Ernest Hemingway Essay Example for Free

Ernest Hemingway Essay Ernest Hemingway is one of the writers that define American Literature. Although he accomplished much in reputation and status due to his novel, his most celebrated works have always been his short stories. His short stories, which are known for their simple language and artful prose, are often seen as a reflection of his life. It can indeed be seen through several of the plots he penned that he was drawing out his own life experiences such as his portrayal of himself as a macho man, his relationship with the women in his life, war and death and of course alcohol. Noting this Martin Scofield rightly states, â€Å"the personal experience on which he frequently drew directly in his writing was full of confusing tension and conflict – between masculine and feminine elements in his personality, between admiration for the physical courage and a growing disillusion with violence, and between the optimism of youth and physical energy, and the inevitable depredation of old age and death. In his short stories we see vividly developed snapshots of turmoil, precise delineations of individual fragments of disparate experience.† (Scofield 139). The kind of heroes that the author went to write about in his book were a direct reflection of the kind of man he wanted to be. The male protagonist has an aura of dignity and an unwavering integrity about them. Compromise is not known to these characters in most instances. In fact both male and female characters that were created by Hemingway are more often than not, defiant of the society that they exist in and continually go against the societal norms and expectations. Hemingway was by nature a macho man. His life has shown us his indulgences in great adventures. The time he spent in wars, hunting and sport is reflected in several of his works. The kind of heroes Hemingway wrote about will probably not suffice today; torn soldiers, and death defying hunters, adventurers and bullfighters made up his works, but that these characters exhibited a personal code of honesty and decency. Harvey Claflin Mansfield rightly categorized the author’s personality in his book ‘Maniliness’, â€Å"Hemingway was a macho fellow and a seeker of adventure when coupled with fun†¦Ã¢â‚¬  (Mansfield 52). An example of this can be taken from his short story ‘Indian Camp,’ where the physician is neither concerned with his lack of anesthetic and equipment nor the screaming patient. In true alpha male mode, he goes onto deliver a child with a jack-knife.   His complete lack of interest in the women’s pain, which normally affects people, and the way he goes onto admire his work as though it was a non-living thing gives off a very sadistic and stereotypical macho essence. At the same time we can compare the physician’s character to the American Indian man who slit his throat and died during his wife’s giving birth. That man did not have the courage and strength to face the ordeal that his wife was going through, unlike the physician who seemed to think nothing of it. And like that Hemingway continuously writes about men that could stand up to things and endure things. The strength which he at times referred to ‘grace under pressure’ was reflective of the kind of man that does not succumb to his problems. His story of the bull fighter can also be seen as an example of this very thing, where the protagonist ignores injuries to enter battle. Explaining the development of the characters through the developments in Hemingway’s life, John Campbell noted, â€Å"In the 1920s, Hemingway began to develop a public role for himself in an attempt to show people how a writer acts when not writing. He became comfortable with this role and wrote essays for Esquire Magazine that reflected a person, outdoorsman image of a very physical man; he made a safari to Africa in the 1930s, killed big game, and so on. His male characters began to resemble this image and became more â€Å"Active† in the 1930s and 1940s. Readers often associate this macho image with Hemingway, but it is difficult to generalize about men in his work, since the early male characters are vulnerable and the later ones – more independent – have a sense of â€Å"toughness† strength and masculinity.†Ã‚   (Campbell 251) Hemingway wrote extensively throughout his career. One of the main recurring themes that can be seen in his short stories is that of war and death. He participated in the First World War as an ambulance driver under the Red Cross. It was during his term in Italy that he had his first love affair and was also injured. As a part of the Italian infantry he was awarded two decorations by the Italian government as well. It was his time here that he witnessed first hand the ruthlessness and stoic attitude of soldiers around him. Much of his observations later became part of his works. His time as a war correspondent in span also influenced his work. The events of the civil war that took place in Spain greatly affected him. â€Å"The Spanish civil war stories have two characteristics in common. The first-person narrator in all of them is obviously Hemingway himself, correspond dent, film-maker, raconteur, and famous personage. The second characteristic is that the real subject of all these stories, as well as the play, is the political nature of the conflict. Philips Rawlings, the main character in the ‘Fifth Column’ is also substantially autobiographical and the ‘girl,’ Dorothy Bridges, is clearly based on Martha Gellhorn, as is the girl