The Dramatic Characteristics of “The Killers”

来源 :校园英语·下旬 | 被引量 : 0次 | 上传用户:birdwy
下载到本地 , 更方便阅读
声明 : 本文档内容版权归属内容提供方 , 如果您对本文有版权争议 , 可与客服联系进行内容授权或下架
论文部分内容阅读
  【Abstract】Ernest Hemingway’s renowned piece — “The Killers” is undoubtedly touched with his distinct writing style. Through analysis, it can be easily noticed that “The Killers” shared several features with another form of art – the drama. This article will dive into the dramatic characteristics of this short novel and try to explain the reasons.
  【Key words】The Killers; dramatic characteristics; Earnest Hemingway
  【作者簡介】李璟,华中师范大学。
  Ernest Hemingway, the American writer who coined the Iceberg Theory, is a well-known exponent of the minimalistic writing. The majority of his works are implicit in words yet deep in meaning, thus allowing readers to explore those “beneath the water”. However, his theory of omission requires intensive and precise description of the scenes and dialogues, which, consequently, contributes to the dramatic characteristics in his stories. In this article, we will look into the similarities shared between the drama and Hemingway’s masterpiece “The Killers”.
  As a distinctive form of literature, drama is featured in promoting atmospheric effect within finite space and time. Performing on stage, actors are restricted by the physical limitations of the stagecraft. That is the reason why the plots of dramas are rather compact and intense. “The Killers”, similarly, forwards the plot in a compact setting. Analyzed from the angle of time, the whole story happens in a short period of time, from five o’ clock till the early evening, just a couple of hours. As for the scenes, “The killers” focuses on the following spots——Henry’s lunchroom, Hirsch’s rooming house and Andreson’s room. Note that Hemingway has adopted the scenic method to present the plot, which is in many aspects similar of the drama. All these lead to the first striking resemblance between dramas and “The Killers”.
  Figures have showed that nearly 80% of the story consists of dialogues, which indicates that the “The Killers” is mainly promoted by the conversations between characters. Take the beginning and ending parts as example:
  Beginning: The door of Henry’s lunchroom opened and two men came in. They sat down at the counter.
  “What’s yours?” George asked them.
  Ending: “I can’t stand to think about him waiting in the room and knowing he’s going to get it. It’s too damned awful”
  “Well,” said George, “you better not think about it.”
  It’s widely acknowledged that those two parts play a quite significant role in any story. Unlike most of the writers who start with remarkable lines to spice up, “The Killers”, after a concise description of Al and Max’s arrival, started, developed and ended all in dialogues. Apart from that, we can easily notice that the conversations are in brief phrases, instead of heaps of words, which manifests the succinctness of the entire story. Then, how about dramas? Frankly speaking, the basis of dramas, except mimes and operas, lies in the carefully contrived dialogues, which is the key element that cannot be ignored. The large use of delicately designed dialogues is another similarity between “The Killers” and the drama.   In addition to what has been mentioned above, the one last glaring similar characteristic is the AUDIENCE. On-stage performance, like dramas, is meant to suffice the needs of its audience, which suggests their indispensability. Who is the audience of “The Killers”? Let’s look into the technique applied in the story. Hemingway has chosen to present the story in the third person’s point of view, an objective narrator. However, the objectivity here is slightly different from other stories. “Young Goodman Brown”, for example, is also narrated in the third person’s point of view. But “Young Goodman Brown” is way explicit than “The Killers”, for its vivid psychological and environmental descriptions. Unlike “Young Goodman Brown”, “The Killers” simply tell us what is happening at the very moment. We readers cannot get any information beyond the scenes, in other word, author is totally invisible in “The Killers”. We can only get those hints by logic thinking. From this aspect, reading “The Killers” is just like watching a drama.
  In conclusion, “The Killers” does bear several evident drama-like characteristics -- the restrictions in place and time, the large use of dialogues, and the audience’s point of view. In this way, we tend to feel personally on the scene when reading “The Killers”.
  References:
  [1]朱振武譯.Ernest Hemingway. 杀手:海明威短篇小说集[M].华东理工大学出版社,2010.
