind every corner.

The relationship between Stein and Hemingway is a paradoxical one because the two continue to remain close despite their differences. Even though Stein often insults Hemingway and makes him feel uncomfortable, the writer continues to visit Stein and to talk with her about art and writing in general.

Hemingway draws a parallel between the act of consuming food and drinking in order to survive and consuming and analyzing art. For him, the two are almost always connected in some way and one cannot exist without the other. This parallel shows that for Hemingway, nurturing the soul and the intellect through art is just as important as consuming enough food to make sure the human body still functions properly.

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In chapter 7 ‘’ spoke glowingly of him’’.