in the story ‘Landscapes with Figures† (Donaldson 236). The stories are his version of events and how he saw the war. Most of the material is based on first hand information and as he experienced it. His short stories poignantly portrayed soldiers that left behind and lived with legacies of combat. In ‘Soldier’s Home,’ Krebs is the disillusioned veteran that comes back to home to find himself without a spiritual home. He is out of place, alienated from his family, religion and society. Hemingway’s examination of the war torn characters can also bee seen through Nick Adams. Some critiques have linked the short stories to a potential autobiographical connection and their thematic treatment to the various stages the characters go through i.e. Nick’s stages of recovery from his physical and psychological war wounds which mirror the one’s Hemingway suffered himself. It is Hemingway who in the third-person story supports the fundamental idea of Nick’s physical and spiritual recovery and renewal. It can be taken in view that writing was a form of catharsis for the author and through writing about his ordeal he managed to work through his anxiety of war (to an extent). We can see through the stories, glimpses of Hemingway’s own pain and anguish. When he returned from war ridden areas he was deeply affected. The effects of his experiences were heavy influences on his work and gave them a new sense of life. Hemingway had extremely turbulent relationships with the women in his life. His love stories are ruled by conflict between men and women whose lives are always stuck in some momentum of great tension and problems, or an extremely vivid change. He was married to four different women and was infamous for his multiple affairs. If one was to look at Hemingway’s life, one would notice that he lacked the will to stick to one woman. At some point and time breaking things off and moving on stopped giving him the guilt it once did and women became just a habit for him. His relationships with women affected his work a great deal; Paul Reuban went onto prove this in his work when he wrote that, â€Å"His [Hemingway’s] writing also reflected his trouble with relating to women and his tendency to treat them as objects, as he had four marriages and countless affairs, highlighting his theme of alienation and disconnection [in his work].† It was his guilt over women that led him to the bottle and subsequently drenched him in depression. He could not move past his guilt quickly enough before he moved onto the next woman. In his entire life he repeatedly cheated on all the women he was   with; it was a vicious cycle of finding love, breaking love by finding someone else, getting depressed over his actions, finding someone else to get out of the depression. An example of the effect that his love life had on his work can be seen in ‘Hills like White Elephants,’ which was written after Hemingway had cheated on his wife Hadley with her own friend Pauline Pfeiffer. When Hemingway asked for a divorce, Hadley placed a condition of a separation between him and Pfeiffer for a certain period of time; if he remained in love even after that time he was to be granted the divorce. It was during this period that he wrote the story. The biggest similarity between his life and the short story is that in either a family member or loved one was being separated. The story which centers on a conversation between a man and a woman show that the man is the authority. The poor communication skills between the two also reflect that their relationship might end. Perhaps Hemingway himself saw this as Hadley and himself which poor communication was ending up in the death of something that connected them, in the case of the characters this would be the unborn child. When in Italy, Hemingway had a love affair while he was wounded in this duration. The effects of this can be seen in his works as well. In ‘A very short story,’ the injured solider who is found on the Italian front has a love affair with a nurse who tended to him. Just like Hemingway himself who fell in love with Agnes Von Kurowsky. As the story goes, the nurse later leaves the solider for an Italian officer. â€Å"‘A very short story’ ranks as one of Hemingway’s least effective stories. Behind a pretense of objectivity, it excoriates the faithless Agnes. Even four years after the jilting, he was too close to his subject matter to achieve the requisite artistic distance†¦ twice again he explored the subject of love between a wounded soldier and his nurse†¦Ã¢â‚¬  (Beegal 105). Throughout his work it will be seen that he advocates the kind of courage in the world where men must survive without women, which goes against the work itself because it is based largely on this mother, sisters, wives, lovers etc. Hemingway’s works paved way for an entirely new genre of writing. He used plain simple language to give voice to his stories. Much of his work, when it comes to short stories, is greatly influenced by his life and it can be seen through the various example given herewith, how his life was a muse to him. His relationships with women and subsequently alcohol, his experiences at war and the death that he saw, and his ideas on masculinity and manhood were some of the basic ideas that he infused with his writings to form the basis of many of his stories. Hemingway may have been gifted but he very conflicts that he tried to work out through his writings, and the very tensions that he wrote about, subsequently became the reason he took his own life.

