Hemingway Writer or Dreamer Essay Example For Students

Hemingway: Writer or Dreamer? Essay There are a few great writers that have lived truly interesting and exciting lives. While it seems to be a truth that most writers have had some sort of event in there life, whether political, religious, or personal that has shaped them as writers and helped hone their craft to an affective and masterful way, it seems to be that there is one writer who has led a different life, one with adventure, love, death, and challenges that are completely different from the norm that most writers have experienced. Ernest Hemingway went through life with an interesting motto that cannot be annotated but noticed in his writings and biography: seek adventure and do not stop in the face of fear. That belief is Hemingways basic thesis of life, and while most writers have written exciting tales of the imagination, it seems to be that Hemingways fiction is autobiographical and relates closely to his own life in such a manner that the reader expects to be reading Hemingways autobiography. But not only do these consist of adventure, some of his works are crafted around love lost and anger that resulted in such loss of love. Many of his works, if not all, contain some element of autobiographical touch and can be connected to a strand and even chapters of Hemingways life. But one thing that leads people to a confused state about Hemingway is his tendency to portray himself in ways that he did not truly fit into. There are only a few deciding factors that allow writers to become who they are inside and on the pages of their work. Ernest Hemingways childhood was normal, but one event that can lead many to describe his masculine style of writing while retaining a touch of sensitivity comes back to his toddler years. His mother, a very successful and retired opera singer had a child one year prior to Ernest, his sister Marcelline. Grace Hemingway, his mother, feminized Ernest by dressing him up as a girl, like his sister Marcelline. Grace had desired twins but was disappointed with the single births of her first two children Hays 18. Several physiological notes can be made about this, but the most important is the fact that male children know they are like their father, female children know they are like their mother even if there is no knowledgeable distinction of genitalia. It is a natural understanding granted to mankind that allows such a distinction to take precedence over doubts of a male child being clothed as a female vice-versa. Another note to add is that some people are naturally born more aggressive than others, and this aggression is played out in many forms, such as horseplay or dreams. The young Ernest Hemingway had several dreams that reoccurred as a child that, according to Hemingway, remind him of his father. But these dreams nonetheless are vital to the aggression and vivid imagination asserted in his writings and life Meyers 9 Gregory Hemingway, Ernests son, wrote: He used to dream about a furry monster that would grow taller and taller every night and then, just as it was about to eat him, would jump over the fence Meyers 9. The argument can be posed that Hemingway was a masculine child from birth, one must consider that perhaps he knew of the differences being imposed upon him by his mother and that is why he clung to his father so often. His mother noted: delights in shooting imaginary wolves, bears, lions, buffalo, etc. Also likes to pretend he is a a soldser. . . . He storms and kicks and dances with rage when thwarted and will stand any amount of rough usage when playing. . . . He is perfectly fearless after he shouts out fraid of nothing with great gusto Meyers 9. Ernests father was an outdoors man, one who went on hikes, fishing trips, and was a true nature lover. Young Hemingway tagged along with his father on many of his escapades and at the age of two he said he was fraid of nothin' Hays 18. All of these aspects of his life are tied into his writings, The Torrents of Spring, The Sun Also Rises, Death in the Afternoon, A Clean Well-Lighted Place, Green Hills of Africa, To Have and Have Not, For Whom the Bells Toll, Across the River and into the Trees, and The Old Man and the Sea all have some element and some sort of tone that correlates with the freedom and pursuit of conquest that Hemingway vividly portrays in his writings. The Old Man and the Sea is a story where the protagonist, Santiago- a frail and still sharp and strong old man- struggles to conquer Mother Nature. Green Hills of Africa is a story that can be related to Hemingways and Teddy Roosevelts experiences in Africa on safaris Roosevelt and Hemingway are very similar to each other and will be discussed later. In Our Time is composed of many shorter stories that tie into a bigger picture; many themes and plots are consistent with that of Hemingway himself. Nick Adams is the protagonist in many of those stories and many scholars have