Journey to the Top of Santorini

“You have three options: you walk up zee hill here, you take zee trolley, or you ride zee donkey up zis hill” said our tour guide.  I quickly scanned my options before making the decision.  The so-called “trolley” was dangling hundreds of feet in the air, on what looked like a decrepit wire, over the sparkling Aegean.  With hundreds of individuals venturing to the top on donkeys, walking looked to be a dangerous enterprise.  I was now left with one last option… to ride “zee donkey”. 

I was next in line; my feet felt as if they were glued to the platform and honestly, at the time I was hoping they were.  In front of me stood a red-faced Greek man yelling his instructions in Greek, of which I didn’t know a single word, and it became the point where instincts took over.  I gathered that to get up this hill I would need to make it to the edge of the platform and take a leap of faith onto my designated donkey.  There were no guides for the donkeys because they knew their way up the path which meant that jumping at the right moment was key; one moment late would land me in a pile of dirt, with my donkey leaving me in the dust. 

Somehow, I made it onto the donkey and began the journey to the top.  If I had made my decision based on which route seemed the safest, I began to second-guess my judgment.  But when you are halfway up a rocky Cliffside on the back of a somewhat unruly creature, there’s no going back.  All I could do was hold on tight and hope for the best.  Let’s just say I was a little less than thrilled when my donkey decided to stop for a quick snack on the side of the hill, dangling me just over the side of the cliff.  About three quarters of the way up, I was beginning to find hope that I was in fact going to make it there.  This occurred to me mere seconds before the stampede of donkeys that had just dropped off their passengers made it swiftly back down to retrieve someone new.  It was a whirl of chaos and anxiety and the scattered shoes along the trail suddenly made a lot more sense.  The last few minutes felt like hours but the donkey made one last turn and planted its hooves on flat ground.  I felt as if I had lived to tell the tale and quickly hopped off to join the other members of my group. 

After the tours that day, most of us took the trolley back down because we weren’t quite sure we could handle the reverse journey on the donkeys.  But at the end of the day, it was all anyone could talk about.  Out of all of the souvenirs and the tours that day, it was the donkeys that made the trip.  It was truly the experience of a lifetime; I mean how many people can say they have ridden a donkey up the Cliffside of a Grecian island overlooking the Aegean Sea.  I am glad that I made the decision I did that day and wouldn’t take it back for anything, it was definitely an experience worth having and quite the journey.  

Under the Ridge

I found “Under the Ridge” to be intriguing even though it was a depressing subject.  After reading the story, I needed to look up a little background information to see what Hemingway was writing about and found out that he was writing about the Spanish Civil War.  I thought it was really interesting that no one in the story had names, but figured that Hemingway had his reasons for doing so.  I knew that it wasn’t merely by accident or laziness.  All of the characters are instead referred to by rank or where they are from for identification.  This made me think about war and how it is not really the individual names that stand out because they are fighting as a whole for their country or cause.  You hear about who wins and loses but not about the names or stories of the individuals on each side. 

            I was really curious about the Extremaduran who seemed to hate everyone and everything except for those on his side.  At first, I was thinking that he was just extremely negative and tired of fighting.  After a while, though his attitudes made a lot more sense.  In war, it doesn’t help to be sympathetic to the other side or to be friendly towards anyone who is not on your side.  They are supposed to view their enemies as just that, the enemy, someone who they hate and are completely against.  If they stopped to think about each of the individual soldiers on the other side and allowed themselves to feel sympathy for those they were fighting against, it would be that much more difficult.  All of the emotional strain and trauma that soldiers endure during war would be much more difficult if they were attached to these individuals and against killing them.  I’m assuming that it is much easier to do what they have to do in war if they are convinced they hate them and detach themselves from it. 

            We learned that Hemingway had somewhat of a fascination with war and felt inferior because he couldn’t fight in one.  He eventually became an ambulance driver and was able to contribute but I have a feeling that Hemingway still felt a little less masculine because he couldn’t fight.  In the story the soldiers talk a lot about their thirst, yet refuse the water that would help their thirst and drink the red wine instead.  Taking the red wine as an image for blood you can see the thirst for blood that Hemingway sees involved in war.  He seems to think that all men have the desire for destruction and the desire to fight and kill.  This ties in with Hemingway’s other short stories with the themes of manhood linked with guns and hunting and his own life where not being able to fight in a war was extremely upsetting and emasculating.  Even though it was a story that I found kind of depressing and didn’t get much enjoyment out of I thought it was very interesting because it is not something most people stop to think about, but probably should.  Everything that those who fight wars go through is extremely difficult and does not seem to be something that is necessary to find fulfillment or complete masculinity. Overall, this is another example of a story in which Hemingway shows his slightly skewed view of masculinity and human nature in general.  

