The True Nature of Literary Fiction

The stories we have read in English so far have been very dark and depressing. With that said, I don't believe that this is the true nature of literary fiction. Authors of literary fiction are trying to give the reader a new perspective on life. Mr. Mullins said that literary authors are like explorers trying to uncover the mysteries of the human spirit. I think literary fiction is meant to explore those mysteries, and most of them happen to be dark or depressing. I think the imbalance in the anthology book is due to the fact that some of the best literary stories contain parts that are dark and depressing. I don't think this means that there are no happy literary stories.

Maybe the literary authors are trying to stay away from the happy ending and commercial fiction vibe, and so they go in the completely opposite direction and produce dark, depressing, disturbing stories. The literary authors probably wanted to make a name for themselves and create what they consider better fiction.

I just want to give an update on senior year. It's going really well so far! I love that I am only at school for two blocks. The only thing I don't like is that I don't get to hear the announcements during the lunch break. I didn't know that there was a National Honor Society meeting today until Yixia told me fourth block!!

"Hills Like White Elephants" by Ernest Hemingway

I had to read this story multiple times to understand what was going on. I kind of liked that it was very emotionless. The story did not tell the characters thoughts or feelings. This allows the reader to interpret the story in different ways. Some people may think that the girl does not want to keep the baby, but at some points in the story I think she does. I think Hemingway created an emotionless story to depict a real life situation. If I heard a conversation like this while at a restaurant, I would not be able to tell what the two people were thinking. It adds mystery to the story and gives it a whole new level.

I really liked the fact that the story was so straightforward, but at the same time it contained so many hidden meanings and symbols. These things engage the reader in the story, and keep their attention. Hemingway's style of writing suits someone like me. I like that the writing is very basic, and does not contain frilly vocabulary. I also liked that the reader has to figure out what the conversation is about. It is like a puzzle; you use the clues given by Hemingway to figure out the reason for the conversation. This was my first encounter reading anything by Ernest Hemingway, and I think I might try to read some of his other stories. 

The Pickup by Nadine Gordimer

 

 

For my Independent Reading book I decided on The Pickup by Nadine Gordimer. I'm not too far into it, but it has already caught and kept my attention. As of right now in the book, it seems to be a love story about two people from different social classes. Nadine has a very unique style of writing; she never uses quotations. At first, I was very confused and couldn't tell what was going on. Now it is a little easier, but sometimes it is still hard to follow dialogue between four or five people.

I haven't learned too much about the main characters yet either. The two main characters that the story follows are Julie and Abdu. Abdu is an illegal immigrant in South Africa. His name isn't actually Abdu, but he has to hide his identity to stay in South Africa. He works in a auto repair shop, and lives a very poor lifestyle. Julie on the other hand, lives a very lavish lifestyle. She still feels like she is missing something. She doesn't seem to be happy having such nice things when other people like Abdu live in shambles.

At first I thought that the title referred to a car, as in a pickup truck, but I was wrong. I think it refers to how Julie picked Abdu up off the streets and became his friend and lover. My inference might be wrong, but I think that it has something to do with the people instead of a car.

Ambiguous Stories

Last English class we discussed the short stories "The Child by Tiger" by Thomas Wolfe and "The Destructors" by Graham Greene. Both of these stories contain characters with ambiguous motives. In "The Child by Tiger" we never figured out why Dick Prosser went off on a killing spree, and in "The Destructors" we never figured out Trevor's reason for destroying Old Misery's house. That bothers me quite a lot! I'm accustomed to everything being laid out clearly in books, but this is just totally different. I understand what both of the authors were trying to do; they want their readers to use their imagination and determine the motives of those characters. Maybe I have trouble with this because I don't have a big imagination and I'm not very creative.

There was another aspect about our discussion that got on my nerves. As we were leaving class Mr. Mullins said most of the groups' protagonist/ antagonist theories were wrong. In books that are contain ambiguous parts or indeterminate endings, how can anyone be sure their specific interpretation is correct? The only way to truly know is to ask the author. I feel that it is unfair to say that our interpretation was wrong just because it is not the most widely accepted interpretation. Now, some interpretations are just completely off topic and ridiculous, and I understand why those interpretations are not widely accepted. However, I think if someone has enough support to back up their interpretation, then it should be acceptable.