compared Ernest Hemingway to Nick Adams. Nick has a sense of adventure, being a fisherman, hiker, and soldier of World War I himself. Several scholars have noted Nick Adams and even Nicks father, who is nameless in the compilation of short stories, is like Ernest Hemingway. However, the stronger of the two is Nick Adams. The obvious and more logical connections are those that consist of Nick Adams being a war veteran of World War I and a Midwest boy, just like Hemingway. Also, Nicks father stressed masculinity, just like Ed Hemingway, Ernests father Meyers 6, 7, 11-12. If one is to look at the details and relevancy of events that take place in both Nicks life and Ernests life, then some interesting points can be claimed. The first point is that his parents marriage was generally good, but it had some short comings that created separations between Ed and Grace Meyers 8, and Nicks father also has a very hot tempered and does not get along with his wife that well. But also it is interesting to see that Adams went through adventures that Hemingway never experienced, such as the Indian wars. It is every boys dream to fight in wars where he is victorious, and even though Hemingway participated in a war, he never fought for America in America. He had adventures left undone. He had failed, in sense, a dream of his childhood, thus he painted Nick Adams in a way he himself wished he could be, or more importantly, could have experienced. Once the young Ernest was done with high school, he did not go to college or a university, but instead he wrote for the Kansas City Star for a little over six months. It was noted by several of his colleagues that he would always venture to the action ernest. hemingway. com. Of course, like most of his novels and short stories, action and adventure are evident in the overall plot. It has also been said that what makes for his adventurous writing is not only his imagination as a child, but the Stars recommendation to Use short sentences. Use short first paragraphs. Use vigorous English. Be positive, not negative wikipedia. org. While Hemingways writings were predominantly written with all of the elements listed above, it can be found in some of his pieces where a negative and somber tone reigns the literature instead of the positive vice that he was told to use on a regular basis. In one of his short stories called A Clean, Well-Lighted Place Hemingway has written the short plot in laymen terms, or for the lack of a better word, in common man speech. But as Hemingway obeys the Stars vice of short sentences, mainly in the dialogue, a negative tone arises in the very beginning of the story. It was late and every one had left the cafe except an old man who sat in the shadow the leaves of the tree made against the electric light. In the day time the street was dusty, but at night the dew settled the dust and the old man liked to sit late because he was deaf and now at night it was quiet and he felt the difference. The two waiters inside the cafe knew that the old man was a little drunk, and while he was a good client they knew that if he became too drunk he would leave without paying, so they kept watch on him. Last week he tried to commit suicide, one waiter said Poore 417. That passage is from the opening of the short story and even a novice reader can note that a negative and depressing tone has been set forth. One can note that the depressing tone does not exist in most of his writings, but it is present. Hemingway created a pessimistic attitude toward negativity when he said loss is inevitable Hays 40. This depressing and pessimistic belief was expressed very clearly in one of his novels, Death in the Afternoon. Not only does this title give a first impression of pessimism, but the following quote shows Hemingways depression in his writing and the ignoring of the advice that his journalist colleagues gave: All stories, if continued far enough, end in death, and he is no true-story teller who would keep that from you. Especially do all stories of monogamy end in death, and your man who is monogamous while he often lives most happily, dies in the most lonely fashion If two people love each other there can be no happy ending to it Hays 40. That excerpt was written after his encounter with Agnes von Korowsky, his nurse turned lover during World War I. The relationship ended up a disaster. Heminways personal belief of maintaining dignity and courage during loss is evident in several of his other writings, but Death in the Afternoon is the most noticeable. The laconic style in which Hemingway wrote was not completely due to his tragic experiences as it was his studying of great authors and his love for several other contemporary, local writers for his Oak Park newspaper while he was attending high school Hays 40. Hemingway studied such writers as James Joyce, Ezra Pound, Gertrude Stein, and Sherwood Anderson Hays 39-40. That Kansas City Star was an advocate for their