Ernest Hemingway FAQ: Section 9

Ernest Hemingway FAQ: Section 9

How is setting symbolic in the story, "Hills Like White Elephants"?

In "Hills Like White Elephants," the narrative is almost all dialogue between Jig and the American man, so we must take our clues from them.

It appears that the American man is trying to persuade his partner to get an abortion. The topic of their conversation is never directly stated, only ambiguously implied by Hemingway. However, if we bring into play the symbolism of Jig's statement that the hills resemble white elephants, we might be able to make a more definitive case that this is in fact a story about unwanted pregnancy.

Some have interpreted the hills as representing the rounded shape of a pregnant woman's belly. A more interesting symbolism is not of the hills per se, but of the white elephants. In Webster's Dictionary, under "white elephant," one of the definitions reads:

This seems to describe how the American man might view children. In stating that the hills resemble white elephants, Jig also seems to be implying that she is not enthusiastically anticipating the birth of this child. She later, however, reverses her original observation, and in doing so, allows Hemingway to beautifully capture her indecision, as well as the general tension of the story itself.

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Who are the writers that influenced Hemingway?

Hemingway himself probably best answers this question in his 1958 interview with George Plimpton. In the interview, Hemingway provides a list of his "literary forebears." Hemingway's interview with Plimpton is reprinted in Conversations with Ernest Hemingway edited by Matthew J. Bruccoli. The list to which I refer is on page 118.

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What was Hemingway's inspiration for The Old Man and the Sea?

Gregorio Fuentes, Hemingway's long time fishing companion and first mate of the Pilar, had this to say about his friend's possible inspiration:

So if we take Fuentes at his word, this was Hemingway's inspiration and the old man he saw that day became a model for the old man in the book. Everything else that occurs in the story was likely invented by Hemingway. Writing remains an act of invention. It may initially be based on actual experience, but to make it truly fiction and to define it as such, it must be invented. Hemingway knew and understood that better than anyone. This is one of the many reasons his work endures.

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What makes Hemingway a fatalist?

Many of Hemingway's novels and short stories are preoccupied with violence and death. To some, this would indicate Hemingway's fatalistic tendencies as a writer. For others, it might signify his attempts at realism. Hemingway, in my opinion, is both a realist and a fatalist, and each of these positions are equally important to his art.

Let's take A Farewell to Arms as an example. Part of the subject matter here pertains to war. In a war, people are killed. That is the unfortunate reality of war and Hemingway portrays this reality with brilliant clarity. When Hemingway kills off Catherine Barkley at the end of the novel, in this instance, he is probably being more fatalistic than realistic. Women do die in childbirth, but I would imagine this was a less common occurrence when the labor took place under the supervision of a doctor in a hospital, as is the case with Catherine's labor.

Hemingway believed that all stories end in death and that true storytellers would not keep this fact from the reader. His belief clearly shows us his fatalistic tendencies. But it also shows us that death is of great significance to him as an artist and it is often a necessary component to his subject matter. Only when confronted by death can a character be transformed for better or for worse. Only when confronted by death can a character truly display the legendary "grace under pressure."

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In The Sun Also Rises, the policeman's raised baton is symbolic of what?

The mounted policeman is representative of long withstanding authority, of the bureaucratic society that sent Jake off to war to be wounded. The taxi must yield to the policeman's authority, though not entirely, for the car slowed suddenly rather than stopping suddenly. This slowing, however, is just enough of an impediment. The message here is simply that love is fragile and it doesn't take much to stunt its growth or hinder its progression. The policeman's raised baton some have seen as symbolic of an erect penis. Only after the baton is raised (the penis erect), are Jake and Brett delivered from their separateness and pressed together. Therefore, from such a reading, it is Jake's sexual inadequacies that prevent the further blossoming of his relationship with Brett. There lies the conflict. The resolution is in the realization by both parties that what could have been will never be. In that realization, lies further conflict, as Jake and Brett must continue to find ways to resist the want of each other. The quintessential Hemingway formula for love becomes evident: in conflict, there is resolution, and in resolution, there is conflict.

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What is Nick's purpose in "A Way You'll Never Be"?

"A Way You'll Never Be" is another of Hemingway's wartime stories (set during WWI). Hemingway is attempting to illustrate how the trauma of war can affect a character not only physically, but also psychologically. The character being affected in this case is Nick Adams, who is haunted by the memory of being shot by an Austrian soldier. Nick's wound is apparently in the knees, though there are several instances of dialogue throughout the story to suggest that Nick's problems are in the head, likely a result of his shell shock. Amidst the dead soldiers he sees and the memory of his own wounding, Nick tries to keep himself from cracking, from allowing the visual horrors of war to blur his purpose.

Nick is a character of purpose, as Hemingway intentionally demonstrates. He is given the duty of wearing an American uniform and displaying this uniform as he rides his bicycle through war torn towns in Northern Italy. When Italian soldiers see Nick in his uniform, it might provide hope, making them think that the U. S. ultimately will enter the war. The title of the story, "A Way You'll Never Be," however, seems to imply the irony of Nick's purpose. Whatever injuries Nick has sustained prevent him from being what he once was. If he has indeed become "nutty," he is considered by war standards, purposeless, and therefore kept around mostly for display, assigned to rather fruitless, inconsequential missions.

