Hemmingway
The central theme in Hemingway's work is heroism. Most of his novels are not primarily studies of death or simply researches into the lost generation. They are essentially the portrayal of a hero, the man who by force of some extraordinary quality sets the standards for those around him. Hemingway has always kept four subjects in his mind when writing. These four subjects which have always fascinated Hemingway are fishing, hunting, bullfighting, and war, in which all have shown some type of international aspects. But most of Hemingway's novels are the studies death. They are a portrayal of a hero, but also a heroes struggle and perception of death. What truly influences Hemingway's writings, more over to the portrayal of a hero is the notion of death. To be a hero means to dare more than other men, to expose oneself to greater dangers, and therefore more greatly to risk the possibilities of death and defeat. (Connolly, p.226) Hemingway said, "My favorite characters are men who deal in death and accept its risks". To understand why Hemingway revolves his novels around the concept of death, one must look at his own life and how the meaning of death affected Hemingway himself. In 1928 Hemingway's father Edmonds Hemingway comm
itted suicide. It is said that he had much bad luck, and was not all of it his own. Many thought that Hemingway's next theme would actually be fear. Through out Hemingway's childhood he remained unhappy. He was only compatible on the surface between his parents. His mother nudged him toward music, preferably church music. His father put a fishing rod in his hand at the age of three and a rifle at ten. In Hemingway's first novel In Our Time, shows of Hemingway's own struggle with his parents through the eyes of Nick Adams. For example, in one of Hemingway's short stories from In Our Time it reads: "Your mother wants you to come and see her," the doctor said. "I want to go with you," Nick said. ". . . I know where there's black squirrels." "All right," said his father. "Let's go there." These last lines from the chapter, "The Doctor and the Doctor's wife" from, In Our Time, show how Hemingway's struggling relationship with both parents was a struggle for him to choose between his mother with music, or his father with fishing and hunting. (Baker, p.29) In the novel of, In Our Time, Hemingway creates the character of Nick Adams in order to depict himself. Nick's youth is wild and free, just as Hemingway himself lived and led a life of a vagrant, coming face to face with violence and evil on the road. Nick Adams spends his summers in Michigan among the Indians, where he sees life in the raw. Just as Nick sees life in the raw so to does Hemingway. Ernest Hemingway loving neither his family nor school ran away twice from home. He led a life of a vagrant where he worked on farms, washed dishes in restaurants, and hopped on freight trains. Nick who is in fact the reflection of Hemingway witnesses a doctor-father perform a Caesarian operation with a jack knife. Nick sees an Indian girl with brown legs, flat belly, and hard little breasts, which initiates him sexually at a very young age. Nick also cuts a freshly caught trout into pieces and uses the chunks as bait to catch more trout. He is living in a savage world of sacrificed animals. These are the years of apprenticeship for a boy who wants to be strong yet has weaknesses, which is specifically an equivocal attitude toward his father. Nick who is a portrayal of Hemingway is grateful to the doctor for the rifle and hunting lessons, but he resents his father's weaknesses toward his mother and his conventional ideas about sex. (Waldmeir, p.66) Hemingway in his writing uses a particular hard style to tell hard stories. He depicts characters in his stories such as bloodied prize fighters, hired killers, disemboweled bull fighters, crippled soldiers, hunters of wild animals, and deep sea fisherman. Hemingway portrayed his characters as heroes, but they all in someway dealt with the perception of death. Hemingway himself
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Approximate Word count = 1872
Approximate Pages = 7 (250 words per page double spaced)
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