So I realized while reading last night, that is whole book is really contradicting itself. Going way back when, to when we did the harkness, one of my only comments was about the horse race chapter, and how the characters almost excepted defeat when they bid on the horses they liked, and not the ones that would win them money. But if the horse race really did represent war, then why would they except defeat? Didn't they say that defeat was worse than war? And if so, why do they keep wanting everyone to stop fighting and stand down? Wouldn't that mean they were all defeated?
And also, all the male characters in the book talk about sex and girls without any restrictions really. I mean, some of it is disguised, but its pretty easy to figure out when they are talking about sex. But then, whenever they use a swear, its cut out of the book. On pg. 171, Aymo tells one of the girls, "'Don't worry...No danger of --' using the vulgar world. 'No place for --.' I could see she understood the word and that was all." What word are they talking about? It can't be that bad, considering they talk about sex like its a game. Just some food for thought.
I think that whenever somebody swears they use the --. Because there was another part where I think there was cursing where they blinked it out. And even with Rinaldi I don't think they ever explicitly say the word sex. I think that might just be to risque for the time the book was written
ReplyDeleteyeah, i never really understood the random censorship when there are variously scattered scenes of people bleeding like faucets and going on and on about sex. i think of it as a point being made: how stupid censorship really is, because that which is being censored usually doesn't go anywhere. trying to make a WWI story PG is just silly, and i think that's what the censors are communicating. at least, that's how i see it
ReplyDeleteTaylor, that's a really good point, those random "bleep outs" took me by surprise too. It kind of shows how childish the characters really are. Yes it may not agree with the time this book was written in, but the idea of never making dirty thoughts publish seems quite innocent and youthful. It's like little 5 year olds giggling when someone said the word "stupid". This tactic is kind of immature and unnecessary. I don't know if Hemingway wanted these censorships to have this effect, but that's what I got out of it.
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