Assignment topic: writing style of Earnest Hemingway & themes

Subject: American literature

Submitted by: Rida
BS English 8th semester
Roll no: 16001
Submitted to: Ma’am Anila

Introduction
Ernest Miller Hemingway (July 21, 1899 – July 2, 1961) was an American journalist, novelist,
short-story writer, and sportsman. His economical and understated style—which he termed
the iceberg theory—had a strong influence on 20th-century fiction, while his adventurous
lifestyle and his public image brought him admiration from later generations. Hemingway
produced most of his work between the mid-1920s and the mid-1950s, and he won the Nobel
Prize in Literature in 1954. He published seven novels, six short-story collections, and two
nonfiction works.

Writing style
A great deal has been written about Hemingway's distinctive style. In fact, the two great stylists
of twentieth-century American literature are William Faulkner and Ernest Hemingway, and
the styles of the two writers are so vastly different that there can be no comparison. For example,
their styles have become so famous and so individually unique that yearly contests award prizes
to people who write the best parodies of their styles. The parodies of Hemingway's writing style
are perhaps the more fun to read because of Hemingway's ultimate simplicity and because he so
often used the same style and the same themes in much of his work. From the beginning of his
writing career in the 1920s, Hemingway's writing style occasioned a great deal of comment
and controversy. Basically, a typical Hemingway novel or short story is written in simple,
direct, unadorned prose. Possibly, the style developed because of his early journalistic training.
The reality, however, is this: Before Hemingway began publishing his short stories and sketches,
American writers affected British mannerisms. Adjectives piled on top of one another; adverbs
tripped over each other. Colons clogged the flow of even short paragraphs, and the plethora of
semicolons often caused readers to throw up their hands in exasperation. And then came
Hemingway. An excellent example of Hemingway's style is found in "A Clean, Well-Lighted
Place." In this story, there is no maudlin sentimentality; the plot is simple, yet highly complex
and difficult. Focusing on an old man and two waiters, Hemingway says as little as possible. He
lets the characters speak, and, from them, we discover the inner loneliness of two of the men and
the callous prejudices of the other. When Hemingway was awarded the Nobel Prize in literature
in 1954, his writing style was singled out as one of his foremost achievements.

Themes
“All things truly wicked start from innocence”, Ernest Hemingway brings much essence into his
novels by manifesting many themes throughout his literary works. Hemingway’s novels, The
Garden of Eden, The Sun Also Rises, and The Old Man and the Sea bring great emphasis to
themes that signify Hemingway’s style of writing.One significant theme from Hemingway’s
novel, The Garden of Eden, unleashes the sexual desires and identities of characters throughout
the book. While Catherine, David, and Marita struggle to understand themselves and their
relationship, they all have certain positions in which they must play while being a couple. The
unstable character of Catherine, decides it’s best to become a man by the name of Peter, while
David must now take on the infamous role of a female, leaving Marita to enjoy herself, hopping
and skipping around as a heterosexual from relationship to relationship. Catherine goes on to her
sexual experiments, whil David becomes lost in his own being on whether it is truly right to
switch roles with his lover, him being the woman, and she being the man. Throughout the novel,
David becomes so overwhelmed with his sexual identity that he switches between woman and
woman. Deciding it is best to find another woman, he becomes involved with Marita; the old
lesbian lover of Catherine. Dispersed within the novel is the sharing of Marita, between
Catherine and David. Leaving one large mess to clean up between the two of them.

Hatred

Is another large theme within the Hemingway’s novel, The Garden of Eden? Both Catherine and
David do not comply with each other in their relationship. “…he said and his heart said goodbye
Catherine goodbye my lovely girl and good luck and goodbye.” (page.18) .While reading the
beginning of the novel, Catherine and David had set out on a romantic honeymoon together, both
promising each other that they would create a great piece of literature, based on their
honeymoon. While pondering on the fact of finding his inner self, David comes to delight on the
idea of writing a diary of his African descent. Catherine then goes behind his back and burns all
the letters in spite of him forgetting about their share novel based on their honeymoon. The
Garden of Eden is a sexual, mind altering, and awe striking book; giving a great demonstration
of the authors courage and explicit.

