E. Hemingway

Ernest Hemingway: An Analysis of His Works

Ernest Miller Hemingway was born at 8a.m. July 21, 1899 in Oak Park, Illinois. He was born in the family home at 439 North Oak Park Avenue to a Dr. Clarence and Grace Hall Hemingway. He was the couples second child; with an elder brother and four younger sisters. Early in Hemingway's childhood his father taught him how to fish and hunt. These past times would later afford Hemingway the ability to escape from life to regain his literary concentration. During these years his mother also taught Hemingway to play music. Although this area of the arts was never of great interest to him, at least until he met his first wife. Hemingway graduated from public high school in 1917 and quickly began his writing career as a reporter for The Kansas City Star. In December of 1917 Hemingway was accepted by the volunteer ambulatory regime of the Red Cross during World War I. On July 8, 1918 Hemingway was seriously injured and was awarded the Italian Silver Medal for Valor. Hemingway once described his injuries to a friend stating, "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 you'd 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 wasn't dead any more." Hemingway returned home in January 1919 and lived for a year off the insurance money from his war injuries. In September 1921 Hemingway married his first of four wives and by November of that same year they were moving to Europe. John Hadley Nicanor Hemingway was born on October 10, 1923, Hemingway's first child. In 1927 he divorced his first wife and married Pauline his second wife, later that year. Hemingway's second child, Patrick, was born on June 28, 1928, by cesarean section. This year however bore even worst news than the prior, when he received word of his father's suicide. In 1939 he moved on to his third wife, Martha, and relocated to Cuba. However his marriage to Martha would be ended in 1944 after a car accident. Martha had lost admiration for her husband and his new nurse Mary was only too happy to care for him. He was now free to enter his final marriage. In 1953 Hemingway was awarded the Pulitzer Prize for The Old Man and the Sea. As a celebration he and his wife Mary took a Safari in Africa, in January 1954. While in Africa they boarded a Cessna tour plane that crashed. Although none of the injuries were life threatening, Mary sustained many fractured ribs. They were forced to take another flight in order to receive medical treatment. This flight however barely got off the runway before crashing and catching fire. Hemingway sustained serious injuries his skull was fractured, two discs of his spine were cracked, his right arm and shoulder were dislocated, his liver, right kidney and spleen were ruptured, his sphincter muscle was paralyzed by compressed vertebrae on the iliac nerve, his arms, face and head were burned by the flames of the plane, and his vision and hearing were impaired. On October 28, 1954 he was awarded the Nobel Prize for Literature, but due to his injuries was unable to attend the ceremony. He spent the majority of the rest of his life fighting a losing battle with depression due to his inability to write productively after the accident. On the morning of July 2, 1961 Hemingway shot himself in the head (Hemingway's).

Hemingway's life experiences helped to mold and shape the writer he would become. His ambitions and goals his injuries and defeats all became his views. They blossomed into his ideals and even into his sense of being. Hemingway once said, "For a true writer each book should be a new beginning where he tries again for something that is beyond attainment. He should always try for something that has never been done or that others have tried and failed. Then sometimes, with great luck, you will succeed" (Hemingway qtd. in Fleming 128). He had a much darkened view of the world. A view cast through war, violence, death, and even a disturbing idea of what love was, which may explain his short yet frequent marriages. These experiences in essence created his literary world. This research essay will consider some of the important subjects in Ernest Hemingway's short stories and novels and the important influence of his writing style.

It is clear that Ernest Hemingway is at least fascinated by war, violence and death. Not only did he take part in multiple wars by his own discretion but he also makes it evident in his writing (Atkins 116). The terror of Hemingway's world lies beneath the surface where the agony of the spirit is as profound as that of the flesh (Waldhorn 22). He places his characters in a world of horror yet places them there in such a way as to simplify the realm of fear. One must look beyond the obvious to find his true meaning. Death is a metaphor in his work; it symbolizes the hostile implacability of the universe toward living and loving. Death in the world of Hemingway is most certain, anything else is at best provisional (Waldhorn 22). He also uses violence and death to symbolize a much broader subject. He allows the reader to morph the violence and death into nothingness (Clendenning 490). A well renowned critic of Hemingway, Killinger, effectively argues, "...that Hemingway's characters are not only involved in violence they are actually defined by it" (Clendenning 490). He viewed man as born to lose either because he is fated to do so or because he brings the universe crashing down upon himself (Williams 2). His characters have been defined by his view that the truly great do not necessarily succeed but define themselves by the manner in which they meet the catastrophes of life (Williams 15-16). He was sure to allow his characters to plunge into the very depths of despair. His fascinations transcended into his life and his writings.

Hemingway specifically liked to assault the women of his literature. Many critics have accused him of being antagonistic toward women and of knowing nothing of a women's psychology (Kert authors notes 1, Bardacke 340). All but one, of his literary works, is written from the male perspective. From the very beginning of his career critics have found his stoic understated "masculine" style and graphic depictions of the male persona during pursuit, controversial (Sanderson 170). Hemingway wrote in To Have and Not to Have, "The better you treat a man the more you show him you love him the quicker he gets tired of you" (Kert). Hemingway proves that he prefers the man to over power the women and that this male dominance allows for a happier love life (Atkins 241). The predominating tone in his love theme is that love