The Evolution of John Steinbeck Essay -- Biography Biographies Essays

The Evolution of Steinbeck In "The Grapes of Wrath", Steinbeck takes a great leap forward in his storytelling. His characters are better developed and more human. Steinbeck's development as a writer was linked to his growth as a person and his furthered capacity for understanding in others, particularly the disenfranchised. The process and struggle that ensued during the early years of his career were instrumental in his growth and are demonstrated in the development of his views on industrialization and it's effects on the working class. His greater understanding seemed to lead to an end to his theological approach to writing, or at least a modification of it. For with greater understanding came empathy, and with empathy came subjectivity. With the distance gone between he and his characters, it became possible to identify with the characters on a deeper level. They were more true to life than the characters of his previous novels. When Steinbeck managed to cross this line, he made a leap from the realm of the good writers into the Valhalla of great authors. This is when Steinbeck into people. Few of the masses were not familiar with the likes of a Tom Joad or Mack. (A Joseph was much harder to come by.) In his earlier books, works like "To a God Unknown" and "In dubious Battle", Steinbeck delved into the man driven by ideology. Anything but "down-to earth", the characters in these books were motivated by what could be. As creatures of speculation, they were driven by the mind's eye. While Joseph lived for the earth, he never managed to be of it, (at least in the manner of your everyday farmer.) Like any man who have walked through the halls of formal education, Steinbeck himself was a man of... ..."employable." Dr. Kelly posed the question, " what if World War II had not interposed and brought the U.S. out of the Great Depression?" At what point are the evils of the marketplace checked? Time will tell. Without a common enemy, where is the unifying cause to organize? What will bring the people together? Once people are driven by hunger it seems to be to late. Hunger is desperate and powerless, without reason or strength. Humanity has conquered the world. Can we conquer out greed and fear? Steinbeck was unsure that our species could overcome our seemed hatred of ourselves. Maybe the fear of terrorism can bring the world together. In the meantime, people continue to struggle. Maybe things will finally change and we can all gain the empathy and understanding that were Steinbeck's. Unfortunately, those qualities seem to come only through great struggle. The Evolution of John Steinbeck Essay -- Biography Biographies Essays The Evolution of Steinbeck In "The Grapes of Wrath", Steinbeck takes a great leap forward in his storytelling. His characters are better developed and more human. Steinbeck's development as a writer was linked to his growth as a person and his furthered capacity for understanding in others, particularly the disenfranchised. The process and struggle that ensued during the early years of his career were instrumental in his growth and are demonstrated in the development of his views on industrialization and it's effects on the working class. His greater understanding seemed to lead to an end to his theological approach to writing, or at least a modification of it. For with greater understanding came empathy, and with empathy came subjectivity. With the distance gone between he and his characters, it became possible to identify with the characters on a deeper level. They were more true to life than the characters of his previous novels. When Steinbeck managed to cross this line, he made a leap from the realm of the good writers into the Valhalla of great authors. This is when Steinbeck into people. Few of the masses were not familiar with the likes of a Tom Joad or Mack. (A Joseph was much harder to come by.) In his earlier books, works like "To a God Unknown" and "In dubious Battle", Steinbeck delved into the man driven by ideology. Anything but "down-to earth", the characters in these books were motivated by what could be. As creatures of speculation, they were driven by the mind's eye. While Joseph lived for the earth, he never managed to be of it, (at least in the manner of your everyday farmer.) Like any man who have walked through the halls of formal education, Steinbeck himself was a man of... ..."employable." Dr. Kelly posed the question, " what if World War II had not interposed and brought the U.S. out of the Great Depression?" At what point are the evils of the marketplace checked? Time will tell. Without a common enemy, where is the unifying cause to organize? What will bring the people together? Once people are driven by hunger it seems to be to late. Hunger is desperate and powerless, without reason or strength. Humanity has conquered the world. Can we conquer out greed and fear? Steinbeck was unsure that our species could overcome our seemed hatred of ourselves. Maybe the fear of terrorism can bring the world together. In the meantime, people continue to struggle. Maybe things will finally change and we can all gain the empathy and understanding that were Steinbeck's. Unfortunately, those qualities seem to come only through great struggle.

