William Faulkner and Ernest Hemingway contributed a great deal to American literature with their new and unique styles of writing. They are both known for their experimental ideas which are quite different from each other. Faulkner’s novels contain descriptive, complicated and long sentences, while Hemingway writes in a simple, plain, and straightforward manner.

Hemingway and Faulkner’s way of constructing a sentence are very different. Hemingway uses language that is easy to understand and read. For example, he writes sentences such as, “He knew what a huge fish this was” and “I wish I had the boy.” He lets the reader know what is going on at all times and does not leave anything p to the imagination. Also, Hemingway uses short sentence o portray his point more easily. “Come on and kill me. I do not care who kills who.” He writes clear, direct, simple sentences.

However, on the other hand, Faulkner uses long, descriptive sentences. His goal is to give the reader a vivid mental picture. For example, the following sentence from “A Rose for Emily," creates a clear image in the reader’s mind.

“They rose when she entered-a small, fat, women in black, with a thin gold chain descending to her wait and vanishing into her belt, leaning on an ebony cane with a tarnished gold head.”

Also, Faulkner writes long complicated sentences as opposed to Hemingway. One sentence reads:

“Alive, Miss Emily had been a tradition, a duty, and a care; a sort of hereditary obligation upon the town, dating from that day in 1894 when Colonel Sartoris, the mayor-he who fathered the edict that no Negro woman should appear on the streets without an apron-remitted her taxes, the dispensation dating from the death of her father on into perpetuity.”

He includes many ideas and images in each sentence, sometimes making it difficult to understand and clearly read. Faulkner’s long descriptive style is much different from Hemingway’s simple and direct language.

Another difference between Faulkner and Hemingway is their use of metaphors and imagery. Faulkner gives definite images with a great deal of description and detail. He also compares his topic to something similar which further emphasizes the image. For example, he writes:

“still looking like a little old rabbit, with her scared face and those big eyes and that hair without any special name showing above the cloth”

Unlike Faulkner, Hemingway rarely uses metaphors in his writing. His straightforward style allows him to come right out and describe an image. Instead of using metaphors he writes sentences like the following to portray his point:

“The tuna shone silver in the sun and after he had dropped back into the water another and another rose and they were jumping in all directions, churning he water and leaping in log jumps after the bait. They were circling it and driving it.”

Even though he does not use metaphors, Hemingway is successfully able to describe an image.

William Faulkner and Ernest Hemingway have two very different writing styles. Hemingway is direct and simple, while Faulkner’s style is complicated but very descriptive. Their unique styles and bold creativity helped shape American literature and open the door for new ideas.

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