Ernest Hemingway FAQ: Section 6
 Where can I find analyses of Hemingway's story,
"Hills Like White Elephants"?
 For criticism on this story, see the Ernest Hemingway Bibliography.
Here you will find an extensive listing of books and critical essays on Hemingway's work. Scroll down to the section that says, "Books Discussing Many Hemingway Works." Some of these books may have analyses of "Hills Like White Elephants,"
especially Earl Rovit's Ernest Hemingway. He tries to cover most of Hemingway's novels and short stories.
One other place to find various criticism is in Contemporary Literary
Criticism published by the Gale Research Company. Each volume has hundreds of excerpts of critical commentary on a wide range of literature. Hemingway is featured in numerous volumes (6, 8, 19, 30, 41, 61, to name a few). You are likely to find something on "Hills Like White Elephants" here.
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How do I analyze Hemingway's depiction of women?
Hemingway's characterization of women is a fascinating one.
The Sun Also Rises and A Farewell to Arms are good places to start. Though do not neglect Hemingway's later work, especially the posthumous novel, The Garden of Eden.
Here the depictions of women and men are rather strange, for Hemingway that is, but perhaps illustrative of how his views of women changed throughout his life. Some critics have held Hemingway's four marriages accountable for these
changes. I, however, feel his views of women solidified much earlier on (perhaps during childhood and young adulthood). As you will see in The Garden of Eden, as his narrative structure loses its rigidity, his eccentric views of women and of women in men
(an erotic blending of the sexes of sorts) becomes exposed.
The following articles and books should help you to generate some fine insights:
Comley, Nancy R. and Robert Scholes. Hemingway's Genders: Rereading the Hemingway Text. New Haven: Yale University Press, 1994.
(Probably the best scholarly work on this topic. Sheds interesting light on Hemingway's interest in homosexuality and androgyny.)
Bernice Kert's The Hemingway Women is exclusively devoted to a discussion of the women in Hemingway's life. More biographical than critical.
Latham, Aaron. "A Farewell to Machismo." The New York Times Magazine, 16 October 1977, 51-55, 80-82, 94-99. (Title speaks for itself.)
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How is Hemingway's life reflected in his writing?
Many parallels have been drawn between Hemingway's life and fiction.
Scholars generally agree that Nick Adams is the character who most closely represents Hemingway the man. There is some dissension, however, regarding whether it is in fact Hemingway's
personality or simply his experiences which are being personified by his characters. Most of Hemingway's fiction is based on his own personal experience. When creating the fiction, he invents from this experience.
Read anything by scholar Philip Young, particularly Ernest Hemingway: A Reconsideration. Young has done some interesting work in regards to the parallels between Hemingway's life and fiction. He pays particular attention to the injury
Hemingway suffered at age eighteen when he served as an ambulance driver for the Italian army, and how and why this episode resurfaces in his literature.
Also, Carlos Baker's biography, Ernest Hemingway: A Life Story provides a detailed account of the many parallels existing between the events in Hemingway's life and the events transpiring in his stories.
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What story can I compare to Hemingway's The Old Man and the Sea?
The Old Man and the Sea
is a wonderful work to analyze, one rich with irony and symbolism (though Hemingway didn't seem to think so). You may want to focus on the seemingly
strong religious implications, or the dynamics of the relationship between Manolin and the old man, or how the boy is initiated
into manhood (as are many of Hemingway's male characters), or the familiar Hemingwayesque theme of what one loves must eventually be destroyed.
In comparing this novel to another Hemingway work, "My Old Man" is a good choice if you are inclined to discuss the similarities/differences
between the old man gambler and the old man fisherman or the similarities/differences between the young narrator of "My Old Man" and Manolin, especially in regards to their feelings towards their elders. If you
choose to focus on boy's initiation into manhood, almost any of the Nick Adams stories could be used ("Indian Camp" or "The End of Something").