Corruption of Love Within the Inncocent Essay

Within the works of William Shakespeare’s Othello, Bram Stoker’s Dracula and Mary Shelly’s Frankenstein the concept of love is found within characters that are innocent and filled with good intentions. In all three works, love fills specified characters with joy and gratefulness towards the other characters who they claim to love. Unfortunately, the characters that experience love are only satisfied with its graces until it somehow gets corrupted. The minds of the victimized characters are filled with anger, hatred, and some with the idea of vengeance. Corruption of love within Othello, Dracula, and Frankenstein come with causes and effects. In the two works Frankenstein and Othello, both Frankenstein’s creation and Othello were in love. The creature was in love with the cottagers and Othello was in love with Desdemona. When being presented with evidence to no longer feel love towards the people they claim to admire- it causes them to hate. The corruption in the relationships of Jonathan Harker from Dracula and Victor Frankenstein from the novel Frankenstein is primarily caused by the supernatural beings working against them. Frankenstein’s love (Elizabeth) is murdered by the beast he creates, and Jonathan’s love (Mina) was corrupted when she is bitten by Dracula. The effect of love being corrupted in the works Frankenstein and Dracula results with the characters to seek revenge and to stop Frankenstein’s creature and Dracula from causing more pain to humanity. As a result of the characters Othello and the monster created by Frankenstein having their love corrupted, they murder the people who they see as the motivation for all of their actions. Once these characters come to a realization of their mistakes, it is too late and they commit suicide. Thus the works of William Shakespeare’s Othello, Bram Stoker’s Dracula and Mary Shelly’s Frankenstein all focus on the causes and effects of love being corrupted within the innocent and how it changes its victims for the worst. The creation of Frankenstein from the novel Frankenstein and Othello from the play Othello are b oth affectionate towards the ones they love. The creature loves the cottagers and Othello is in love with Desdemona. They put their loved ones on a pedestal and admire them for the many things they do. The cottagers taught the creation of Frankenstein how to socialize; how to speak, how to show affection towards others, to work with others, how to be humble, etc. By fascinating him and impressing him with the ways they lived their lives, he grew to love them without having to make a personal appearance. Othello is in love with a woman who he believes is forever loyal to him. Desdemona proves her love for Othello when she agrees to elope with him. As a token of Othello’s love, he presents Desdemona with a handkerchief that belonged to his mother. However, when the creation of Victor Frankenstein and Othello are given evidence that the ones they love are no longer worthy of their affection- their attitudes change completely and they let go of all previous feelings. Frankenstein’s creature had bad encounters with humans in the past, but from his observations of the De Lacey’s, he assumes they are different and won’t reject him. After discovering that he would undergo the same harsh treatment from his beloved cottagers as those from the other village, it is stated by the beast himself, â€Å"I could with pleasure have destroyed the cottage and its inhabitants and have glutted myself with their shrieks and misery† (125). He then changes his feelings of love towards humanity into hate, and swears to get revenge on the man who created and abandoned him to be tortured and neglected. Othello is told that his wife has been having affairs with one of his most trusted companions (Cassio). He dismisses the thought immediately and sees no threat until he is provided with visual proof from Iago. After seeing Cassio with his mother’s handkerchief, Othello perceives the innocent Desdemona as guilty. â€Å"Ay, let her rot and perish and be damned tonight, for she Shall not live† (4.1.172) exclaims Othello. The situation makes him so enraged that he no longer cares for her existence and he is now willing to get prepared to execute her. Therefore, the characters Othello and Frankenstein’s creation are filled with hatred and the need for vengeance once they feel that they are victims whose love has been corrupted and abused. The supernatural beings Count Dracula from the novel Dracula and the monster produced by Victor Frankenstein from the novel Frankenstein work as the main forces that contribute to the corruption of the relationships of Jonathan Harker and Victor