Nature

Nature, in the form of beautiful landscapes and wholesome surroundings’ Hemingway was a great believer in
the power of nature, both in terms of its beauty and its challenges, to improve one’s quality of life. He was a
lifelong outdoorsman, an avid hunter, fisherman, camper and boater, and he believed that overcoming natural
obstacles using only one’s intelligence and skills made one a better person. In addition, Hemingway’s
characters look to majestic landscapes and other manifestations of natural beauty for hope, inspiration, and
even guidance during difficult or challenging times.

Death

Also a near-constant presence in Hemingway’s stories is the theme of death, either in the form of
death itself, the knowledge of the inevitability of death, or the futility of fleeing death. Clearly
evocative of death are the stories in which Hemingway describes actual deaths: Hand-in-glove
with the theme of death is another Hemingway favorite: fatalistic heroism or heroic fatalism.
This attitude entails facing one’s certain death with dignity. In addition, Hemingway can be seen
to embrace nihilism, the belief that life is meaningless and that resistance to death is futile, in
some of his stories. In short, Hemingway, critics have speculated, feared death but was
fascinated by it; it crops up in one form or another in nearly every one of his stories.

Disillusionment

Disillusionment and the depression that results from it are recurrent themes in Hemingway’s
short stories. Hemingway himself suffered from feelings of disillusionment and dislocation
following his harrowing experiences during World War I. In this respect, he was a representative
of “The Lost Generation,” the generation that came of age during the Great War and arguably
lost faith in many of the values, ideas, and beliefs that gave life meaning before the war. Awash
in this abandonment of tradition, Hemingway and others drifted into existentialism, a philosophy
that posits life is meaningless until an individual gives his or her own life meaning, and nihilism,
a philosophy that posits life is meaningless and without objective value. Hemingway’s clearest
expressions of this bleak and depressing disillusionment are “A Clean, Well-Lighted Place” and
“The Capital of the World.” In the former story, a middle-aged Spanish waiter expresses the
belief that everything is “nada,” nothingness; death comes to everyone and resisting it is futile. In
the latter story, Hemingway paints a vivid portrait of a small residential hotel in Spain where
everyone is an aging, disillusioned has-been except for Paco, a young waiter who dreams of
becoming a bullfighter because he believes in the “romance” of such a calling. When Paco dies
accidentally, Hemingway clearly implies that he was better off than all the other inhabitants of
the hotel who lived the dream that Paco had, fell short of the ideal in one way or another, and
must live out the rest of their lives in bitter disappointment. Paco retained his ideals and his life
and death meant something to him.

Struggle

The two main symbols in, The Old Man and the Sea, are struggle and pride. Struggle is shown
between the large fish and Santiago while he is stuck out at sea. Santiago is an aged man who
seems to be very fragile by description. He is an old Cuban fisherman, sun damaged, innocent,
and stuck out in the Gulf Stream. He is loved by a young fisherman boy who assists him on his
fishing excursions quite often. Santiago struggles while trying to keep hold of the extremely
large marlin. His hands begin to bleed and his muscles tighten up, yet, the aged man never seems
to give up hope. Pride is well connected to hope. Santiago is a man of dignity and strength, in
which he bears his pride. He is proud of the man he has come to be, and the fish he has caught.
He prides himself in his little boat and the material things he is left with. Although he is not
wealthy and sleeps on newspaper, he believes himself to be a very happy and suitable man. I
believe Santiago to be a man who prides himself in his journeys struggle against the marlin. His
skills as a fisherman and his bad luck of not catching a fish for months proves him to be a man of
pride who never seems to give up. Santiago proves himself to be a man of pride, who motivates
others to find greatness is all things. The Old Man and the Sea is a cultural, breath taking, and
motivating book; giving a great demonstration of Hemingway’s passion and drive to create some
of the best masterpieces of literature in history.