Student Question
What are the symbols and allusions in Hemingway's "Out of Season"? Is it modernist?
Quick answer:
Hemingway uses visual imagery to convey the dullness and alienation the young gentleman and his wife experience as they walk through town. Symbols include the fishing rods and the color brown, as well as the marsala. The story alludes to World War I, and many critics believe the title alludes to an unplanned pregnancy. The story is modernist in its exploration of alienation and the inability to communicate.
Imagery is description that uses any of the five senses of sight, sound, taste, touch, or smell. In this story, Hemingway relies primarily on visual imagery to paint a picture of the scene as the young gentleman, his wife Tiny, and their Italian guide, Peduzzi, walk through town and buy wine. They plan to illegally go fishing.
The imagery reinforces the meaning of the title: not only is the group planning on fishing out of season, they are out of sync with each other. For example, Tiny lags behind. We learn she:
was wearing mountain boots and a blue beret, start out to follow them down the road, carrying the fishing rods, unjointed, one in each hand.
Her distance from her husband, and the "unjointed" fishing rods, held apart from each other, is imagery that becomes a symbol of the disjointed strain and distance in this marriage. The two are...
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participating in the same activity, but they don't seem to be together as a couple as they do so.
Although the gentleman and his wife seem to be on a holiday, the scene is flat and dull, typified by the dusty, brown appearance of everything. They see workers in dusty, "stone powdered" jackets. Their wine is poured into "a very slim brown bottle." Worse, when they get to the river to fish it is in an unappealing location and doesn't look pleasant. The water is "brown and muddy. Off on the right there was a dump heap."
The color brown becomes a symbol of the dullness of the life the gentleman and his wife are leading. The marsala wine symbolizes the good life to the alcoholic Peduzzi, but the story calls into question how "good" a life pursuing getting drunk on cheap wine really is.
The story alludes to World War I in Peduzzi's statement: "I have been a soldier." Further, many critics have contended that the title, "out of season," alludes to the wife having an unwanted or unplanned pregnancy.
The story is modernist: Modernists explored the alienation and loss of meaning that emerged after World War I. This story illustrates alienation between the husband and wife, and the inability of any of the characters to communicate effectively with each other.