Was It Really Necessary To Tell Us Everything You Ate?

A Moveable Feast could be described as casual. It’s a work of literature depicting Hemingway’s experiences in Paris, not in a thrilling or adventurous way, but simply written as they happened. Hemingway uses first person “stream of consciousness” point of view in A Moveable Feast to create a novel in which the content comes right from Hemingway’s experiences in the same order that he experienced them. Stream of consciousness gives a novel the feeling of a diary or a journal, because the events in the novel are depicted exactly how the author experienced them, with the inclusion of his own opinions and thoughts. Hemingway uses a neutral tone to describe the events that take place, but his tone shifts when speaking about the different authors and people he encounters; for instance, his writing is soft and kind when he is depicting Gertrude Stein and his wife, but cold and distant when depicting Pascin and Zelda Fitzgerald. These tone shifts contribute to the casual narrative style that Hemingway chose to use when writing A Moveable Feast. The use of time and the fact that the story is told in chronological order helps to reinforce the diary-like style of the novel. Hemingway also includes small anecdotes about the food he eats at the different cafes, the experiences he shares with his wife, and his pastimes like watching horse racing help readers understand Hemingway’s personality and character, represented when Hemingway says, “We went racing together many more times that year and other years after I had worked in the early mornings, and Hadley enjoyed it and sometimes she loved it.” (Hemingway 67) He uses these short stories to fit the casual narrative, writing a novel that feels like he is simply recording all of his thoughts, feelings, and everything that’s happening to him. A Moveable Feast is in classic memoir style, and Hemingway’s choice to heavily include elements of his characteristics adds interest and moments of humor to the novel, giving it more of a personal feel. I think we read this book as a part of our study of language so we could become exposed to Hemingway’s unique style of writing. The informality and casualness of A Moveable Feast makes it feel like you’re reading someone’s journal, instead of a formal book, and while the plot itself was fairly stagnant, the style was more important than the events.