11. Imagery

Hemingway consistently used imagery throughout this novel, especially in chapter 11. Jake describes his bus trip to Burguete with Bill to go fishing. He first gave the reader a sense of feeling when he stated on page 109 that "it was baking hot in the square..." He also describes the thick crowds while boarding the bus, specifically mentioning a Basque man on page 110: "The Basque lying against my legs was tanned the color of saddle-leather. He wore a black smock like all the rest. There were wrinkles in his tanned neck..." He then describes the road and fields on page 111 as they climb up the mountain: "The grain fields went up on the hillside... as we went higher there was a wind blowing the grain. The road was white and dusty, and the dust rose under the wheels and hung in the air behind us... Up here the country was quite barren and the hills were rocky and hard-baked clay furrowed by the rain." The majority of chapter 11 described the geography of Spain. Through Jake, Hemingway delivered a concrete image of Bill and Jake's bus trip, the people they met, and the places and things they saw. The reader is able to better relate with the story if they can create a substantial image of where the character is and what he is surrounded by. I feel that Hemingway must have been fond of Spain because of the way he described it to the reader. He was overall complimentary of the Spanish/Basque people and of their land.