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What does the mountain Kilimanjaro represent to Harry in "The Snows of Kilimanjaro"?

Harry sees himself as a failed writer. He spends much of the story reflecting on his failures. His failures are amplified by the fact that he is dying. The five flashbacks represent the personal experiences Harry had hoped to write about. After each flashback, he becomes more and more distraught that he will not have the opportunity to get these stories on paper.

Harry had come to Africa with the hopes of rekindling his talents. Africa was where he was the happiest and therefore the ideal setting for writing. However, Harry's talent for writing was slipping before he came to Africa and with his leg becoming infected and the gangrene setting in, his fate as a failed writer seemed sealed. Would Harry have been able to regain the stature he desired as a writer even if he was not being confronted by death? This is one of the questions Hemingway wants us to ponder.

The dream Harry has (just before he dies) of flying towards the top of Kilimanjaro is another sequence in which to ponder. We do, for a moment, get the sense that Harry is at peace in the presence of the majestic Kilimanjaro. But the story ends not with Harry's dream of ascending mount Kilimanjaro, but with the crying of the hyena. This brings us back to the reality of Harry's death and reminds us of his failed ambitions. Kilimanjaro represents the sovereign height to which every writer wishes to rise. With death breathing down his neck (literally), Harry can now only dream of reaching such a height.

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How are relationships explored in the story, "Fathers and Sons"?

"Fathers and Sons" explores how a middle-aged Nick Adams chooses to remember his father and how he will choose to pass the memory of his father onto his own young son.

Driving through an unfamiliar town with his son asleep in the seat next to him, passing the "corn fields" and "thickets" of the countryside, Nick is reminded of his father. As Nick begins thinking of his father, he first recalls the physical attributes, notably his father's eyes that saw with the accuracy of a "big-horn ram" or an "eagle." He admires his father's eyes only as they are used for hunting. The clarity of vision that his father possessed could be linked to the clarity of the vision that is emerging in the mind's eye of Nick.

During his reverie, Nick also recalls the occasion when he was introduced to the word "mashing" in the morning newspaper. Nick is curious to know the word's significance. As he has done before in "Indian Camp," he appeals to his father as the knowledgeable authority. His father tells him that mashing is masturbation and if practiced regularly can result in unfortunate physical and mental handicaps. One of the handicaps he mentions is blindness. Not entirely satisfied with the superficial explanation he receives, Nick's curiosity about mashing persists. He wonders if his father has ever committed this heinous act. Reminding himself of his father's acute eyes, Nick quickly dismisses such a thought. We get the sense that in his remembrance of his father, Nick is trying very hard to control the heroic image of the man.

The story ends with several awakenings. Nick's son awakens from his snooze. The boy asks a question, which awakens Nick from his reflective trance. And later as Nick futilely tries to explain to his young son why they never visit the grave of grandfather, this serves as another awakening of sorts: Nick's probable attempt to make the memory of his father a better memory for his own son.

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How do we analyze the characters of Hemingway's story, "In Another Country"?

In many of Hemingway's war stories, a certain character often feels alienation or isolation from himself or from a group. In this story, it is the unnamed narrator who is a stranger "in another country." While he recognizes that he and the other soldiers being treated in the hospital have the same medals, he knows that his wounds are the least serious and that he earned his medals more by being an American than any single act of bravery.

While a part of narrator wants to belong and be accepted into this heroic group of soldiers, he willfully admits that he is afraid to die and would not have performed the courageous acts the others had performed to obtain their medals. According to the narrator, the major, who is also being treated at the hospital, does not believe in bravery.

We sense in this story that the soldiers, particularly the major, are alive physically, but dead emotionally. The horrors of war have conditioned them to turn their feelings on and off like the machines that are being used to help them recuperate. The machines are mechanical, robotic, and programmed to assist in their rehabilitation. The soldiers and the major seem to be adapting the same mechanical, programmed routine to cope with their emotional and psychological wounds.

Some wounds, however, are just too painful. The major has lost his young wife to pneumonia. As he stares out the window surrounded by photographs on the wall, the "before and after" photos showing the miracle restorative powers of the machines, we realize that there are some wounds that can never heal.

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What Hemingway works were directly influenced by the wars?

Hemingway admitted in a 1925 letter to F. Scott Fitzgerald that of all the subjects a writer could write about, war was one of the best, if not the best. World War I affected Hemingway's literature more than any other war he was involved in.

The Sun Also Rises depicts the post World War I "lost generation." A Farewell to Arms is still considered by many critics the best novel ever written about World War I. Many of the characters in Hemingway's short stories have been involved in or directly affected by the first World War: Krebs of "Soldier's Home," Harry of "The Snows of Kilimanjaro," Nick Adams of "A Way You'll Never Be." World War I also plays out in the stories, "Now I Lay Me" and "In Another Country." The gruesome death scenes that Hemingway describes in "A Natural History of the Dead" are likely based on what he saw occur in World War I and the Greek-Turkish War.

The Spanish Civil War was the inspiration for Hemingway's 1940 novel, For Whom the Bell Tolls and his only full-length play, The Fifth Column.

World War II comes into play in Hemingway's 1950 novel, Across the River and into the Trees and the "At Sea" section of the posthumously published Islands in the Stream. A short story titled "Black Ass at the Crossroads" (never finished by Hemingway) also uses World War II as a backdrop.

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