Alcohol and Desperation: An Analysis of the Presence of Alcohol in Ernest Hemingway's Short Stories

Throughout the short stories of Ernest Hemingway, alcohol inevitably lends its company to situations in which desperation already resides. In an examination of his earlier works, such as In Our Time, a comparison to later collections reveals the constant presence of alcohol where hopelessness prevails. The nature of the hopelessness, the desperation, changes from his earlier works to his later pieces, but its source remains the same: potential, or promise of the future causes a great deal of trepidation and lament throughout Hemingway's pieces. Whether the desperation comes from trepidation or lament depends on the view point from which it is observed, or rather, experienced.

In many of the works written early in his career, Hemingway's characters experience a fear of the future. The fear does not necessarily stem from commonly expected sources, such as "the unknown," but rather, it seems to grow from a fear of failure, a fear of being unable to fulfill potential. A number of stories and vignettes from In Our Time reflect these trepidations, and thr

In Macomber's success, Hemingway presents one of the first examples of how desperation over the inability to fulfill potential can be overcome. In the case of "Macomber," performance the next day during the buffalo hunt signals a triumph over Macomber's fears: he can hunt successfully, fulfilling his own expectations, as well as the expectations of those around him. Interestingly, alcohol now becomes a celebratory device in the text: "'Let's get the drink,' said Macomber. In his life he had never felt so good" (Hemingway 28). Desperation gives way to celebration as fear and lament are overcome.

In Our Time also offers a story in which the struggle of fulfilling potential bridges the gap of age: "My Old Man" shows the passage of desperation from father to son. As the father, an aging jockey, drinks more and more, his son looks on with an innocence that would seem to indicate the perspective of either a boy or a young man. While the father experiences the twilight of his horse-racing career, his son subtly notes his father's weight gain and his increased drinking. "My old man was drinking more than I'd ever seen him, but he wasn't riding at all now and besides he said that whiskey kept his weight down. But I noticed he was putting on, all right, just the same" (Hemingway 201). The excuse of weight loss was clearly meant to hide Joe's father's increased use of drinking as a crutch, but Joe astutely and ironically notes that the weight was worsened by the drinking. His father's loss of hope, resulting from an unsuccessful career, eventually leaves its mark on Joe. After his father's death, the last lines of the story indicate the depth of Joe's understanding of his father's situation: "Seems like when they get started they don't leave a guy nothing" (Hemingway 205). The unfortunate comprehension of a father's loss of hope by his son may also indicate a bit more distance between the narrator and the setting of the story. While the story seems to be told from the point of view of a young man (the son), it may originate from a much older son, at an age where he recollects his father's experience and realizes that it mirrors his own. This seems probable in light of the fact that the narrative voice, with its many insights and subtleties, has the wisdom of one who has experienced the loss of hope.

In turning to the later stories, it seems that weariness replaces the resilience of youth, and lament replaces trepidation. "The Short Happy Life of Francis Macomber" opens with a drink. From the outset of the story, Macomber seems rattled, and not until later does the text reveal his cowardice. In running from the lion, Macomber disgraces himself in the hunt. According to his recollections, this failure represents his first in a long list of previous adventures. His reaction to the failure: desperation and alcohol. The night he loses face, he loses his wife to Wilson, the successful hunter-guide. At this point, Wilson would say that the safari had gone bad, but that he was still "drinking their whiskey" (Hemingway 7): despite the failure of the hunt, Wilson would still receive his clients' money. Ironically, for Wilson, "drinking their whiskey" serves as a response to a failed hunt, just as alcohol often serves as a response to failure in general, and as a sign of desperation. The disaster of this safari and the infidelity of his wife should only compound Macomber's feeling of failure and inadequacy, and further drive him into desperation over his inability to fulfill expectations as a hunter or a husband. As a testament to the maturity present in these later Hemingway stories, however, Macomber does not wallow in his despair, but rather, he slowly emerges from his travails during the next day's successful hunt.

Hemingway, Ernest. The Short Stories. New York: Simon & Schuster, Inc., 1995.

"The Three-Day Blow" offers the reader one of the first opportunities to

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