Pamplona in July by Ernest Hemingway

Ernest Hemingway is a familiar name to many Americans because of his many novels, stories and collections that are American classics. He won both the Pulitzer Prize and the Nobel Prize for his work, as well as influencing future writing styles for years to come. Pamplona in July is a glamorous narrative about the Pamplona Bull Run, an event every year in July. During the Bull Run, bulls run through the city enclosed in pens early in the morning. Men try to run in front of the bulls without getting hurt and in the end, the matadors fight the bulls. Hemingway describes the excitement in the atmosphere using many rhetorical devices, such as diction. He chooses exciting words, word that evoke movement and drama like "pounding and throbbing," or, "swirling and whishing," or, "snapping and whirling." These words make his writing seem more thrilling and flashy. He also uses a lot of imagery to set the scene in Pamplona, like when he first sees the bulls, "Eight bulls galloping along, full tilt, heavy set, black, glistening, sinister, their horns bare, tossing their heads." Hemingway describes the bulls so deeply so his audience can almost see the bulls, can feel the excitement in the air. He uses these rhetorical devices to clearly show the excitement of Pamplona, and show how different it is from America. He does this because his audience was most likely Americans who had never heard of the Pamplona Bull Run. Hemingway wanted to show this extravagant display of culture that most Americans probably weren't familiar with and I think he did achieve his purpose. He masterfully captured the excitement and turmoil of the event and made it accessible for the average American who was reading his work. He didn't use overtly extravagant language so it was easy to read as well. Overall, this is definitely not a dull essay and would have been a pleasurable read for Hemingway's audience.

Running of the Bulls, The Telegraph