Write an essay of 950-1,000 words (excluding examples, citations and bibliography) in which you describe the effect(s) of character dialogue in contrast with telling by the narrator in “Hills like white elephants” based on a detailed analysis of S&TR in 4-6 examples with reference to corpus stylistics research on Hemingway's style and deictic shift theory.

Topic: a stylistic analysis and interpretation of speech and thought in a short story
This assignment asks you to describe the use of direct speech in Hemingway’s “Hills like white elephants” as a means of furthering vacantness and imprecision in the conversation between the two main characters. Indicate how you work to fill the resulting gaps when making sense of the story.

In answering the question, use the Leech and Short (2007 [1981]) model for speech and thought presentation in narrative and rely on insights from corpus stylistics research on Hemingway’s style and the study of deixis in cognitive stylistics.

Task:
Write an essay of 950-1,000 words (excluding examples, citations and bibliography) in which you describe the effect(s) of character dialogue in contrast with telling by the narrator in “Hills like white elephants” based on a detailed analysis of S&TR in 4-6 examples with reference to corpus stylistics research on Hemingway’s style and deictic shift theory.

The text for analysis:
“Hills like white elephants” by Ernest Hemingway in Hemingway, Ernest. The complete short stories of Ernest Hemingway. Foreword by John, Patrick and Gregory Hemingway. Scribner, 1987, pp. 211-214. (LOCR)

Required reading in stylistics relevant for your analysis:
Please remember: All the reading for Module 3 is relevant in preparation for the term paper, but the following further reading is specifically relevant:

Leech, Geoffrey and Mick Short. Style in fiction: a linguistic introduction to English fictional prose, 2nd ed. Longman, 2007, pp. 305-343. (LOCR)
McIntyre, Dan and Brian Walker. Corpus stylistics: theory and practice. Edinburgh University Press, 2019. Particularly: Ch 1, pp. 1-24 defining corpus stylistics, note pp.16-17 on foregrounding); Ch 4, pp. 111-142, especially 4.9. pp. 129-142 on Hemingway’s authorial style. (LOCR)
The following two examples of stylistic analyses of narrative texts will be helpful:

Simpson, 2014, pp. 208-218 (D7) Mick Short’s “Graphological deviation, style variation and point of view in Marabou stork nightmares by Irvine Welsh” and pp. 218-228 (D8) Joe Bray’s “The effects of free indirect discourse”.
Also read the introductory notes and the discussion of the two papers by Simpson.
Stockwell, Peter. Cognitive poetics: an introduction. 2nd ed. Routledge, 2020. Particularly: Ch. 4: Cognitive deixis, pp. 49-69. (The page numbers in the 1st edition of 2002 are pp. 41-57).
Detailed instructor notes to guide you are provided below:

ENGL322Termpaper.guidance.pdfActions
Recommended reading:
Leech, Geoffrey and Mick Short. Style in fiction: a linguistic introduction to English fictional prose, 2nd ed. Longman, 2007.
Simpson (1993) Language, ideology and point of view. Routledge, 1993.
Rimmon-Kenan, Shlomith. Narrative fiction: contemporary poetics. Routledge, 2002 [1983].
How to proceed
To complete the Term final paper assignment, follow the order below:

Carry out a detailed study of instances of speech and thought by characters and also study the narrator’s text more closely.
We will start with “how” before considering “what” is being said. First, determine which of the types of speech and thought presentation by characters is most frequently found in this story. Based on the relative numbers of each type of S&TR that you calculated in the Quantitative Exploration Activity, state whether 1 or 2 below is the most frequent. Then consider in the examples of S&T of characters whether S or T is most frequent.
Finally, write the essay, keeping within the word limit of 950-1,000 words (excluding examples, citations and bibliography).
Use MLA documentation style for references to source in the paper and your list of sources.

These are the questions that I will be asking about your term paper once I have studied it and I proceed to grade it:

Did you provide a clear and correct distinction of the categories of S&T that are relevant for the prescribed story?
Did you provide 4-6 examples from the prescribed story and did you describe them precisely and accurately based on the Leech and Short (1980) model for S&T as explained and presented in the prescribed reading for the assignment?
Did you clearly and insightfully explain what McIntyre and Walker maintain about Hemingway’s style?
Did you relate the description of your examples to the notion of keyness analysis?
Were you able to use the findings from your analysis to support/contradict the findings in McIntyre and Walker?
Did your analysis and discussion indicate understanding and insight of the story and of the stylistic analysis of a narrative, based on an investigation of speech and thought?
Was your language use correct and did it communicate clearly?
Did you observe the word limit?
Did you correctly document the sources you referred to and did you provide a bibliography?Term final paper assignment overview
Topic: a stylistic analysis and interpretation of speech and thought in a short story
This assignment asks you to describe the use of direct speech in Hemingway’s “Hills like white elephants” as a means of furthering vacantness and imprecision in the conversation between the two main characters. Indicate how you work to fill the resulting gaps when making sense of the story.

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