The Nick Adams Stories by Ernest Hemingway mainly reflect on the author’s personal life and his own experience. What the readers can find in these stories appears very true to life and amazingly realistic. One of the short stories belonging to the book “The Nick Adams Stories” is Wedding Day. This short story is the embodiment of great literary techniques including autobiography along with involving plot.
The story “Wedding Day” is a part of the final section from The Nick Adams Stories. Nick is a young man here who is just married and alone with his charming bride they are traveling on their honeymoon. The young couple goes down the river to settle in their cottage for their honeymoon. They are amazed by the beauty of nature in the places surrounding their cottage and those ones they see on their way to the cottage.
The main characters of the story are Nick Adams himself and his bride. Discussing Nick Adams’ character, it should be stated that he is a reflection of Hemingway himself and is much the embodiment of the author’s very personality. In this story, we find Nick at such an important stage of his life as his marriage and honeymoon journey. What is told in this story is a reflection of Hemingway’s honeymoon when he and his wife enjoyed staying in a beautiful cottage situated on the bank of the picturesque river. Nick’s bride can be also described as a reflection of Hemingway’s first and ever love Hadley Richardson; this charming lady personifies all the dreams by any decent man.
Speaking about literary techniques applied in the story, one of them should be mentioned as a very successful one. In this story, Ernest Hemingway resorts to the use of repetition to emphasize his narration. This stylistic method by Hemingway can be acclaimed as very successful; sometimes it is even mentioned as his “carte-de-visite”. The readers may see the way the author begins the story paragraphs describing the beauty of the nature surrounding the places the couple visits while their honeymoon, and ends up with similar descriptions; thus, the ideas are repeatedly revisited with slightly different words. This literary technique enables Hemingway to highlight his ideas and gives the storytelling sort of complete and cyclical feeling adding to the self-contained impression it produces.
One more interesting literary technique is autobiography. Nick Adams represents Hemingway himself as has been mentioned above. This literary technique can be seen many times throughout the storytelling. For example, the readers may well remember Hemingway’s honeymoon with his beloved Hadley Richardson when reading about Nick and his bride’s honeymoon experience.
In conclusion, Wedding Day short story can be acclaimed as a great piece from the book “The Nick Adams Stories” by Ernest Hemingway. The readers are invited to see Nick and Hemingway himself as Nick’s prototype in a new light of a lover and a young husband. Nick’s character strikes with his love for life, ability to value the beauty of nature surrounding him, and to cherish his beloved one. As far as I am concerned, this story can be evaluated as a nice piece of literature encouraging one to have a new outlook on life and the real values in it. This young man’s sincerity alone with his charming bride, their love to each other, and to what they are given by life simply amazes.