Summer Entry 4

Pamplona in July

by Ernest Hemingway

Pages 98-106

Ernest Hemingway was an author and journalist who lived a life of adventure and wrote about his experiences; many of his novels, manuscripts, and essays are considered classics today.  He ended up marrying and divorcing three wives, until he met his fourth and last wife in London.  In 1923, Hemingway visited Pamplona, Spain and attended his first Fiesta of San Fermin, which inspired him to write his first novel, The Sun Always Rises.  Hemingway developed a passion for watching bullfighting and returned for the 1924, 1925, 1926, 1927, 1929, 1931, 1953, and 1959 fiestas.  He ends up writing the essay, Pamplona in July, for the Toronto Star Weekly newspaper to inform and convince other men to experience this little-known, but exhilarating festival for themselves.

Throughout the essay, Hemingway refers to his traveling partner as simply “Herself,” perhaps because in his own personal life, he was married to a total of four women and did not visit every fiesta with the same woman, so “Herself” appropriately generalizes women into the same person.  At one point, Hemingway cautions his audience, “If you want to keep any conception of yourself as a brave, hard, perfectly balanced, thoroughly competent man in your wife’s mind never take her to a real bull fight” (Hemingway 104), showing that Hemingway is purposefully writing to other men.

The author’s diction is made up of simple, coherent language, which allows all members of his audience to understand his writing.  Hemingway also makes use of asyndeton when he depicts bullfighting.  He writes, “Eight bulls galloping along, full tilt, heavy set, black, glistening, sinister, their horns bare, tossing their heads… [Three steers] ran in a solid mass, and ahead of them sprinted, tore, ran and bolted the rear guard of the men and boys of Pamplona...” (Hemingway 101).  The omission of conjunctions, such as “and”, creates a thrilling atmosphere for his audience, almost as if readers are so out of breath from excitement that conjunctions become unnecessary.  In doing so, Hemingway successfully conveys the invigorating, lively celebrations in a way that inspires other men to travel to Pamplona, experience the fiesta, and perhaps even participate in the dangers of bullfighting themselves.

(349 words)

Experience

I dare you to fly to Pamplona, outrun a bull, and then kill it.

Source: Steve Hawkes 2013, The Telegraph

Summer Entry 3

The Lives of a Cell

by Lewis Thomas

Pages 358-360


            Lewis Thomas was a physician, researcher, writer, and dean of both NYU and Yale medical schools.  He wrote for The New England Journal of Medicine and is renowned for his collection of essays in The Lives of Cells: Notes of a Biology Watcher, earning him the title of “poet-philosopher of medicine.” Thomas’ essay, The Lives of Cells, translates abstruse scientific topics into lucid language that is easy for the general public to understand.  He also makes the argument that humans are a part of nature, rather than the popular belief that humans are separate and superior to all other species.  

            Thomas utilizes comparisons, such as metaphors and similes, to help readers comprehend foreign concepts as he cites his reasons.  He argues that human cells are not 100% originally human, “We are shared, rented, occupied… My cells are no longer the pure line entities I was raised with; they are ecosystems more complex than Jamaica Bay” (Thomas 358).  Thomas refers to the human body as if it were space populated by multiple organisms.  He also makes use of asyndeton when he omits a conjunction, creating an emphatic tone that adds to his credibility.  

            The author also personifies mitochondria, centrioles, basal bodies, and other cellular parts when he writes, “perhaps it is they who walk through the local park in the early morning, sensing my senses, listening to my music, thinking my thoughts” (Thomas 359).  Again, the usage of asyndeton keeps a consistent emphatic tone throughout the essay.  Meanwhile, Thomas also gives life to parts of the cell that would otherwise be obscure and abstract to his audience.  Thomas appeals to his readers’ emotions by portraying cell parts as human-like and more relatable; now readers can imagine listening to Taylor Swift with their mitochondria as though they are best friends.   By helping the audience grasp the technical side of his argument, Thomas successfully convinces readers that humans are not superior, but rather interconnected with microscopic organisms living symbiotically in each of their cells, helping them to breath while also possibly sensing and experiencing what humans feel.    

