English 015 - Americans Abroad
Paris
Paris
Category: 04B: Autobiography of ABT | Kelsey Abbruzzese
Gertrude Stein and Ernest Hemingway both spent time in Paris, but the two writers have different views of the city in their novels. Stein and Alice B. Toklas connect with the city instead of aimlessly drifting like Jake, Brett, and the other Americans in Hemingway’s novel.
Paris is more than a city to Stein and Toklas. When World War I begins and the pair flees France, they worry about their beloved home. “The germans were getting nearer and nearer Paris and the last day Gertrude Stein could not leave her room, she sat and mourned,” says Alice. “She loved Paris, she thought neither of manuscripts nor of pictures, she thought only of Paris and she was desolate” (149). Stein’s devotion to the city shows her comfort in Paris and abroad.
Hemingway’s characters show no such affection for Paris. Cohn tells Jake, “I’m sick of Paris, and I’m sick of the Quarter…I don’t care for Paris” (20). Georgette, the prostitute, calls Paris “expensive and dirty” (26) and in response to Bill’s claim that Vienna is a strange city, Brett says, “Very much like Paris” (80). Their view of the city shows their discomfort abroad, a contrast to the love of Paris displayed by Gertrude Stein.
Posted by on October 14, 2003 at 01:24 PM