The nature of humans suggests that we tend to get close with certain people or things, and to keep others at a distance at the same time. Some things are familiar to us; we know them well and feel safe with them. Other things are foreign to us, and we most often feel uncomfortable with them or try to reject them. Sometimes the foreign things can become familiar, and sometimes vice-versa. It all depends on our personal perception of the world and vision of things. The notion of foreign and foreigners was discussed within the plots of many stories by different authors. One of them is Ernest Hemingway.
In the short stories written by Ernest Hemingway the notion of foreign is being discussed in a number of different contexts. In order to demonstrate this, it is enough to analyze the writer’s collection of short stories called “In our time”. The stories in the collection are united by a military theme, but their contents and morals that author wanted to carry down to the readers vary greatly.
The first chanter of the collection is a short description of a battery of soldiers going to Champagne. According to the author, everyone present there was drunk; in addition, the details he gives paint a rather ominous picture. However, the narrator’s mood seems to be optimistic: “It was funny going along that road” (Hemingway, 65).
This story, which can first seem to be rather endless, illustrates the seclusion of the author from the real danger of the situation. The soldier realized his mission and position; however, at that moment the whole war and its risks were foreign to him. At the same time, the soldiers, whose names the narrator does not even recollect, turned from foreigners to the family for him. They were all in equal situation, and this made them the closest people at that time.
Another story, called “Indian Camp”, also presents the experience of dealing with something foreign. For instance, the issue of giving a birth to a child is being discussed. While the doctor was supposed to simply help an Indian woman to give a birth to a child, the situation turned out to be much more complicated.
Thus, the doctor has to do a Caesarian section, which, in fact, excludes woman’s acting and makes the doctor responsible for the whole process. In this way, Hemingway shows how a role that had been foreign for a man suddenly became his own. On the other hand, the Indian man, ho was the father of the child, realized that the whole notion of childbirth is foreign to him. The view of blood and his wife’s suffering were not accepted by his mind. This sudden enlightenment was too heavy for his consciousness, which incited him to do a suicide.
One more context, in which the notion of foreign is analyzed, is presented in the story “The Doctor and the Doctor’s Wife”. Here Hemingway contrasts the masculine and feminine perception of the world. The author show how foreign can masculinity be for a woman, and vice-versa. The doctor’s wife, who denies the application of violence by her husband, and Nick, who prefers the company of his father to staying with his mother, are the examples provided by the author. In the first case, the denial of masculinity is made consciously, while in the second case the boy chooses to go with hi father simply because it is in his nature to accept the masculine actions, behavior, and activities, rather than the feminine ones; after all, it is more interesting for him.
In another narration, “The Three-day Blow”, Hemingway shows that the conception of foreign is not always clear in the mind of every person. His character, Nick, decides not to get married with a girl, but some time after he becomes uncertain about the rightness of his decision. Here the author shows how a human mind tries to define, which things are foreign to it, and which are not. On one hand, the young man wants to make a military career, see the world, and become a hero; from this perspective, marriage and love are foreign to him at the moment.
On the other hand, Nick feels that there is some desire in his heart to care and be cared about. Brought up as a real man, Nick is reluctant to admit this desire, which is a solely feminine attribute. However, even though Nick claims: “I will watch myself” (Hemingway, 92), it is impossible to suppress the inner voice. Thus, the author shows that people are not always in control of the things, and that it is sometimes decided for us, which things are foreign, and which ones are close for us.
One of the most convincing examples of the conception of foreigners is presented in the short story called “Cross-Country Snow”. The two characters, already familiar to the readers, Nick and uncle George, go skiing together. The narrator makes it clear that the two men are close, and that they are probably even friends.
However, there is one detail that can confuse the readers: uncle George calls Nick “Mike”. Obviously, such detail is not accidental; the writer does not name the reason why the man does not call Nick’s real name, and the reader is left to guess. From the perspective of foreigner’s conception, such detail can reveal the characters’ intention to stay foreigners. They do not will to get any closer, and in order to save the distance they prefer to pretend to be foreigners.
However, in “In Our Times” there was a character with whom Nick got really close. Luz, a nurse who worked in Pordenone, was about to become Nick’s wife. Two complete foreigners met in the war and accepted each other as the closest people: “They felt as though they were already married” (Hemingway, 107). However, later it appeared that mind in obsession can seclude from things just as easily a get close to them. “She loved him as always, but she realized now it was only a boy and a girl love” (Hemingway, 108). Here Hemingway shows how the things that once seemed the most important can become absolutely foreign and vice-versa.
As we can see, the conception of foreigners and foreign things is widely discussed in the short stories of Ernest Hemingway. The author uses both the obvious and concealed examples for this issue. In the collection “In Our Times” he demonstrates how relative is the notion of a foreigner.
The analyzed conception had been developed by another recognized author, Edgar Allan Poe. The author of a multitude of short stories, he also addresses the issue of perception of things as foreign in his works. However, unlike Ernest Hemingway, Edgar Allan Poe prefers using symbolic images rather than realistic examples. His works are based on allegories, which makes it harder for the reader to get an insight of all the issues addressed. In order to illustrate the author’s conception of a foreigner, we can analyze the collection “The gold-bug and other tales”.
