Hudson, Your Character Works With Another Person,

¶ … Hudson, Your character works with another person, or persons. Focus on the effort that he makes with another, not on what he does by himself.

Thomas Hudson and Roger Davis: Two middle-aged men 'stuck in time'

The main protagonist of Ernest Hemingway's posthumously-published novel Islands in the Stream is Thomas Hudson, an artist living on a tropical island who is trying to leave his past behind him as a heavy drinker. Hudson's goal is to gain control over his appetite for drink so he can realize his potential as an artist. However, many dispiriting events occur over the course of the book which increases the attractions of drink to Hudson. For example, in the first section of the book, Hudson takes his son David on a fishing expedition. After David makes a great catch and makes his father proud, the boy dies in a freak car accident after leaving the island. This gives Hudson another excuse to drink. The book's plot unfolds in a series of thwarted attempts of Hudson to have a positive impact on the world but going back to drinking. His friend Roger Davis is a mirror image of Hudson: Roger is a writer but also is an alcoholic and Hudson's behaviors justify Roger's own drinking and fighting.

The sense of Roger as a mirror image of Hudson is manifested in another scene of the book in which Roger is shown getting into a fight. Much like Hudson is trying to avoid drinking, but constantly falls prey to his bad habits, Roger does not want to engage in physical violence but still ends up in a brawl. Just like Hudson continually gets drunk, regrets his drinking, and yet repeats his negative behaviors, Roger challenges a man who is not his equal and then is filled with self-hatred afterward when he hurts his opponent. Instead of writing, Roger drinks and fights, just like instead of creating art, Hudson drinks and talks about art. The island location, although idyllic, seems to trap both men in a kind of 'suspended animation.' They want to move forward from their middle-aged existences and realize their potential but do not.

Although both men have their own personal demons which they must work through, they reinforce one another's bad behaviors in terms of how they interact. Rather than supporting one another to make positive changes, when one resolves to reform himself, the other falls into the trap of drinking or acting out in a negative fashion. Thus Hudson never realizes his artistic goals. This cycle of self-hatred repeats itself again and again. Both men are intelligent and articulate individuals. Roger is shown engaging in erudite dialogue with Hudson's sons about horseback riding, writing, and other topics of high culture. But this is undercut by the 'low' behavior of all of the men. They both know they have not lived up to their potential, and try to drown this with drink.

Hemingway's use of the two characters shows the common behavior patterns of many middle-aged men. Drinking and self-hatred are critically interlinked. The men hate themselves because they have not lived up to their perceived potential as a great writer in the case of Roger or a great artist in the case of Hudson. They drink to forget this misery, but alcohol fuels their inability to work. Alcohol functions as an excuse and a distraction in both men's behavior and the presence of the other man 'normalizes' this fact.