Suelli Meeting 3

            With spring break and two busy schedules, it has been a couple of weeks since Suelli and I have been able to meet.  It never fails that we will only be free on the days that the other has something to do.  I also found out that Suelli has two conversation partners.  She was originally paired with another girl, but her schedule with school and work was too packed to meet with Suelli consistently.  Now that the semester is coming to an end, she has more free time and is able to meet with her, so Suelli is trying to keep up meetings with the both of us.  This and my new job are making it a little more difficult to find a time to meet, but we are trying. 

            Our third meeting was a lot easier to find things to talk about and she seemed much more comfortable with her English speaking abilities.  She doesn’t have very much of the IEP program to finish so she seems more confident.  I found out that she is going to transfer to Richland College in Dallas to finish up her English so that she can begin studying microbiology.  This lead to a conversation about looking for apartments and all of the responsibilities that came along with it.  I explained that my parents said I needed to get a job before they would agree to let me move down here for the summer.  Suelli seemed kind of surprised and said that she finds it interesting how many people start to work at pretty young ages in the United States.  She said that it made her begin to think of people in her country, Angola, as lazy because they put off working as long as they can.  This really surprised me and it was something I hadn’t thought of before.  Since this is my first job other than working for my parents company occasionally in high school, I considered myself lucky for not having to really work until now and hadn’t thought of it as being young at all.  She also explained to me that because she is here on a student visa she isn’t able work.  I didn’t think about this but it made me realize how big of a financial commitment it would be for parents of international students because the students themselves can’t have a job to contribute. 

            The conversation then inevitably landed on summer plans and the excitement and stress of the semester coming to an end.  Suelli said that she had a lot of homework left before the end of the program including two papers, which she was dreading the most.  The most difficult part for her is grammar and spelling errors that I think are actually quite common.  One of the examples she brought up was the words that have different spellings for the different meanings including words like ‘there, their, they’re’ and ‘your, you’re’.  I thought that this was kind of funny, not because she thinks it’s difficult but because many native English speakers make these mistakes all of the time.  Even though English is their first language, they often do not know the difference or care enough to use the correct one.  So, Suelli, who is relatively new to English, seems more concerned with making the errors and therefore, probably does better with it than most of us.  Because of my meetings with her I will probably think a little more about how much slang I use when I speak and be on the watch for grammatical errors more than I have before.  I’m realizing that I take English for granted and just assume I know what there is to know because it is my first language without making sure I practice it correctly.  I have started to notice a little bit of a change already and I really do think that I will be able to take something away from this experience.  

The Short Happy Life of Francis Macomber

            Just by looking at the title of this story, I was not exactly sure what to expect from it.  Since it is Hemingway, I knew that it couldn’t really just be a short happy story about some guy named Francis Macomber.  I figured it was probably not going to be a happy or uplifting story either.  In the initial descriptions of the three main characters in the story, the Macombers and Wilson, you can already tell that there is more going on than there appears. 

Margot seems to have much more interest in Wilson than she does in her own husband, Francis.  The two men are clearly different from each other and Hemingway depicts Wilson as a strong individual that fulfill his ideas of the ideal man.  Francis on the other hand is portrayed as a complete coward through his actions on the hunt and how de deals with his wife.  Margot definitely has the upper hand in their relationship, which is not something that Hemingway would agree with.  It also seems like Margot is being unfaithful to her husband, definitely with Wilson, but most likely it has occurred before the story takes place as well.  When Francis reflects upon the lion hunt the day before, the reader is able to see the act of cowardice that they talk about early on.  Margot seemed to enjoy seeing her husband act like the coward that she thinks he is.  Their conversation about the lion hunt was interesting to me because of the complete role reversal of Hemingway’s characters.  Margot is talking down to Francis and just brushing off his attempts at a conversation.  She even says that she knows he will take anything and refers to him as ‘sweet’. 

The next day they go on another hunt and it is clear that Francis Macomber has gone through some kind of definite change.  Margot’s mood has also changed and she is not enjoying the hunt at all compared to the day before.  There are several lines that refer to how Macomber feels better than he ever has before and that he is without fear.  He exclaims that he wants to go after another lion because ‘what can they do to you?’ to which Wilson replies ‘kill you’.  At this point Margot is realizing that she has lost the control she had over Francis and is obviously upset by it.  I had a feeling that something bad was going to happen at this point.  Wilson knows that it wasn’t an accident but can’t say anything to anyone else because she knows about his illegitimate practices.  He does let her know that he knows what happened though and almost pokes fun by asking her why she didn’t just poison him. 

Even though this story was a little bit longer than the ones we have been reading by Hemingway, I found it interesting and realized that all of the details were necessary.   All of them were important as the story moved on and helped to make sense of what happened.  At the end of the story the title made a lot more sense to me because the happy part of Francis Macomber’s life was in fact extremely short.  He was finally able to break the power and control his wife had over him to stand bravely on his own.  I enjoyed this story because it was a little different from his other stories even though a lot of the themes and settings were similar.  It was a nice change to actually sympathize with a male character in one of his stories, instead of writing them of as chauvinistic and condescending.  

