Ernest Hemingway: Truth in Fiction

Ernest Hemingway: Truth in Fiction

Ernest Hemingway deserves the attention he receives for his writing: no other author manages to say as much as he does as few words. Hemingway developed a unique style but he also told some of the most compelling stories in literary history. Along with his brevity, Hemingway is also recognized for his style of capturing the nuances of life. Hemingway observed and beautifully captured the human experience, ugliness and all. Life is beautiful but it is also filled with pain associated with war, love, and death. Hemingway looks at this pain, revealing realistic characters facing alienation, disintegration, and desolation. The Sun Also Rises, "A Clean, Well-Lighted Place," and "Hills like White Elephants" provide glimpses into the human condition that help us realize not only the frailty of humankind but also the skills of Hemingway. A man of few words, Hemingway utilized language and his understanding of humanity to create stories that paint beautiful, tragic portraits of this human life.

One of Hemingway's greatest influences was the generation from which he came. Many of his stories revolve around the idea of an individual facing a sense of loss or experiencing a feeling of being lost. This is attributed to Hemingway's association with the Lost Generation. Characters facing alienation are nothing new in Hemingway stories and they reveal the delicate psyche and nature of man while delving into complex human circumstances. Love and war were two subjects Hemingway faced in real life and the merge in many of his stories. Hemingway possessed the ability to see what deeply affects man and these things include love, war, and death. Robert Spiller writes that no one has provided readers with "so many a vivid and almost unbearable impressions of the human temperament under the pressures of war" (Spiller 1300) than Hemingway. He was disenchanted with war, saying, "We had made a bloody mess of stand I would go, now, somewhere else as we had always had the right to go somewhere else and as we had always gone. You could always come back" (Hemingway qtd. In Spiller 1300-1). Here we see how Hemingway thought about how things affected people, including himself. He wrote about these things and his genuine nature stands out. Philip Young notes Hemingway was "America's most famous writer" (Young 39) while he was living. Hemingway's influence upon his generation as well as literature is powerful and unmatched, in Young's estimation. Hemingway's world is one in which "things do not grow and bear fruit, but explode, break, decompose, or are eaten away" (Young 45). Just as the world is not always pretty, neither is Hemingway.

Proof positive of Hemingway's powerful view on the nature of man emerges in The Sun Also Rises, one of Hemingway's most popular novels. John Aldridge believes Hemingway's most "seductive attribute" (Aldridge 139) is "his powerful responsiveness to experience" (139) and this novel demonstrates Hemingway's reaction to his personal experiences. When penning the novel Hemingway "was living in the most exotic city in Europe among some of the most remarkable personalities and gifted artists of the post Word War I era" (139). This is a palpable aspect of the novel as streets, apartments, hotels, restaurants, and bars are depicted realistically. Hemingway knew the names of the streets as well as the "exact location of all the best places and the best route to get to them" (139). Couple this with Hemingway's "wonderful eye" (139), and we have the makings for a great story. The Sun Also Rises reveals Hemingway's prose at its best. Hemingway's "tight minimalist style" (141) is exhibited in its "purest form" (141), says Aldridge. Precision mattered to Hemingway and what he leaves out of his stories is just as important as what he includes.

One of the prevalent themes in the novel is alienation experienced by the lost generation. Ex-patriots and estranged soldiers after the war provide company for each other in the streets of Paris. Jake was a soldier struggling with a lack of faith in his country. Jake and his friends were living lives that had no meaning and no goals. Nothing defines them and, as a result, they have no direction. We see an example of this early in the novel when Robert admits he wants to take a trip but just cannot seem to get himself started. He is like the individual wandering aimlessly. Jake echoes this sentiment when he says, "Nobody ever lives their life all the way up except bull-fighter" (The Sun Also Rises 10). Later he tells Bill, "You're an expatriate. You've lost touch with the soil. You get precious. Fake European standards have ruined you. You drink yourself to death, You become obsessed by sex. You spend all your time talking, not working. You are an expatriate, see? You hang around cafes" (115). This statement reveals that Jake is cognizant of his situation but does not feel compelled to do anything about it. Later in the story, Brett puts some perspective on their lives when she says, "It's sort of what we have instead of God" (245). Here we see how Hemingway represents the lost generation with his characters.

