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I really love dialogue! I love reading it in stories and I love writing it! I really liked how throughout the chapter; the author would say different things that dialogue isn’t meant for. For example, she said dialogue isn’t meant for describing someone’s attire or the scene. It’s supposed to sound fluid and natural and even though dialogue says a lot about a character, you’re not suppose to bluntly state the facts of what’s going on. Rather, you should hint at it. On page 260, she talks about how gestures are also an important part of dialogue. In their example with Hills Like White Elephants, instead of Hemmingway just stating the word “said”, he would use gestures and that is something I never knew about doing. I always thought you had to be put the word said and then insert the adverb or action aft the fact. I also find it very comforting that on page 260, they talk about not worrying to much about repeating the word “said.” She says, “don’t worry about it being repetitive, as it is so much a part of fiction that is it virtually invisible.”
ReplyDeleteI remember reading Hills Like White Elephants last semester in Intro to Literature. When I first read it, I didn’t really understand what was going on. But reading it again for this class is making more sense. I remember my professor mentioning abortion when talking about this story, and I can see how that plays out in the story. If you read between the dialogue, the girl is obviously stressing about a “simple operation” and that it isn’t a big deal, but the guy keeps insisting that if she doesn’t want it, she’s allowed to keep it if she wishes and then they go back and forth about if he will still love her if she decides to keep it. I sometimes find the dialogue a bit confusing because after a while you kind of have to retrack on who’s saying what, but I definitely appreciate the story a lot more now because of the fact that I have a better understanding of it.
-Megan Cavazos
For me, it is easy to talk to friends and people and have it flow naturally and reading this chapter on dialogue brought back some tips from Introduction to Creative Writing. The biggest struggle for me to realize is condensing dialogue to the key events that move the story or reveal details about characters. In my writing, I feel like I am dragging a scene with mundane discussion because that is how my discussion usually goes. And I do appreciate the advice of not being afraid of us “ So and So said” if I am unable to come up with a clever or fancy verb to convey emotion and I realize it is more interesting to have characters convey emotion with an action.
ReplyDeleteThe reading was interesting in that it leaves details pretty vague. I don’t know what they were talking about or what was the struggle of their relationship but the emotions and mentality of the characters conveyed through dialogue and actions kepted me invested in whether the girl chose to go with the man’s plan. On page 269 where the girl seems absent minded or tries to think of something else and keep the conversation away from the conflict by pointing out the hills look like “white elephants” or changing the subject to the beads. It was funny when the man speaks to the bartender in Spanish and then the bartender responds in perfect English, maybe the man is originally from Spain, assuming no one knows English.
-Marc Fuentes
“Hills Like White Elephants” by Ernest Hemingway is a short story that I never get tired of rereading. There is so much that is not said out loud, but the reader can take away several different meanings from this short story. This short story is a great example of Hemingway’s Iceberg Theory stated in Chapter 10. It is obvious that the man wants the girl to have an abortion even though he says things as, “if you don’t want to you don’t have to. I wouldn’t have you do it if you didn’t want to.” However, he proceeds to say, “But I know it’s perfectly simple.” Making thing big decision for her seem minor, and manipulating her to go through with the abortion even is she is not sure about it. Also, he claims in page 272, “I don’t want anybody but you. I don’t want any one else.” Which clearly states that he doesn’t want a child.
ReplyDeleteI am still someone who rarely uses dialogue in my stories. However, since the time I first took this class, I learned how important it can be to use dialogue in my stories. The relationship between two characters can truly show by the way they interact with each other, and dialogue can emphasize important factors like these. I still struggle to make my dialogue seem natural, but it is something that I am still improving on.
-Angela Milan
Chapter 8 focuses on dialogue, or rather, the ways dialogue can be used in your stories. Another one of my weak points is making conversations between characters seem natural, since it all ties back to me not having the best developed characters in the first place. I don't quite agree with not using dialogue for "philosophical brooding," since I do like those kinds of conversations, though I suppose that's more of a personal preference. I feel that those types of brooding can lead to characters exposing some insecurities, so to just write it off into a narrative paragraph is just kind of insensitive.
ReplyDeleteI'm honestly not the biggest fan of "Hills Like White Elephants" but it has nothing to do with its structure, but more that I have read this so many times I'm sort of tired of it. It's a dialogue heavy short story that is open to interpretation, but the dialogue just doesn't feel natural to me and it even gets rather confusing since it can go on for so long without an action or a gesture. However I do find it clever that it told the story the way that it did. The man is trying to convince the woman to get an abortion while she doesn't want to go through with it. It never once stated this, but with some analysis of the subtext one can get it.