(344 words)

Interconnected

Every living organism is interwoven together 

like all the working parts of a giant cell, the earth.

Source: Isac Goulart’s The Banyan Tree in Maui, Hawaii

Summer Entry 2

The Marginal World

by Rachel Carson

Pages 214-219

            Rachel Carson was a writer, marine biologist, and conservationist.  In college, she began studying English, but ended up majoring in Biology because of her strong passion for nature, especially the seas and oceans.  Some of her most famous works include The Sea Around Us, The Edge of the Sea, Under the Sea Wind (reissue of The Sea Around Us), and Silent Spring.  The Marginal World, which appeared in The Edge of the Sea, advocates for all the diverse animals and plants caught between land and sea.  Written in the first-person, Carson’s essay strives to generate public interest in the conservation of nature using personal experiences of the amazing beauty of the shore.  

Appealing to the imaginations of her readers, Carson depicts an exquisite, hidden tide pool, one Carson refers to as the “fairy cave,” where there are “creatures so exquisitely fashioned that they seemed unreal, their beauty too fragile to exist in a world of crushing force” (Carson 216).  The hyperbole portrays a hydroid Tubularia flower-animal that seems entirely magical because it is “too fragile to exist,” and yet it does.  The paradoxical existence of a fragile Tubularia instills in readers a desire to preserve such beauty for future generations to experience and love.

Carson also appeals to her readers’ emotions by creating feelings of nostalgia.  Carson alludes to John James Audubon, an ornithologist known for his detailed paintings of birds in their natural habitats.  She writes: “I wished I might see what Audubon saw… the flamingo, once so numerous on this coast” (Carson 219).  Here, Carson subtly points out that flamingo populations had died out at this shore.  Carson’s allusion to the incredible beauty that Audubon would have seen as he painted the flamingos, causing her audience to feel wistful.  This serves as an appeal to emotion, as well as a warning of what losing parts of nature is like, which further inspires the public into action for the protection of such an extraordinary environment exclusive to our planet earth.  

(331 words)

The Shore

These stars are only found in these tide pools on 
these beaches of this beautiful earth.

Source: Greg Clure’s Star-Gazing in Santa Monica

Summer Entry 1

Once More to the Lake

by E.B. White

Pages 179-185

E.B. White is the author of several children’s classics, contributed to The New Yorker, co-edited The Elements of Style, and wrote numerous essays and poems.  He is a father to both a son and a stepson.  One of his most well-known essays is Once More to the Lake, in which White narrates his vacation with his son to the same lake that he and his family used to visit.  His return evokes nostalgic memories that force him to reflect on his current place in life.  White writes this essay as a reminder of mortality to fathers, and he argues for living in the present.  

Initially, the author repeats the phrase, “there had been no years” (White 181) to show his denial of the passage of time.  However, as White explores camp with his son, he comes to realize that much has changed: arriving in cars instead of the farm wagon (White 182); the annoying sound of outboard motors (White 183); and the store having more Coca-Cola rather than Moxie, root beer, birch beer, and sarsaparilla (White 184).

Throughout the essay, there is also a theme of duality.  White frequently confuses himself to be both the son and the father: sneaking out in the morning (White 180); going fishing (White 181); and thinking about girls at the store (White 184).  White also infuses duality into his environment when he compares himself to a minnow and its shadow: “each minnow with its small individual shadow, doubling the attendance” (White 181).  Through this metaphor, White acknowledges that the past will continue to accumulate new memories and shadow him through life.  

In the end, during the rainstorm, White describes, “Suddenly my groin felt the chill of death” (White 185).  The rain symbolizes rebirth, representing White’s return to the present, his acceptance of his mortality, and his recognition that he is his father to his son now.  Even though White reminisces of past summers, the essay primarily focuses on his current relationship with his son and surroundings, successfully emphasizing to fathers the importance of appreciating the present and that nothing is unchanging or immortal.  

(349 words)

Follow the Road
Change is the only constant in life.

Source: Nicholas Hennell-Foley's Rural to Urban