rhetoric that influenced Hemingways journalistic style of novelizing, Ezra Pound stated at one time: Use no superfluous word, no adjective which does not reveal something. Dont use such an expression as dim lands of peace. It dulls the image. It mixes an abstraction with the concrete. It comes from the writers not realizing the natural object is always the adequate symbol. Go in fear of abstractions Hays 39. That very creed of Pound has been a reality in Hemingways writings, and not only did a great writer affect Ernest, but a sports writer of Ernests time used short sentences and declarative sentences Hays 40. One can come to the conclusion that Hemingway had several factors hone his writing style, but a scholar must remember that all writers stressed a basic theme: short and basic sentences. Ernest Hemingways war years probably affected him the most in his writings, not to mention his childhood full of adventure. Poor vision kept Hemingway out of the normal infantry, and since he longed to find adventure and thrills in far away lands, he joined the American Field Service Ambulance Corp and was sent off to Italy to serve wikipedia. org. His hunger for action would finally meet up with him in one his biggest tests he would ever face. Early in his tour of duty, Hemingway, a very young and perhaps naive man at the time, ventured to the front lines in Milan, France. An ammunition factory exploded, killing many people, factory workers and soldiers alike. Hemingway, being a medic, was ordered to pick up the pieces of the dead workers, who were mostly women. He had never seen anything of the sort before, and it hit him tremendously to experience death and destruction in a very personal way, which can be seen in several of his writings. An American soldier named Eric Dorman-Smith was also there, and he, like Hemingway, was shaken up and said a quote from Shakespeares Henry IV, By my troth, I care not; a man can die but once we owe god a death and let it go which way it will, he that dies this year is quit for the next. Wikipedia. rg That quote would later be used in one of Hemingways more popular African short stories called The Short Happy Life of Francis Macomber, which will be discussed later, because it shows a relation between Hemingway and his relationships with women wikipedia. org. While serving in Italy, Hemingway was delivering supplies to soldiers, and on July 8, 1918 at Fossalta di Piave was hit by an Austrian trench mortar filled with shrapnel and explosives; it landed three feet from his position Meyers 30. The metal ripped through his legs, not going above his hip joint, and wounded him seriously. An Italian soldier was killed and Hemingways friend was seriously injured as well Meyers 30-31. He was later shipped off to Milan, Italy to a hospital to heal and get back to a stable physical condition. It was at this hospital where he was tended by and would later fall in love with nurse Agnes von Kurowsky Hays 9. The relationship would not last when Hemingway went back to America and Agnes left him Hays 9. That one experience in his life would later go onto the shape the basic underlying plot and protagonist of Farewell to Arms, written in 1926 to 1928. The novel is almost autobiographical in the portrayal of Frederic Henry, the protagonist, and his lover, Catherine Barkley. But it also covers some of the more finite details of Hemingways years in Europe during the war, like the drinking and the dreams he had with his relationship with Agnes, his first true love. A Farewell to Arms is a very powerful and can also be a depressing novel. One of the first cases where a reader can notice Hemingways writing being influenced by his earlier years, in this case some of his most difficult and brutal years, is in the setting. From 1916 to 1918, in Italy on the front lines of World War I, a series of events happens that are very similar, if not identical to those of Hemingway. In chapter nine of the novel, Lieutenant Henry is injured seriously, a friend killed and another injured as well by an Austrian mortar shell. There is no real need for an explanation for this piece of the literature because it resembles that of Ernest Hemingways life so well, like mentioned above, almost autobiographical. In A Farewell to Arms, Hemingway wrote a passage about the explosion that was very similar to that of his own injury. Ernest Hemingway accounted to Guy Hickok, a journalist friend whom Hemingway met in 1922, a metaphorical style of what happened on the battle field. There was one of those big noises you sometimes hear at the front. I died then. I felt my soul or something coming right out of my body, like youd pull a silk handkerchief out of a pocket by one corner. It flew all around and then came back and went in again and I wasnt dead any more Meyers 33-34. That same type of sensory would reoccur in A Farewell to Arms when Lt. Henry was hit by the mortar. His writing is like a posthumous memory, when one has