One other interesting point concerns the whole concept of the "code hero" in relation to Santiago. Scholar Philip Young has noted that Santiago is the first of Hemingway's
"code heroes" to have become old. Why is this? And why does this particular depiction of the hero appear so much later on in Hemingway's writing career (The Old Man and the Sea being published in 1952)?
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What is the "Hemingway code hero"?
The phrase,
"Hemingway code hero" originated with scholar Philip Young. He uses it to describe a Hemingway character who "offers up and exemplifies certain principles of honor, courage,
and endurance which in a life of tension and pain make a man a man."
It's important to note the difference between the "Hemingway hero" and the "Hemingway code hero." Some people (myself included) have fallen into the habit of using these terms interchangeably.
The "Hemingway hero" is a living breathing character essential to the story's narrative. Nick Adams is an example of a "Hemingway hero." The "Hemingway code hero" is often times a living breathing character
as well, but he doesn't always have to take a human form. Sometimes the "Hemingway code hero" simply represents an ideal that the "Hemingway hero" tries to live up to, a code he tries to follow. An example of the
"Hemingway code hero" (in human form) would be white hunter Robert Wilson from "The Short Happy Life of Francis Macomber." To simplify the theory some, Earl Rovit developed a unique naming system. He refers to the
"Hemingway hero" as the tyro and the "Hemingway code hero" as the tutor.
For a more detailed discussion of the "Hemingway code hero," you should see Philip Young's 1966 book, Ernest Hemingway: A Reconsideration (in particular the chapter titled, "The Hero and the Code").
See also Earl Rovit's book, Ernest Hemingway (in particular the chapter titled, "Of Tyros and Tutors").
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How does "Soldier's Home" tie into the notion of the lost generation?
The theme of
alienation, isolation either from society or one's self is a recurring and necessary theme in much of Hemingway's work.
In examining "Soldier's Home," we ask ourselves the following questions. Is Krebs isolated and alienated? He returns home to Oklahoma, but isn't
greeted with the same heroic welcome as the other officers who came back earlier. People treat Krebs more like an outcast than a hero. Keep in mind also the title of this story, "Soldier's Home."
Isn't one supposed to feel welcomed into his or her home?
What does Krebs tell people about his war experiences? He tells them lies naturally considering nobody is interested in hearing his stories, having already heard enough overly dramatic stories from the other
officers. Lying makes Krebs feel lost within himself and in a sense bitter towards the war, there the theme of alienation sets in.
Does Krebs practice intense self-discipline? He sleeps late, reads, eats, and sits on his front porch watching the girls walk by. If anything, he seems disciplined to do nothing significant with his life.
Ironically, he has been cast into a role of passive observer rather than the active participant he seemed to be in heading off to assist in the war effort. Has Krebs been cast into this role of passive observer
voluntary or involuntarily? This Hemingway does not implicitly state. But where else are there examples of Krebs falling into the role of passive observer and what might this do to his so-called hero status?
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What is Robert Cohn's role in The Sun Also Rises?
Cohn tries so hard to be included in
this group of expatriates, to the point that his attempts at inclusion are pathetic. This type of behavior is not something that is looked upon by the others with much respect, especially by Jake. Along with his futile
efforts to court the sex-starved Brett, his romantic perspectives on life, his inability to control his emotions, his excessive concern with his self-image, his need to travel for the purpose of escaping the reality
unfolding around him, Cohn is no doubt the black sheep of this novel. He simply doesn't fit in. The more he tries to fit in, the more he ends up alienating himself.
You will also notice how all of the expatriates drink heavily mainly to forget about the war. Drinking, as portrayed in this novel, is a mind numbing
experience. Notice though how Cohn drinks considerably less than the others. Why is this? What is it that Cohn is trying to forget? Or maybe he thinks and
feels too much? Perhaps that's his problem? Perhaps that's one of the reasons why he's treated as an outcast?
It's a good idea to examine Jake's stance in the novel and perhaps compare/contrast it to Cohn's. Jake seems like the glue of the group, the
primary social cohesion. But in what sense is he an outsider (other than through his war wound)? How does his status as an outsider differ from Cohn's?