'Cat in the Rain' and 'The Sea Change'

            After reading more and more of his stories, it makes a lot more sense to me now why Hemingway had so many marriages and affairs.  The two stories  ‘Cat in the Rain’ and ‘The Sea Change’ by Hemingway show more dysfunctional relationships that seem either to be horrible relationships or ones near the end.  In his typical short story style, he only gives the tip of the iceberg with the rest left for the reader to discover.  The short scenes in each story are about random events and quick conversations without an obvious point. 

            In ‘The Sea Change’ there is a couple sitting in a bar having a conversation about an unknown topic.  The way the story is told feels almost as if you are listening in on their conversation instead of hearing it firsthand.  There is obvious tension between the two of them and it does not seem to be a stable relationship.  It is clear that the relationship is not going to last and that it is most likely ending, but that is about all you know for sure.  There is a lot left to think about after reading this story.  I was left wondering why they were breaking up and what specifically had happened between the two that left their relationship like this.  In a way, I thought that it was more interesting to tell the story in this way because you could use your imagination to think up all of the possible scenarios, instead of just being told what happened. 

            ‘Cat in the Rain’ also left a lot of questions unanswered, leaving the readers with little conversation and a bizarre scene involving a cat.  The main characters are a married couple from America staying in a hotel in Europe.  It is raining heavily and the wife is staring out the window.  Once she sees the cat, she almost becomes obsessed with going to get the cat.  She doesn’t find it, but at the very end of the story, the maid appears with it in her hands.  When she returns to the room without the cat she talks to her husband about it and seems extremely upset about not being able to get the cat that she had randomly found.  Her husband, just as he had in the beginning of the story, basically ignores her and shows no concern in the matter.  I found that as she seemed to be getting more and more frustrated in her conversation with him, I was too.  I felt like I was watching a woman get pushed to her breaking point where she became extremely frustrated.  It was clear that they were living by his rules and did what he wanted.  She had obviously been doing everything to please him without a concern for her own desires and needs.  The cat became her symbol for all of those things she wanted and either gave up or didn’t get because of him.  She couldn’t and hadn’t gotten or done anything that she wanted to, so all she wanted was that cat, right then.   She is looking to these material things because she is not being fulfilled emotionally in her relationship. 

            I really enjoyed ‘Cat in the Rain’ after I reread it and gave it more thought.  The first time I read it, the story seemed really trivial.  I realized that it could not simply be a story about a lady on vacation wanting a cat; it is Hemingway after all.  After I thought about it and read it, again I really started to enjoy it and could empathize with the wife.  Both of the stories however, shed light on Hemingway’s inability for stable relationships and that he obviously did not think to positively when it came to commitment and long-term relationships.  

Hills Like White Elephants

Just like the Hemingway stories we have been reading all semester, “Hills Like White Elephants”, is a perfect example of the iceberg style where little is revealed and there is a great deal beneath the surface.  A majority of the story is told through the dialogue between the American man and his girlfriend, where the two actually discuss little.  They mostly just talk around each other and do not seem to know how to communicate with each other.  Most of the time, they don’t even seem to be answering each other, but just saying what they feel without the other understanding.  Even without a direct conversation between the two, I was getting a sense that the story was about much more than Hemingway was letting on.  Though their conversation didn’t make much sense and it was fairly trivial, there was an underlying sense of something serious happening. 

            Once the idea of an operation was brought up in the end, I started to get the idea that what they were talking about could be an abortion, but wasn’t completely sure.  It was the only operation I could think of that would bring about all of the tension and frustration between the two. Just in case I was way off, I looked up a couple of interpretations of the story and found out that the consensus is that she is pregnant and he is trying to convince her to abort the baby.  She seems to be enjoying the idea of having the baby and doesn’t want to get rid of it, while the American seems to be attempting to manipulate her into having it so they continue as they are.  He is just playing it off as a simple operation that would be quick and painless, something that isn’t a big deal.  This obviously isn’t the case; it would be a horrible experience that would change her life forever, but he doesn’t care as long as nothing would change in his own life or negatively effect him. 

            It is all left up in the air in the end for the reader to think about.  There is no definite decision about it that is made and she simply just says that she is fine.  You don’t know the future of the couple, you don’t know exactly what their relationship is, and you don’t even know where they are headed.  After thinking about it they clearly do not have a good enough relationship to discuss something of this magnitude and most likely don’t care about each other enough to understand what the other one wants.  She is pregnant with his child, yet he just wants it all to be over so they can go back to the frivolous lifestyle that she seems to be fed up with and ready to move on from. 

            Overall, I thought that this story was an excellent example of the iceberg style and it definitely brought up a lot to think about and discuss.  I feel by telling the story in this way, I actually thought about what was going on and took a better look at what happened than I would have had it just been outright about everything.  It is a very interesting style and although I thought it was somewhat frustrating and disturbing I thought that it was an excellent and interesting short story.