其他文献
【摘要】合作学习简单来说就是学生通过共同的学习活动来促进自身及他人学习的一种教学方式。合作学习是我国新课改提出的一种重要教学策略,是对传统授课模式的一种补充与完善。在初中英语课堂教学中应用合作学习模式,可有效提升教学效果,发展学生合作能力,培养学生语言运用能力。基于此,笔者就合作学习模式在初中英语教学中应用进行了探究分析。  【关键词】合作学习;初中英语教学;新探究  【作者简介】王珊玲,女,福建
【摘要】随着科学技术的进步与发展,多媒体已经在教育领域受到了广泛的关注,为了更好的提升现阶段初中英语的教学效率,主张积极的将多媒体技术运用起来,保证其更好的发挥出教育价值。本文重点探讨的就是初中英语教学中多媒体技术的应用。  【关键词】多媒体;初中英语;整合  【作者简介】卜莉艳,广西防城港东兴市江平镇江平中学。  科学技术的发展和应用使得国家多种行业取得了显著地进步,特别是教育行业作为国家实现可
【摘要】小学高年级的学生有着一定的英语基础,教学的重心发生了改变,但绘本教学仍能起到很大作用。文章对如何在小学高年级有效运用绘本进行教学,优化教学效果进行了论述。  【关键词】小学高年级;绘本教学;实践分析  【作者简介】丁子珈,江苏省盱眙县第一小学。  小学阶段的学生身心发展迅速,绘本作为一种符合小学生需求的教学载体,多用于低年级的英语教學中。但其对于高年级的英语教学同样有着一定的实践意义,下面
【摘要】在小学英语教学中,只有让学生深入了解英语文化和中西方文化差异,树立跨文化交流意识,才能保证交流的顺利进行,才能让学生真正掌握一门语言,而且这也是新课程理念对于小学英语教学提出的新要求。因此,对于如何在小学英语教学中提升学生跨文化交流能力的培养策略研究起到重要意义。  【关键词】小学阶段;英语教學;跨文化;交流能力  【作者简介】李晓飞,苏州工业园区苏茜路星海小学。  一、小学英语教学中跨文
【摘要】在中文的表达中,我们经常会用到修辞手法来增强表达效果,将各种修辞手法应用于小说、散文等,是一种写作必备和十分常用的文字表达方式。通过运用修辞手法达到给文章润色,运用过修辞的一篇文章相比于没有用修辞的文章,尽管描写的是同一个件事,同一个物体,也会产生巨大的不同。语言从更深层次上来讲的话是一种艺术,语言文学也是艺术的更高一步的体现。在英语语言文学中,我们为了更好地表达与传递思想,通常我们需要借
【摘要】随着互联网信息技术的发展,大学英语的教学形式和理念也受到了一定影响,部分大学应用了慕课、超星学习通等线上平台进行英语教学。在特殊时期,线上课程的英语教学应用变得广泛,多采用直播、录屏、连线等方式进行教学,高校通过线上英语教学学习部分英语课程,在能够开展线下教学后,再对其他教学内容进行补充。在特殊时期,大学英语教学主要是采用线上线下混合式教学,特殊时期特殊对策,本文主要研究特殊时期大学英语线
【摘要】高职教育以为社会输送综合应用型人才为目标,其中英语教育是实现人才综合化发展的关键。本文以高职英语课程教学为研究对象,对OBE教育理念的英语课程教学模式进行分析。总结OBE教育理念实践经验,优化高职英语课程模式。  【关键词】OBE教育理念;高职英语;教学模式  【作者简介】胡园,武汉光谷职业学院。  【基金项目】湖北省教育科学规划课题,课题名称“从OBE(学习产出)理念的视角探究高职公共课
【摘要】本文首先探讨学前教育专业英语课程教学的现状,接着从EAT教学理念出发,运用这一理念来指导和服务于学前教育专业英语课程的教学;同时阐述了EAT教学理念对教师和学生双方的重要影响和作用,进一步明晰了EAT教学理念的实质和核心是一种以学生为中心的教学设计理念,既可以提高课堂教学效果和质量,也可以提高学生的学习效果和质量。  【关键词】EAT教学理念;学前教育专业;英语教学  【Abstract】
【摘要】目前我国教育改革正在不断地推进当中,初中英语阅读教学中,教师一定要根据学生学习的实际情况对其学习任务进行布置,英语教师要通过积极的研究和探索,为学生设置明确的学习任务,在学生语言知识学习的基础上,开展多样化、丰富化的语言活动任务类型,教师要在课堂教学中准备丰富多彩的多媒体视听资料,帮助学生在有效的学习时间内完成英语阅读任务,培养学生解决学习中遇到的各种各样问题的能力。  【关键词】初中英语
【摘要】小组合作法的应用是素质教育下一直倡导的方法,所以,一线教师结合自己的学科特点,综合小组合作法的特色,从多角度、多方面将这一方法与课堂教学进行了结合。所以,本文笔者就从小组合作法在英语词汇学习、口语交际、写作训练三个方面入手进行论述,以期能够让学生在生生互动、交流中提升基本的英语学习质量。  【关键词】初中英语;小组合作;词汇;口语交际;写作  【作者简介】许显娥,青海省海东市平安区第二中学