life restored to them Meyers 34. Through the other noise I heard a cough, then came a chuh-chuh-chuh- chuh- then there was a flash, as when a blast furnace door is swung open, and a roar that started white and went red and on and on and on in a rushing wind. I tried to breathe but my breath would not come and I felt myself rush bodily out of myself and out and out and out and all the time bodily in the wind. I went out swiftly, all of myself, and I knew I was dead and that it had all been a mistake to think you just died. Salem Witch Trials EssayBut as one reads this novel they can notice several factors that shows how Jake feels about himself and his own characteristics through the observations of the other characters. Not only is this novel written in the first person truly representing a psychological foundation of Hemingway, it is very conversational. It has little narration in through out the text and it creates this social mood that brings the reader in close to Hemingway. It is as if Hemingway has grabbed the reader by the throat and with a forceful voice told them what he has experienced and this is how it is supposed to be. In the novel The Sun Also Rises, Jake Barnes is apart of the Lost Generation, or those who have no interest or have lost the ideas of justice, love, respect, masculinity, feminism, and morals. The ideas that existed with this generation after the war are heavily portrayed in Jakes life, perhaps revealing what Hemingway felt about life after his experiences. With being involved in several affairs at once while writing the novel, several tones are present in the text. Usually people with a conscience many believe everyone has a conscience experience extreme guilt while participating in a morally wrong act. This next excerpt from the novel does not show guilt as much as it shows pain from the psychological trauma Hemingway experienced. To understand it more fully, the scene takes place outside the apartment of Jake Barnes after he has been stubborn to go on a trip with her. The opening quote belongs to Brett: Good night, darling. Dont be sentimental. You make me ill. We kissed good night and Brett shivered. Id better go, she said. Good night, darling. You dont have to go. Yes. We kissed again on the stairs and as I called for the cordon the concierge muttered something behind her door. I went back upstairs and from the open window watched Brett walking up the street to the big limousine drawn up to the curb under the arclight. She got in and it started off. I turned around. On the table was an empty glass and a glass half-full of brandy and soda. I took them both out to the kitchen and poured the half-full glass down the sink. I turned off the gas in the dining-room, kicked off my slippers sitting on the bed, and got into bed. This was Brett, that I had felt like crying about. Then I thought of her walking up the street and stepping into the car, as I had last seen her, and of course in a little while I felt like hell again. It is awfully easy to be hard-boiled about everything in the daytime, but at night it is another thing Hemingway Sun 34. This conversational tone, even in the narration, is not an accident. Great writers write with intent, and Hemingway uses this conversational tone through out the novel to paint a particular picture of his pain. Another example that shows Hemingways frustration with his wound and he deals with it concerning women comes along later in the novel with Jake, Bill, Brett, and Robert Cohn on a vacation together. Jake was suspicious of activity between Brett and Robert, so he asked Bill: I found Bill up in his room. He was shaving. Oh, yes, he told me all about it last night, Bill said. Hes a great littler confider. He said he had a date with Brett at San Sebastian. The lying bastard! Oh, no, said Bill. Dont get sore. Dont get sore at this stage of the trip. How did you ever happen to know this fellow anyway? Dont rub it in. Bill looked around, half-shaved, and then went on talking into the mirror while he lathered his face. Didnt you send him with a letter to me in New York last winter? Thank God, Im a traveling man. Havent you got some more Jewish friends you could bring along? He rubbed his chin with his thumb, looked at it, and then started scraping again. Youve got some fine ones yourself. Oh, yes. Ive got some darbs. But not alongside of this Robert Cohn. The funny thing is hes nice, too. I like him. But hes just so awful. He can be damn nice. I know it. Thats the terrible part. I laughed. Yes. Go on and laugh, said Bill. You werent out with him last night until two oclock. Hemingway Sun 101. In this selection there is an over presiding tone of jealousy present, and the truth is Hemingway was a jealous man. A reader can see it in his writings. When it comes to love, the overall theme of Hemignway that exists in his writings is one of anger and frustration. Because of Jakes impotence, he has become a very tired and frustrated