The Importance of Reading Ernest discussion

Here you go, Ruth. Thanks for leading our discussion this time through!

You're most welcome. I'll start by asking for folks first impressions and we'll proceed from there.

Good Reads!

OK. I'm wondering if no First Impressions is a response to me as moderator or to Hemingway's story? It's not a bad story. In fact, if you look under the iceberg, some readers find some disturbing possibilities.

I think you Ruth as discussion leader is fine.
I get the impression of the two men, that one is described by ‘I’ and appears quite a large man with a big chin to be skiing. The other John, is more adventurous and timid and acts as merely a go between and sometimes just a sidekick and best friend.
The story left me with an impression that some of the locals live as farmers or gypsies, but are definitely shifty from living secluded most of the year round.
I tried to understand the point of the story, but this is either a bad example or the story is too simply easy to understand to get benefit from reading it. I almost assume it is written to describe a wild community of locals in a winter scene by two venturous males who witness the naive habits the locals have willingly living in such seclusion. Or on the other hand I did get the impression that what was meant was to describe life only through the eyes of the venturous two men who only never knew anything odd before and this story would be nerve disturbing for them. We witness their good behavior and we think their naive tastes but will for beer, their skiing as a hobby where snow fell down from snow mountain tops because of the spring returning, are there is realization between each other that they are both longing to return too where they originally come from because they speak they are missing of modern convinces.
I smiled about the sexton and innkeeper. They sat with the two venturous men and told the impossible story about a local man who is grieving his dead wife but could not carry her body to be buried until spring because of going through the snow.

I think you're right about this story being an iceberg, Ruth.

My first impression, the thing that has started me off thinking, is connected to the peasant man using his dead wife's mouth to hold the lantern. I wasn't appalled by what he did, and I think the non-reaction of the narrator and John might have been a subtle clue to my subconscious to not be appalled.

The innkeeper with the sexton suggested that many if not all the peasant locals had the same behavior, which added quickly a chill worth discerning of in the story. After becoming familiar with the main character as narration and his fellow as best friend John, I believe neither did not belong there. That was strange. The narrator said something to the effect he came in on occasion every season returning for beer. The shock of the lantern was much like other horror in other novels. Except this was a short story. We didn't feel right up to this point after it was revealed that this was the plot or expected it to end with describing some details of a monstrous peasant who lived dirty and unkept. That is how it ended.

It didn't leave me wondering … too much. I thought Hemingway did an excellent job of describing the scenes and the progression of the characters. I'm not certain of John's purpose, if any, in the story. But overall, my first impression on an initial, literal read was favorable.

I've read the story a couple of more times, peaking under the iceberg of An Alpine Idyll, and find the story a bit more macabre. Would love to hear what others thought.

My synopsis to follow …

John and the narrator who henceforth shall be called No Name came down the mountain. They had spent a month camping and skiing where we later learn John spent an unknown amount of time contemplating the taste of beer and No Name made note of the weather. They travel through the village on the way to their inn. No Name is greatly bothered by the sun and its warmth. They pass a church, a non-speaking priest and view a sexton and a peasant performing a burial. No Name likens the spreading of earth over the burial site to a man spreading manure - not a simile most would make. They enter the inn and get their letters and their beer. Soon Franz, the sexton, and Olz, the peasant, stop by for a drink. The innkeeper visits with them and seems disgusted by their talk. Olz leaves the inn. The innkeeper joins No Name and John and declare the peasant and beast. He invites Franz to share the peasants story. Olz's wife died Dec. 18 and he's kept her in the woodshed until this day in May. He propped her up and used her mouth to hold his lantern. Some readers don't see the lantern as a lantern. Very beastly! Very macabre. Anyway, John and No Name have peppered their story with the refrain 'they had stayed too long' and then they learn the peasant had been snowbound much longer than that with his dead wife. But, unlike the innkeeper who is appalled by the peasant's actions, John and No Name order and eat. Not really my idea of An Alpine Idyll.

Great summation, Ruth, and you point out the irony of the title perfectly.

John and No Name ordering and eating seemed significant to me too. I immediately assumed, since this is a Hemingway story, that these men fought in WW1, and the way these men seem totally unaffected by Olz's story seemed to be evidence of the sort of dulling of death that those who've fought in a war (or have faced much death in their life) often display.

But now I wonder if there is a hint of the "beastly" in these men, if they have more in common with Olz than the more refined European men. John only cares about the taste of beer and food, while No Name can only talk about the weather and spending too long doing one thing.

This story has so many possibilities, doesn't it?

Hey

Yes, I think this story does have a number of possible interpretations. I, too, felt John and No Name were war veterans and, as such, view death differently than the innkeeper and others.

I want to thank you and Arthur for your thoughtful commentary. I had written another response earlier but I think my computer at home must have eaten it as I can't seem to find it now. But I wanted to let y'all know I do appreciate your thoughts!