One of the most popular stories from the collection is probably the short story called “Ligeia”. Those who read the story would agree that its moral and meaning are rather ambiguous. The narrator of the story is in love with his wife, named Ligeia. He worships her wisdom and beauty: “Nowhere but in the graceful medallions of the Hebrews had I beheld a similar perfection” (Poe, 87). It is clear to the readers that the woman is very close to the man. However, because of a sickness the woman dies, leaving her loving husband in despair. Later the narrator marries for the second time, but the second wife dies too. The man stays with her dead body for a night, and sees her resurrection. To be concrete, it was not the second wife that became alive, but it was Ligeia.
The tragic story can seem to be senseless at the first sight. However, with the further analysis it can be seen that the conception of foreign is being presented on a very deep level in this story. Poe shows the psychological processes in the mind of the narrator, and his conscious and subconscious perception of a foreign woman becoming very close to him: “I felt approaching the full knowledge of their expression – felt it approaching – yet not quite be mine” (Poe, 89). The narrator admired the woman, and this both kept them close and reserved a distance between them, as her perfection was unreachable for him. Switching to the scene when the narrator saw Ligeia alive again, we can see a reverse process, when a dead foreign woman was perceived by the man as his first wife, who had been more familiar and close to him.
On one hand, this scene can be treated as a hallucination of a man killed by grief. However, on the other hand, it can be also viewed as an attempt of the mind to broaden its limits and allow the impossible happen. Indeed, the man was totally obsessed with Ligeia, and under the influence of this condition his mind could not let the woman go. The narrator was ready to assume that the dead body of a foreign woman is his alive wife, rather than admit the fact that there are no close people left in his life.
Another impressive story by Poe, which was included in the collection, is “The Fall of the House of Usher”. This story can be called rather surrealistic, as the events described in it play with the reader’s mind. The issue of foreign is being addressed straight away at the beginning of the story; the narrator tells: “there are combinations of very simple natural objects which have the power of thus affecting us, still the analysis of this power lies among considerations beyond our depth” (Poe, 121). This referred to the attitude of the narrator to his friend’s house; despite the fact that the place was familiar to him, the man felt uncomfortable there. Literally, the place was foreign to him. However, there was no evident reason for such feeling, so the issue was subconscious.
Later in the story, a more striking example of accepting someone as a foreigner will be given. Roderick Usher, whom the narrator calls “one of my boon companions in boyhood” (Poe, 121), was obviously very close to the man. It can be seen from the text that the narrator was familiar with his habits and interests, and that he was willing to help his old friend. However, at the end of the story the narrator does not accept Roderick as a close friend anymore. What is more, he repudiates him, escapes the house, realizing that Usher has become a complete stranger, and that he does not know him any more.
The alienation is being included in the story at internal levels too. Poe mentions the Roderick’s twin sister, Madeline. As it turns out at the end of the story, Roderick put her in a tomb when she was alive. Here, again, the author surprises us with the fact that two people, who have been the closest in the world both physically and mentally, suddenly start acting like foreigners. However, it was clear that this process was not an essential one, as Roderick had a lot of mental illnesses. Thus, according to Allan Edgar Poe, the person can never be sure about someone being totally familiar or totally foreign. Just like Ernest Hemingway, the author proves the relativity of the notion of foreign.
The next story to be analyzed from Poe’s collection is even more ominous than the previous one. It’s name, “The Masque of the Red Death”, speaks for its content. The plot is pretty simple, but the philosophical background is very thoroughly designed. As for the notion of foreign, the brightest example from this story is the fact that the prince could not feel safe in his own castle. His own halls and rooms appeared to be foreign to him, just like one of the guests who he was sure was familiar to him.
In addition, the understanding of a foreigner is also presented on a psychological level here. The author shows that the people were eager to take off the masque from the unknown person. In fact, they were all expecting to see a face of a human, simply because this is what they are used to, what is familiar to them. However, there appeared to be no face under the masque, which was hard for the consciousness to accept. Even the readers find this detail horrible, which points to the limits of human mind, which does not expect the unfamiliar things to happen. The author shows, that maybe some things are set in our minds as familiar or foreign, but in reality these notions can switch their places.
As we can see, Allan Edgar Poe was successful in analyzing and presenting the conception of foreign and foreigner in his short stories. If to compare the two mentioned writers, we can see similarities in the meaning of their stories; however, the tools used by the two authors differ much. While Ernest Hemingway chose a realistic manner of writing, Allan Edgar Poe preferred to use symbols and allegories in his short stories. As a result, the works of the first writer reveal simple human feelings, such a pain, love, hesitation, etc., while the works of the other author involve abstract thinking, deep analysis of the text on different levels, and associative thinking. However, despite of the great difference in their approaches, the both authors appeared to be successful at presenting the conception of foreign in their works.
Works Cited
Hemingway, Ernest. In Our Time. London: Scribner, 1996.
Poe, Edgar Allan. The gold-bug and other tales. Toronto: General Publishing Company, 1991.