—Airam Sandoval
I really enjoyed this chapter, I actually had already read it to help me while I was working on my short story. A couple of the things I highlighted that really got my attention right away were the ideas of what dialogue is good for and what is isn't. I really agree with the fact that dialogue can heavily help propel a story forward and give it dynamic. Without it a piece can really get boring and stale especially if its in the first person. One of the other ways that dialogue can help propel a piece forward is by revealing things about characters' motives and desires, and that can be done in what is said in the dialogue but also what is held back. The idea that dialogue also consist of what is not being said, is further explained in the section called, "silence is part of dialogue" and "on subtext. I loved both sections and want to further incorporate this in my right but I fear that it'll be to subtle and the reader won't pick it up. The reading I enjoyed the most was "Hills like White Elephants" by Ernest Hemingway. When had previously read this story I remember feeling floored by how impactful the story was. Reading it once again, I felt the feeling for a second time but picked up more detail in the dialogue. It worked perfectly because I believe this piece demonstrates how to write with subtext effectively which was exactly what I needed to help me continue to perfect my short story.
ReplyDelete-David Hermosillo
When I first saw the story that we were supposed to read, I honestly didn't want to read it. I've read stories that are mostly dialogue and, I don't really think that i have veer liked one. I, myself, have written a short story like this one and, while I enjoy it because it's my own writing, it's not my favorite thing in the world. Pleasantly, I was surprised by the story. It was easy to read and to follow despite the lack of description. It felt like I was part of the story and it let me kind of go into my own brain and fill in the missing pieces. They talked in Spanish and asked for beers and talked about open fields and grass. When I was little, I used to go visit my grandmother in Mexico and we would always drive by this huge tree that looked like an elephant, so for some reason, i felt that this story took place there. Strange, i know but I genuinely enjoyed the story.
ReplyDeleteThe Chapter was fun for me this time around. Dialogue has always been difficult for me to write because i never knew how much was too much. How much would just feel forced or if it felt natural at all. I particularly like the idea of writing whatever comes to mind in order to fix later. I tend to sometimes dwell too much on what i can't write and forget there is more to a story than one line. In general, it was very helpful.
Valeria Jaime
I feel like LaPante has a very good understanding of what dialogue can mean for a story. She mentions the do's and don't's of dialogue as well as what affect it. I found it very telling when she mentioned the effect of relationship on dialogue exchanges as different dynamics yield different conversation tactics. As we no doubt picked up on of Hemingway's Hills Like White Elephants, the man seems very taken with Jig. He repetitively asks if getting an abortion is something that Jig would like, but he uses that disguise of concern to reveal his own uncertainties - why else have him repeat that question more than 5 times? It's takes a clever use of dialogue to help the reader understand the psychology of any specific character and that is what I believe we should be focusing on in our writing.
ReplyDeleteBeing able to weave the drive and fears and character flaws in our stories through the use of dialogue.
One particular piece of advice that I will be implementing would be the use of adverbs. LaPante advises the use of word choice and gestures to help deliver on the moods of our characters rather than weaken the effect of dialogue. Show, don't tell. Or rather, as she writes, Show AND Tell.
Another piece of advice I enjoyed was the attitude of dialogue. I've always considered it as the topping of a cake, when really, I should be viewing it as filling. Dialogue as a PHYSICAL exchange changes everything. For instance, in the short story, when Jig juxtaposes a claim made by the man (Interesting that Hemingway refers only to this character as a man; is abortion a man's choice? Many ways this could be interpreted). "I've known lots of people that have done it." "So have I," said the girl. "And afterwards they were all so happy." Clearly the man meant the abortion and the girl (not a woman? Very telling. The exposition if this piece is exceptional, I tell you) meant the pregnancy/having kids. That counter is so well made and powerful and arguably quite simple; realistic enough to be heard in common occurrence.
Sandra Martinez
Hills Like White Elephant was the one story out of the ones we have read in this book that I found boring. I’m usually good at finding things I enjoy but reading a story completely made up of dialogue was hard to follow. There’s a tonal shift that I enjoyed but other than that I was having trouble following the plot. For a story set in a single setting and event, I would have liked to see more tension and action. Hemmingway is a brilliant writer but I find this one to be one of his weakest works. This brings me back to the chapter which talks about the thing that I frowned upon in Hemmingway’s story. Dialogue is meant to drive stories forward and facilitate the exchange of information from character to the reader. The whole chapter was insightful as I usually have difficulty telling if my dialogue is good or not. Turns out that there’s not one example of dialogue we all need to follow and that was great to see. However, it did bring up an issue in my own writing: I should be writing a bit more dialogue into my stories. Descriptions are fine and all as conversations that are straight-up information are boring.
ReplyDelete-Monica Olvera