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Is Jake's love of Brett similar to Santiago's love of the fish? What does their love symbolize?
A good place to start is with the common
Hemingwayesque theme of what one loves must eventually be destroyed. Santiago loves this fish, respects its beauty, its size, its power, but still must demonstrate his own power, mainly for the sake of his pride.
When he catches the fish, ties it to the skiff, and hauls it back to shore, frenzied sharks begin to feed on the now defenseless carcass. Santiago acts in the great marlin's defense, protecting its beauty, its dignity, as well as
his own triumph over the mammoth beast. He needs to be the sole destroyer of this fish. Yet the marlin is still decimated by the relentless sharks, and Santiago feels he must blame himself for the fish's demise.
Now let's take some of these same principles and apply them to the relationship between Jake and Brett in The Sun Also Rises. Who is the hunter and who is the hunted here? Brett has long been condemned as a "bitch goddess" who exploits her
sexual desirability for the purpose of destroying the last shreds of dignity that exist in the men she seduces and the emasculated body of Jake Barnes. This seems to make her the hunter and the emasculated Jake the hunted. Yet in what ways does Jake
protect his dignity (as Santiago tries to protect the fish's dignity from the feeding sharks)? In what ways is Jake unable to protect his dignity? Who is destroyed at the end of this novel, Jake or Brett, or is it their relationship that is destroyed? Or had their relationship
been destroyed long ago?
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What symbolism is present in "Cat in the Rain"?
"Cat in the Rain"
is based in part on the rainy day Ernest and Hadley (1st wife) spent at the Hotel Splendide in Rapallo, Italy circa 1923. Here are some
thoughts to help jumpstart your critical thinking about the story:
1) What is the relationship like between the husband and the wife? Does he pay her any mind? Does he serve her? Does he truly consider her wants and
needs? What are her wants and needs? In what ways is the husband repressing these needs?
2) Notice the repetition of the word, "American." Is Hemingway making a statement here about American women, wives in particular, being inherently more nagging,
childish, and spoiled? Or is he simply trying to depict the Americans as foreigners, isolated not only in their surroundings, but also from each other?
3) Many have interpreted the wife's remark that she wants a kitty as symbolic of her desire to have a child. Or perhaps she is already pregnant and just imagining
what it will be like when the baby comes. Obviously, the woman is in search of something here (companionship, attention, love, a sense of belonging) and
seemingly willing to go to whatever extremes to get what she wants.
4) How does the wife view the padrone? How does the padrone view the wife? He too seems to see her as childish and is eager to cater to her
whims, but to the point that his manner of servitude is more patronizing than professional.
5) The wife gets her cat in the end. The only question is which cat. Is it the cat the wife had spied outside or is it another cat, one that the padrone had personally
arranged to be brought up? Which scenario makes for a better ending?
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How does existentialism play out in Hemingway's fiction, particularly "The Short Happy Life of Francis Macomber"?
Existentialism
is a major component of Hemingway's fiction. We see the focus on the strength and perseverance of the individual, the underlying theme that we create ourselves,
existence before essence. It's the responsibility of Hemingway's characters to create their essence, to make their choices, to realize that if the world is meaningless, if it
doesn't mean anything to be good or bad, if there are no heavenly rewards, if all is permitted, you can curl up (usually in a drunken stupor) and do nothing, let Nature take it's
obvious course, let yourself succumb to your biological trap, or you can act as if something does have meaning and create a type of moral code. Many of Hemingway's so-called
heroes attempt to create such a code, one which must be practiced and upheld with intense self-discipline, the legendary "grace under pressure."
What code has Francis Macomber created for himself? Or has his code been created for him? By who? How does Macomber try and live up to this code? Does he
succeed? What is his wishful essence? What is his realized essence? Do these two conflict or comply with each other?
For more information on existentialism, read the Wikipedia entry for existentialism.
For articles and books with critical discussions of "The Short Happy Life of Francis Macomber" see the Ernest Hemingway Bibliography.
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