Essay #6
Order Description
Write a critical analysis of Raymond Carver’s “What We Talk About When We Talk About Love,” Ernest Hemingway’s “Hills Like White Elephants,” or Alice Walker’s “Everyday Use.”
** Source: Raymond Carver, “What We Talk About When We Talk About Love” (330-338), Ernest Hemingway, Hill’s Like White Elephants (276-279),
Walker, “Everyday Use (154-161)
McMahan, Elizabeth., et. al. Literature and the Writing Process. New Jersey: Pearson, 2014. Print.**
**NO OTHER/INTERNET Sources**
SUGGESTED TOPICS:
1. Write an analysis of Carver’s story that answers the question: What do we talk about when we talk about love? You might want to consider the effect of cultural expectations and personal experience on the characters’ definitions of love.
2. Write an essay in which you discuss the way in which Hemingway’s dialogue simultaneously reveals and hides the subject of his story, and come to some conclusion regarding the outcome of the story. Is it clear what decision has been made? What do you think will happen to the couple? Consider the significance of the two parallel train tracks, the string of beads, and the character’s response to the hills.
3. Carver’s “What We Talk About When We Talk About Love” and Hemingway’s “Hills Like White Elephants” involve problematic relationships between two pairs of lovers. Write a comparison contrast paper in which you come to some conclusions regarding the nature of love and loss.
4. Write an essay in which you discuss Alice Walker’s characters’ connections to their ancestral roots, and come to some conclusions regarding the meaning of heritage.