How we cite our quotes: (Chapter.Paragraph)
Quote #1
"No, I don’t like Paris. It’s expensive and dirty."
"Really? I find it so extraordinarily clean. One of the cleanest cities in all Europe."
"I find it dirty."
"How strange! But perhaps you have not been here very long."
"I’ve been here long enough." (3.14)
This catty little exchange between Frances and Georgette again raises the issue of the dirty or decrepit condition of Paris—Georgette, like Jake, has the sense that there is something wrong with the urban space.
Quote #2
In the Basque country the land all looks very rich and green and the houses and villages look well-off and clean… the houses in the villages had red tiled roofs, and then the road turned off and commenced to climb and we were going way up close along a hillside, with a valley below and hills stretched off back toward the sea. (10.4)
Doesn’t this just sound like paradise? The closer Jake gets to the real country, the happier he is. Hemingway indulges in lengthy (and for him, rather lush) descriptions of the Basque countryside to help his readers appreciate it as much as Jake does.
Quote #3
It was a beech wood and the trees were very old. Their roots bulked above the ground and the branches were twisted. We walked on the road between the thick trunks of the old beeches and the sunlight came through the leaves in light patches on the grass. The trees were big, and the foliage was thick but it was not gloomy. There was no undergrowth, only the smooth grass, very green and fresh, and the big gray trees well spaced as though it were a park.
"This is country," Bill said. (12.19)
Bill’s simple statement says it all. He and Jake have no need for discussion—they have found what they’re looking for.