man, just like Hemingway was with his women. If one takes a psychological stance on this issue of his writings, one can see a constant angle of envy present. The same is true for The Green Hills of Africa, A Farewell to Arms, and his short stories. But this envy and anger is not only present when it comes to love, it is present in his attitude of life. Being apart of the Lost Generation, Hemingways view on life was very different from the common man who had not fought in World War I. However, in his short story A Days Wait, he shows the ignorance of a young nine year old boy. This young boy contracts a fever and believes he is going to die, and his father has to remind him that he is not going to die. The boy remembers some kids telling him in France that people could not survive above forty-five degrees, and he had a 102 temperature. Clearly the French boys were talking about Centigrade while his father was talking about Fahrenheit. The father explained to the boy that it is like miles and kilometers, two different measurements both representing distance, and of course, the boy did not die. While some, if not most people would think this short story is obsolete, it shows Hemingways other side of writing. Perhaps this story is some hidden secret about Hemingway, such as the fact that he wanted to die but could not find the way such as in his genitals wound, but it is too short to convey such a message. The overall theme that this story possesses is one of understanding and growth. It can be hypothesized that Hemingway was actually trying to convey that he himself knew that his exaggerations were exactly that, exaggerations. He still had children and still experienced normal things of life, and yet perhaps these exaggerations are actually literary effect. He knows what happened, and it is all true, but yet it is so hyperbolic where several characters of his life are concentrated into one, and that adds an incredible effect on the reader. Look at the following passage from A Days Wait. The opening quote is that of the child: About what time do you think Im going to die? he asked. What? About how long will it be before I die? You arent going to die. Whats the matter with you? Oh, yes, I am. I heard him say a hundred and two. People dont die with a fever of one hundred and two. Thats a silly way to talk. I know they do. At school in France the boys told me you cant live with forty-four degrees. Ive got a hundred and two. He had been waiting to die all day, ever since nine oclock in the morning. You poor Schatz, I said. Poor old Schatz. Its like miles and kilometers. You arents going to die. Thats a different thermometer. On that thermometer thirty-seven is normal. On this kind its ninety-eight. Hemingway 36. This skewed view the young boy has about his temperature is congruent with the skewed view Hemingway had about his life. If a scholarly approach is taken and it is noticed that the majority of Hemingways work is written in first person with an autobiographical sense, then it can be stated that the father of the boy represents Hemingway as well as the boy. Hemingway makes these exaggerated claims about himself that can be supported, yet the addition of the drama his for literary effect, and he knows it. Yet one must not confuse the psychological assertion of love and the exaggerations. While they may seem congruent, the autobiographical sense about love is true while the real life characters are usually concentrated into one character. There are so many different reasons behind Hemingway and his artistry, but one that has not been noted on much if not at all is his mental reasoning behind such writings. It has been mentioned lightly above but one aspect of his work is still vague. It deals with the reasoning, and yes, it might be due to his love of women or seeking sympathy, but still, his works- if they are truly autobiographical- need to be examined from a simple viewpoint. Hemingway is a tough-guy for the lack of a better word. But yet what is one thing a mans man needs to be considered a tough guy? Attention. Attention is what makes a man tough. If one looks at a man who is classified like Hemingway, he most likely draws attention to himself through stories, scars, looks, or having many friends. If Hemingway did not have stories or scars such as his injuries to his genitalia people would have most likely ignored some of his assertions, simply because he is not as a prominent a figure as another war hero or tough-guy was. Once Hemingway attained his attention that he needed, he wrote about certain topics that were asked from what would be considered normal. There will never be any true understanding what psychological reasoning is behind this, but scholars should be able to agree that he did have an agenda, and although that agenda will most likely be unknown, theories will arise. One theory that cannot be found in any documentation is that Hemingway was in fact a weak man emotionally