Ernest Hemingway

Their have been many great writers that have influenced the writings of modern American Literature. Many writers nowadays have picked up there stylistic writing techniques from one of the greatest writers of all time. Ernest Hemingway stories were different and had a lot to do with what was going on in his life

Ernest Miller Hemingway was born on July 21, 1988 in Cicero Illinois a suburb of Chicago. Hemingway was the first son and the second child born to Clarence Edmonds and Grace Hall Hemingway. The Hemingway's lived in a six-bedroom Victorian house built by Ernest's widowed maternal grandfather.Ernest Hall who was an English immigrant and Civil War veteran who lived with the family. Ernest's mother had considerable talent and had once aspired to an opera career and earned money giving voice and music lessons. She was bossy and hardly religious. His mother had wanted to have a set of twins and when this did not happen, she dressed Ernest and his sister Marcelline in girl clothes and also did their hair in the same style, keeping the image of "twins" in effect. Some people have said that Grace Hemingway further "feminised" her son in his youth by calling him "Ernestine," but male infants and toddlers of the Victorian middle-class were often dressed as females. While his mother hoped that her son would develop an interest in music, Ernest adopted his father's outdoorsman hobbies of hunting, fishing, and camping in the woods and lakes of northern Michigan. In which the family owned a house on a lake in Michigan. These early experiences in close contact with nature instilled in Hemingway a lifelong passion for outdoor adventure and for living in remote or isolated areas.

Hemingway attended Oak Park and River Forest High School from September, 1913 until graduation in June 1917. He excelled both academically and athletically; he boxed, played football, and displayed particular talent in English classes. His first writing experience was writing for "Trapeze" and "Tabula" which was the schools newspaper, in his junior year, then serving as editor in his senior year.

After High School Hemingway did not want to go to college, so he got a job for a newspaper to be the cub reporter for The Kansas City Star. This is where he got many of his stylistic ideas from. At this time World War I was going on in Europe, in spite of the president's orders to keep America out of the War. America entered the battle against Austria and Germany in 1917. When Ernest was just eighteen years of age he tried to enlist in the army but was rejected due to the fact that he had bad eye sight. After he was rejected he found out that the Red Cross was taking volunteer drivers so he signed up. He accepted the job in December of 1917 and left his job at the newspaper in 1918 to sail away for Europe.

Hemingway's private life was some what dramatic. After divorcing Hadley, his first wife, Hemingway married Pauline Pfeiffer, who Hadley and Ernest had met and befriended Paris in 1925. Pauline and Ernest had fallen in love while Hadley and Ernest were still married so, Hadley decided to sign divorce papers to set him free. Hemingway and Pauline left Paris for Key West, Florida in 1928 searching for a new atmosphere to start their life together. A great place for work and play, Florida was their home for nearly twelve years. Hemingway found the sport of big game fishing and gained appreciation for it and inspired his ideas for later writings. That same year he received word that his father had passed away from suicide. Clarence Hemingway had begun to suffer from many physical problems. He had developed diabetes, went through painful angina and extreme headaches. His problems had become so severe that he couldn't take it any longer so he shot himself in the head. They had his funeral in his father's funeral in Oak Park. Ernest had two children with Pauline. Their names were Patrick and Gregory and these were Hemingway's only two kids. In 1933 Hemingway met a writer who's name was Martha Gellhom and had began to cheat on his wife Pauline with her. Ernest and Pauline divorced in 1937 and Hemingway married Martha. Hemmingway then traveled to Europe for World War II and was drunk and got in an accident. Martha got mad and this led to another divorce for Hemmingway. This led to his fourth wife Mary Welsh in the 1940's. In 1960 Hemmingway went to Rochester, Minnesota and signed into the Mayo clinic for treatment for high blood pressure, but he was really their for his depression. Hemingway began to start talking about suicide and was then sent to experts to deal with his mental state. The Mayo Clinic's treatment led to shock therapy. This was huge because Hemingway lost everything. He didn't only lose his memory, but he also lost what he loved to do and that was writing. On the Mourning of July 2, 1961 Hemingway woke up early went downstairs to the basement and selected a shotgun.