Frankenstein. Jonathan constantly shows his affection towards Mina by portraying her to be his motivation to stay alive in Dracula’s castle. Both he and his betrothed are anxious to be reunited. Growing up together, Frankenstein has always been very fond of Elizabeth. Both characters come to the conclusion that they share mutual feelings of love towards one another and decide to get married. Both couples remain happy until they have encounters with beings that have selfish intentions of destroying their relationships for their satisfaction. It is stated by Count Dracula, â€Å"Your girls that you all love are mine already; and through them you and others shall yet be mine— my creatures, to do all my bidding and to be my jackals when I want to feed† (332). The quote implies that the female characters in the novel Dracula- like Mina Harker are no longer bonded with their lovers but are enslaved by The Count. When being held under the power of Dracula, Mina is not in her right state of mind and she no longer prioritizes her love for Jonathan. Victor Frankenstein is given an ultimatum by his creature to create a companion. However, Victor is unwilling because he does not want to be responsible for more chaos that could potentially be caused. After being denied of his request, the monster threatens, â€Å"I will be with you on your wedding night† (Frankenstein, 158), and the thought alone tormented Frankenstein. On Victor’s wedding night, the words of the monster were no longer a threat, but reality. Elizabeth was found murdered in their room. Therefore, when Count Dracula bites Mina and the monster created by Frankenstein murders Elizabeth; they corrupt the love of both couples by preventing the women to love their partners back. When love is corrupted in the two works Frankenstein and Dracula, outcomes are characters who want to seek revenge and to defeat both fiends before they cause more chaos and pain. The creature created by Frankenstein has proved itself to be dangerous to humanity. At first, the people who hadpersonal encounters with him just assumed he was a threat because of his appearance. After being so tired of being rejected, the beast shows himself as someone who would kill innocent people for satisfaction. Specifically, he targets Victor’s loved ones as a punishment for creating him and abandoning him in an atmosphere that does not accept him. In the novel Dracula, The Count is seen as a hazard as well. In one of his many forms, he approaches the innocent and attacks them with a bite so he can use them for his selfish needs. After the loss of practically everyone he holds dear to him, Victor decides that he has been through enough. â€Å"I devote myself, either in my life or death to hi s destruction† (191), concluded Victor confidently. By saying so, Victor made the commitment to devote the rest of his life to finding the beast that destroyed the lives of so many innocent people. The warning, â€Å"We must either capture or kill this monster in his lair; or we must, so to speak, sterilise the earth† (261), is said to inform that it is requirement to put an end to Dracula in order to save the rest of the human race from becoming his slaves. With that being said, Van Helsing and the other male characters eagerly set out on the hunt for Dracula. Therefore, results of love being corrupted within the works Dracula and Frankenstein are the affected characters feeling obligated to avenge the death of their loved ones and destroy those who inflicted pain so they can not hurt anyone else. Committing murder is a result of corrupted love in regards to the characters Othello from the work Othello and the monster created by Frankenstein from the novel Frankenstein. The two types of murders that occur are ones directed towards people seen as the cause for feelings of being Victimized, and suicide from guilt and regret. Being persuaded that he has been betrayed by the innocent Desdemona, Othello is enraged by the idea and declares, â€Å"Yet she must die, else she’ll betray more men† (5.2.6). Determined to put an end to his wife, Othello does not realize that he is falsely accusing Desdemona, and is making a huge mistake by bringing her to her death bed. At first, the beast feels remorse for being responsible for personally taking two innocent lives. However, after being denied a companion, the monster of Frankenstein is filled with hatred and believes that it is essential for his creator to feel just as lonely as he does. He is not satisfied until all the loved ones in the life of Victor Cabildo Frankenstein are dead. After finally being revealed the truth about Desdemona’s innocence by Bianca, Othello is filled with shame, misery and regret. To punish himself for being