and he needed everything he could get from people, and he went to any extent in his work to get it. This weakness is present in many of his works. The most prevalent is in The Sun Also Rises, because he displays Jake in a pathetic state, but yet people would not say that to the mans face, they would show sympathy and be very empathetic towards him. Perhaps that is what Hemingway desired, and it can be seen in his life that he never truly got what he wanted, and thus he committed suicide. It has been noted that suicide is a way to grab someones attention, and perhaps Hemingway tried to do one last thing to grab peoples attention and relate the pain he had but rarely showed. The National Mental Health Association NMHA says that there is no true answer to why people commit suicide except that there is something seriously wrong in the persons life. Hemingway did suffer from manic-depression which is one of the signs of a suicidal person but there are no true signs of a suicide threat in his writings. But the threats that do exist are there, a scholar must dig deeper than the surface. Hemingway had seen a lot of death in his life, most of which has been already noted, but as his life progressed, his wives had either died or left him, his mother passed away, and his emotional pain and struggle continued http://www. jfklibrary. org/eh. htm. His writings always had some death involved. Besides his war novels, his other writings had some unrevealing hint that poked at his suicide. In The Old Man and the Sea, there is a chapter where the man has his fish tied up onto the dingy and sharks begin to surround his boat and tear into the flesh of the fish. The old man, Santiago, fights off the sharks, but if one looks at the chapter closely, it almost looks like a suicide note written by Hemingway, but yet still concealing the identity of what is truly happening. Since the passage is too long to insert into this paper, excerpts will be taken out to emphasize specific and relevant points that portray this letter to the people. Another interesting thing to note is that The Old Man and the Sea was one of Hemingways last novels, so perhaps this theory about the hinting of the suicide is even more supported. The excerpts of this novella follow: When the old man saw him coming he knew that this was a shark that had no fear at all and would do exactly what he wished. He prepared the harpoon and made the rope fast while he watched the shark come on. The rope was short as it lacked what he had cut away to lash the fish. The old mans head was clear and good now and he was full of resolution but he had little hope. It was too good to last, he thought. He took one look at the great fish as he watched the shark close in. It might as well have been a dream, he thought. I cannot keep him from hitting me but maybe I can get him. Dentuso, he thought. Bad luck to your mother Hemingway Old Man 644. That quote needs some explanation, because like it was mentioned above, these hints of suicide are not completely apparent. If one looks at each aspect of that quote with each character being analyzed separately, they can see some relation between Hemingway and his writings, but more importantly, his suicide note. The sharks represent the experiences and people of Hemingways life, and the fish is his life. Santiago is Hemingway analyzing it himself. The sharks attack the fish, thus driving Santiago to think about the current situation. As these experiences build up, such as one shark turning into the next, Hemingway starts to break down, as does the fish starts to be pulled apart. There seems to be no real escape from the depressing and strenuous experiences on the battlefield and off. The only escape he has is suicide. However, it is interesting to see that Santiago does not give up, perhaps the reason why Hemingway did not commit suicide early in life. Santiago fights and eventually pulls though the hard times. This can be seen has a beacon for Hemingway himself. It is this fairy tale that he looks up to that he wishes he can be, but as all know, this great author eventually gives up, not living up to the expectations of Santiago that Hemingway himself established. To put more contemporary terms into this, Hemingway broke a New Years resolution. Scholars will always try to put some kind of reasoning into Hemingways work, and most of the time it is the same theory being written on every time. Although this theory of Hemingways work being completely autobiographical, scholars and researchers have failed to look at the psychological aspect of Hemingways work. The work above proves how his work was based on psychological factors and not just his life in plain terms. There is no doubt that every writer has some kind of autobiographical means to it, but Hemingway turns that around with his analysis of his own life in the mental state he was. His work shows himself, but not necessarily as he truly was, but perhaps as he wished he were.