HEMINGWAY PARODY
Your assignment is to create a Hemingway parody. A parody is a literary work in which the style of an author or work is closely imitated and exaggerated for comic effect or in ridicule. You may choose to reference one or more of the Hemingway short stories that we have read in class: “Hills Like White Elephants,” “Three Shots,” “Indian Camp,” “The Snows of Kilimanjaro,” and of course the novel A Farewell to Arms.
In order to poke fun at something, you must know it well; a parody captures and magnifies the key elements of a story or style. Your parody must show evidence of your understanding and appreciation of Hemingway’s themes and/or characters as well as key elements of his craft. Your parody can be funny, but it should communicate a central and focused idea about Hemingway’s work. It should critically examine one of Hemingway’s stories and/or style, and effectively take the elements of the story that give it power, and make them absurd.
If you choose to parody Hemingway’s style, you may recreate an existing story, but phrase everything the way Hemingway would. You should also include reference to at least one of the Hemingway works we have studied in class. If you choose to parody a specific story, you will Hemingway’s writing and recreate it, turning the story around to show how it is ridiculous or even untrue. You will exaggerate his techniques, plot, themes and/or characters.
You will work in groups of 2-3 to complete this assignment. You should have at least one and a half to two typed pages per each person in your group. Please do NOT exceed two pages per person; keep it concise, and make your choices intentional. As you are working as a group, you will need to reach certain agreements on major elements of your story. You will have some class time brainstorm and work together to synchronize your themes. Please work together, and begin the process understanding that each member will need to be flexible and allow for the creativity of others. Great works are often written in teams, so keep an open mind.
In addition to your parody, you should include a short summary that explains some of the intentional choices that you made as a team in order to create an effective parody.
CRITERIA / Excellent (40) / Admirable (30) / Attempted (20)Focus/ Content
( 40 pts.) / -Clearly parodies a specific Hemingway work and/or his unique writing style.
-Clearly inverts theme or purpose of the original work.
-Major points of chapters or short story are included.
-The parody is always coherent and consistently returns to the theme/purpose., maintaining a clear connection / - The chosen Hemingway work or elements of his style can be inferred, but is not totally clear.
- Attempts to invert the theme or purpose of the original work.
- Some major points of the chapter or short story are included.
- The parody is sometimes coherent, and usually returns to the theme/ purpose. / -It is unclear what Hemingway work or which aspect of his style is being parodied.
- No exaggerations have been made; there is no variation in purpose from the original work.
- Missing many key elements of chapter or short story.
-The theme/purpose of the parody is lost.
Excellent (30) / Admirable (25) / Attempted (20)
Creativity
(30 pts.) / -The ideas expressed are original, humorous and clever.
-Contains many creative details in the dialogue that contribute to the audience’s enjoyment.
-Interesting ideas are expressed in an original, attention grabbing way. / -Contains some creative details, but did not incorporate elements of a parody throughout.
- Ideas are interesting and clever, but could have been presented in a more original way. / -Demonstrates little creative energy.
- Does not include humorous elements.
- The overall parody was predictable, and does not hold the audience’s attention.
Excellent (20) / Admirable (15) / Attempted (10)
Explanation of choices
(20 pts.) / -Explanations are clear and logical, and thought was obviously used to devise the parody. / -Explanations are somewhat clear and logical, and some thought was used to devise the parody. / -Explanations lack clear and logical reasoning, and thought was not apparent in creating the parody.
Excellent (10) / Admirable (7) / Attempted (5)
Spelling
(10 pts.) / - There are no spelling errors throughout the parody / -There are one or two misspellings in the parody / - There are multiple spelling errors in the parody that distract the reader from the intended meaning.