A Natural History of the Dead
As one begins to dissect Ernest Hemingway's short story "A Natural History of the Dead," a great deal of meaning can be found through the situations he conveys. Through his commentary and the experiences of Mungo Park, much can be learned about Hemingway's views and ideas. Upon quick read, one might think this is a simple-minded story about death and its place in history. However, it actually has a much deeper idea hidden in it. Hemingway is revealing to the reader how trivial death actually is. In fact, "A Natural History of the Dead" is completely irrelevant except to provide the reader with examples of how death is only a small part in the tremendously large scope of nature and the rest of the world. In his short story, Hemingway provides examples as to why death is just one facet in the big picture of life. Early in his story, Hemingway jump-starts the theme that is to be stressed through the rest of the short story by depicting many smaller experiences and cases. One such story is his description of dead bodies on the battlefield. He explains that one of the most surprising things seen on a battlefield is the paperwork scattered among the bodies. One does not remember the smell of the battlefield as much as the incredible a
When thoroughly analyzed, Hemingway's story provides a deep insight into death and its relation to the rest of nature. It opens the readers' eyes to the fact that our death is not the final chapter in the story of the world. Although we may die, the rest of the natural world continues. Therefore, we must be careful not to develop tunnel vision and believe that our death is one of the most important events ever to occur. We must look at the bigger picture and realize that "A Natural History of the Dead" is just as trivial as the Familiar History of Birds. Although each is an important part of nature, they are simply small parts of a multi-faceted world in which every area is related to and dependent on the others. One image portrayed in "A Natural History of the Dead" is particularly interesting when looking at death in relation to the rest of nature. The image portrayed is that which Hemingway notices while cleaning up the battlefield of dead bodies. While cleaning up the area, he noticed that it was "amazing that the human body should be blown into pieces which exploded along no anatomical lines, but rather divided as capriciously as the fragmentation in the burst of a high explosive shell." This horrific description furthers the idea that our death is only a part of the whole natural world. Just as the human body was not exploded along anatomical lines, the parts of the natural world cannot be split up into separate clean-cut sections. Each part of the natural world is relative to every other part, and they all depend on each other. Therefore, when you try to break them up, areas overlap into others, much the way an arm would overlap into the torso area if not broken along anatomical lines. Only when you put all the areas together do you get a clear picture of the natural world as a whole. Along the same lines, an arm and part of a torso mean nothing withou
Some common words found in the essay are:
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Approximate Word count = 1263
Approximate Pages = 5 (250 words per page double spaced)
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