"In those days the distances were all very different": alienation in Ernest Hemingway's "God Rest You Merry, Gentlemen".
This essay explores the significance of the opening paragraph of Hemingway's "God Rest You Merry, Gentlemen," examining the perplexing but necessary comparison of two seemingly unrelated locales, Kansas City and Constantinople. Early drafts of the story include substantively different introductions. In the published story, however, Hemingway's reliance on a barren physical topography establishes the emotional climate, uniting two distant cities to suggest that the impoverishment of modern urban life is the root cause of the story's tragedy.
Shannon Whitlock
SW
Levitzke
D003431:Cross-Cultural Comparison; D003466:Cultural Characteristics / Q000266:history; D049673:History, 20th Century; D007615:Kansas / Q000208:ethnology; D008091:Literature / Q000266:history; D011203:Poverty / Q000191:economics / Q000208:ethnology / Q000266:history / Q000331:legislation & jurisprudence / Q000523:psychology; D012918:Social Alienation / Q000523:psychology; D012924:Social Conditions / Q000191:economics / Q000266:history; D012940:Social Problems / Q000191:economics / Q000208:ethnology / Q000266:history / Q000331:legislation & jurisprudence / Q000523:psychology; D014421:Turkey / Q000208:ethnology; D014504:Urban Health / Q000266:history; D014505:Urban Population / Q000266:history