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 Where does the title,
A Farewell to Arms originate?
 Hemingway got the title of his book from George Peele's
poem, "A Farewell to Arms" (1590). Peele had dedicated his poem to Queen Elizabeth. Hemingway discovered the Peele poem in The Oxford Book of English Verse .
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What is the main plot of
"Old Man at the Bridge" ?
A soldier (who is also the narrator) sees an old man resting
on the side of a road near a pontoon bridge. Other civilians are crossing this bridge, but the old man is too tired to proceed
any further. The old man tells the soldier that he is a native of San Carlos where he worked as a caretaker of animals.
The old man seems more concerned for the safety of his animals than for his own safety. He has some relief in knowing that the cat
will be able to fend for itself, and that since he has unlocked the cage, the birds can fly away, but the fate of the other animals is
uncertain and the man is distraught by this.
The soldier tries to encourage the old man to move a little farther along, for he knows the bridge is likely to be bombed.
The old man, however, is simply too exhausted to proceed. The soldier then reflects on the overcast sky, which might prevent
the planes from bombing the bridge. In this sense, the soldier seems to be engaging in the same type of wishful thinking as the
old man, who must convince himself that the cats can take care of themselves and the birds can fly away. Death is imminent however.
Deep down, the soldier and the old man both know this.
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What makes Hemingway
a modernist?
In modernist fiction, characters are generally on
some type of quest. They are preparing to recompose themselves, to live all they can, to find meaning in a disordered
and confused world. The Victorian age of rationality and progress has been replaced by a loosely moralistic generation
easily seduced by transitory pleasures, a generation with very little ambition, motivation, or regard for the consequences of
their actions.
What most modernist writers are trying to do (including Hemingway) is to show the surface disorder of their surroundings,
but also to imply that there exits a certain underlying unity. They attempt to depict the various ways in which their
characters can become honorable and dignified in a dishonorable and undignified world. In regards to content,
modernist writers are attempting to make their work new, bold, and original.
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Is there a complete bibliography
of Ernest Hemingway's work?
Three books, all out of print, come to
mind:
Cohn, Louis Henry. A Bibliography of the Works of Ernest Hemingway . New York: Random House, 1931.
Hannerman, Audre. Ernest Hemingway: A Comprehensive Bibliography Princeton, New Jersey:
Princeton University Press, 1967.
___________. Supplement to Ernest Hemingway: A Comprehensive Bibliography . Princeton, New Jersey:
Princeton University Press, 1975.
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Did any personal experience
inspire the erotic novel, The Garden of Eden ?
Some critics and scholars have suggested that the eccentric gender
and sexual experiments portrayed in this novel are based in part on experiments Hemingway and first wife Hadley conducted amongst themselves
in the early 1920's. Catherine Bourne, however, would seem to be more modeled after Hemingway's second wife Pauline than first wife Hadley.
For further information on these sexual experiments, particularly as they tie into The Garden of Eden, see Aaron Latham's
"A Farewell to Machismo" in The New York Times Magazine, 16 October 1977, 51-55, 80-82, 94-99.
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What is one theme of
"Indian Camp"?
"Indian Camp" can have many themes depending
on the critical viewpoint you decide to take. There is the theme of compensation for powerless male figures. How does
Nick compensate for his father's apparent powerlessness in preventing the Indian's suicide? Where else do we see Nick trying
to be perhaps more mature, more of a man? Where do we see him attempting to gain control over a certain situation? What
situation is he trying to gain control of at the end of this story, particularly in the last line of the story? We see
Nick immersing himself in the security of his past knowledge and experience in order to better cope with the uncertainty
of his present and future experience. Find some examples of this. Finally, there is the all important Hemingwayesque theme
of boy's initiation into manhood. Was Nick's initiation into manhood a successful one?
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Can you explain Hemingway's
"nada" philosophy?
The Hemingway hero is a restless man, doesn't like
the night, often will sleep through the day and stay awake during the night. The darkness of the night represents nothingness, the
state in which things will be when one is dead, absolute oblivion. Darkness and sleep must be avoided, for in these states
there is nothingness, "nada." Hemingway's discourse on "nada" is his way of exploring the darker side of his spiritual self.
Examples of "Nada":
In "A Clean, Well-Lighted Place"
the idea of "nada" causes the older waiter to contemplate suicide, to question whether or not the example of the old man is one
in which he should follow. He doesn't follow the old man's example, and then, judging from the last sentence of the story,
feels the need to make excuses for his cowardice.
In "The Killers"
Ole Andreson shows similar cowardice in his unwillingness to leave his room. He simply waits for the killers to come and get him.
This is his response to "nada," to give up, to do nothing in this world of nothingness. Death is the ultimate fate of everyone.
He accepts that. Nick doesn't want to accept it and is propelled into action, telling George that he is going to leave town.
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Is Margot Macomber a cold-blooded
murderer or an attempted savior?
The closing sequence of
"The Short Happy Life of Francis Macomber"
has for many years ignited great debate in the critical world. Did Margot Macomber intentionally shoot at her husband to kill him
or was she in fact aiming at the buffalo in an attempt to protect him from a certain death?
Many feel that she was trying to kill her husband because he was becoming too brave, too soon. As a brave man, he would have the courage to leave her.
After Margot has shot and killed her husband, white hunter Robert Wilson confirms the fact that Macomber would have left her. Perhaps this is what she
feared and explains why she had no other choice but murder. If she truly wanted him dead, however, there would have been no need for her
to pull the trigger herself. Remember that from her vantage point, it looked as if the buffalo was about to fatally gore Macomber.
If we examine the text more carefully and take Hemingway's words (ambiguous as they may be) at face value, we will observe that Margot indeed was
aiming at the buffalo, likely in an attempt to protect her husband. Even if she had killed the buffalo without hitting Macomber, she'd still be
depriving him of his courageous act. The buffalo would be her kill and Francis would again be the cowardly runner-up.
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Is it unwise to equate Ernest Hemingway
with his fictional hero?
Phillip Young's "code hero" theory may be a legitimate
one and it is a reasonable place to start when undertaking the study of Hemingway, but if a reader is to spend the majority of time
trying to match the qualities/experiences of Hemingway's fictional hero with the qualities/experiences of Hemingway himself,
sweeping critical assertions are imminent. It is even more dangerous when a reader tries to formularize Hemingway's fiction,
to fit themes and characters into little restricted spaces and to become, as they say in the world of academia, "thesis-driven."
There are many dimensions to Hemingway's literature. The more time you spend equally evaluating these dimensions, the more you will
appreciate Hemingway's literary art.
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Where does the title,
For Whom the Bell Tolls originate?
"For Whom the Bell Tolls" is a phrase from John Donne's
MEDITATION XVII in his book, Devotions upon Emergent Occasions .
You can find the text of this meditation at online-literature.com.
The section which starts, "No man is an island" and ends "it tolls for thee" is the segment that Hemingway chose as an epigraph to his
1940 novel, For Whom the Bell Tolls.
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