responsible of destroying the love of his life, he kills himself to join her in the afterlife. Once the beast discovers the recent death of his creator he says, â€Å"What does it avail that I now ask thee to pardon me? I, who irretrievably destroyed thee by destroying all thou lovedst† (Frankenstein, 209). Feeling guilty and responsible of the situation, like Othello, the beast also decides to join the deceased by murdering himself. Therefore, the characters in the works Othello and Frankenstein who act as villains commit suicide because of the shame and regret that overwhelms their consciences when they realize they have murdered innocent people. Corruption of love in the relationships of the innocent characters in the works of William Shakespeare’s Othello, Bram Stoker’s Dracula and Mary Shelly’s Frankenstein are based on the causes and effects and how it alters its innocent targets to becoming their worst. Characters like Othello and the creation of Frankenstein freely showed their affection until they were provided with reason to express hatred. Thanks to the supernatural villains in the works Dracula and Frankenstein, love was corrupted in the relationships of Jonathan Harker and Victor Frankenstein when they could no longer approach their loved ones in the same way. When love was corrupted in the works Dracula and Frankenstein, the affected characters felt obligated to seek revenge and prevent any harm towards the rest of humanity by putting an end to the villains that posed a threat. By being affected by corrupted love, the characters Othello and the monster of Frankenstein even resorted to murdering innocent lives. Unfortunately they did not identify the mistakes that were made until it was too late. Out of guilt and shame of their actions and the villains commit suicide to join the ones they killed. With so many lives being lost throughout the three works, it can be seen as a tragedy. The love of those lost can never be expressed or brought back; and that defines the situation as turning out for the worst. Therefore, negative interferences in any shape or form contribute to the corruption of love within the innocent characters from the three works- which leads to the motivation for revenge and killing. Work Cited: Shakespeare, William. Othello New York: Washington Square Press: 1993. Shelley, Mary. Frankenstein New York: Bantam: 2004. Stade, George. â€Å"Introduction†. Dracula New York: Bantam, 2006 v-xiv. Stoker, Bram. Dracula New York: Bantam: 2004.

What Advantages Does Spinoza’s Substance Monism Have over...

Spinoza’s philosophy as espoused in the Ethics was a response to Descartes’ dualism. Through works such as the Ethics, Spinoza seeks to address the main flaws in Descartes’ philosophy. These flaws included but were by no means limited to, proof for the existence of God and the interaction between mind and body. This essay will highlight the advantages of Spinoza’s monism over Descartes’ dualism by looking at Spinoza’s response to these issues. First, in order to consider the advantages of Spinoza’s substance monism over Descartes’ dualism it is necessary to show how each philosopher demonstrates their substance dualism or substance monism. Tim Crane defines monism and dualism as follows: â€Å"Monism denies that minds and their†¦show more content†¦While the above steps demonstrate Spinoza’s substance monism, they also show that the overarching factor in his philosophy is the argument for the existence of God and God’s attributes which necessarily follow. The advantage of Spinoza’s substance monism over Descartes’ substance dualism in terms of his metaphysics of God/Nature, is that Spinoza’s God is one that supports his entire system. Where Descartes’ Meditations is built on doubt, Spinoza’s Ethics is built on certainty and on a series of definitions. His notion that God is the only substance, the core of his monism, hinges on his definition of God/Nature: By God I understand a being absolutely infinite, i.e., a substance consisting of an infinity of attributes, of which one expresses an eternal and infinite essence (1def6) While Descartes sought, through the Meditations, to be certain of the truth of his own existence as a ‘thinking thing’ and then prove God’s existence, Spinoza turns Descartes’ argument on its axis. For Spinoza the argument that God exists as the only substance, because as a supremely perfect being he must necessarily exist is the basis of the Ethics. Spinoza’s statement of God’s existence as the only substance gives his argument a strong foundation from which to build the rest of his philosophy. The axiomatic format of the Ethics enables Spinoza to set out his philosophy in a more direct manner than Descartes. While Descartes