Jake also symbolizes the lost generation through his war wound, which presents an entirely different set of issues regarding manhood. Jake feels like less of a man, which exaserbates his hopelessness and alienation. No one can actually relate to him and, to make things worse, he suffers sexually. Brett makes things worse because she loves him but not in a sexual way. Jake does not feel man enough to adrees the situation so he allows her to mistreat him, compounding his hopelessness. The entire relationship cycles on him healping her out, hoping for love, getting rejected, and him being ultimately unable to walk away from her. The best she can offer him when he presses her to move in with him is that there "isn't any use my telling you I love you" (55). When the discussion becomes complicated, she states, "Talking's all bilge" (55). Brett is hopeless in her own way and staying attached to her only makes Jake's life worse because she can never give him what he wants. However, the situation, as difficult as it is, beats being alone. Jake fears being along and cannot face the prospect of finding anybody to care for him in any way at all. Jake is in a terrible cycle when it comes to life and love and his lack of desire to do anything about it is reflected through a lost generation seeing no hope in their future.

Desolation emerges in "A Clean, Well-Lighted Place." The two waiters and their divers perspectives allow readers to zero in on the desolation associated with aging. The conversation between the two men is simple, yet powerful. From it, we can see the frail character of the human condition. The old man's desolation awaits all of us, Hemingway hints through these two waiters. Warren Bennett understands the desolation Hemingway alludes to, stating the story is organized around a "consistent polarity: 'despair'" (Bennett). Hemingway uses the man's inability to go home to drive this point home. He could "buy a bottle and drink at home" (Hemingway A Clean, Well-Lighted Place 143), but, as the older waiter tells the younger waiter "it's not the same" (143) because he is not alone. The generation gap between the waiters is significant because it emphasizes how our attitudes change when we get older. The older waiter shows us "insight into the human condition" (Bennett) while the younger waiter is "all confidence" (143) and nothing more. The younger waiter is simply too young to relate to what the older waiter knows all too well. The older waiter finds some comfort in providing a "light for the night" (144) for the desolate people drifting into the cafe. The cafe is a symbol of hope in this story, although it is not a very powerful one. By using such an object for a symbol of hope, Hemingway demonstrates how we will sometimes cling to anything we can that will bring us even the slightest bit of hope. Hope is important for survival and we see this n a man who is searching it out every night in a place that never closes to the darkness of night. The old man's conversation with himself reveals the depth of desolation when he says, "It was all a nothing and a man was nothing too" (144). He convinces himself his desolation is simply insomnia but readers are left knowing the sad truth.

One of Hemingway's stories that focuses on alienation and dissolution is "Hills like White Elephants." The couple in this story is growing apart right before our eyes as Jig faces her impossible dilemma. Regardless of what she does, things will change and nothing will be like it once was. Having the abortion will change her forever and she does not know just how that will affect her. However, keeping the baby will probably scare her boyfriend away. Either way, what they shared is gone. The interesting thing about this story is the boyfriend's inability to see things from Jig's point-of-view. He does not have to deal with the emotional aspect of abortion, so he can say things like, "It's not really an operation at all" (Hills Like White Elephants 1391). The nameless man is selfish and a liar because he tries to convince Jig "It's really not anything. It's just to let the air in" (1391) and "it's all perfectly natural" (1391). Hemingway purposefully leaves him nameless in an attempt to reveal how very little there is to his character. What is worse, he probably is not concerned with what Jig is experiencing. He fails her and he fails to see her struggle, alienating her with just a few words. In addition, while he is alienating her, he is separating himself from her by demonstrating how selfish and shallow he is. She undoubtedly loves him and tells him, "I don't care about me. And I'll do it and then everything will be fine" (1391). However, she knows not everything will be fine, as things are already changing as they have the conversation. The relationship is practically over as the couple sits and waits and, ironically, it is as if they are waiting for the end of their relationship to approach. Here, Hemingway demonstrates the how people can drift apart and alienate each other. It does not take much for people to drift apart and it only takes one difficulty to reveal a person's true colors. The task of being responsible will be more than Jig's boyfriend can bear, a truth she already knows facing her future alone.