Ernest Hemingway- The Silver Tongued Devil

Ernest Hemingway was an American novelist of the early 20th century, I believe that his first publicized novel was written in 1925 (if not that exact year, somewhere close to it), I am also almost positive that his final novel was released in 1999 (although he died in 1961). I'll start by saying (and I regret to say) that I have not read a ton of Hemingway, simply because his books do take some time to get through. I have read The Old Man and the Sea as well as some of his poetry and short stories. There are obviously more that I wish to read (For Whom the Bell Tolls in particular) but I will shape the following opinions on what I do know about the man, and from what I have read by him. I may not have read much by him, but I have studied the man quite a bit and find him to be endlessly interesting. However, I will only give a breif introduction to his life in order to support my later comments: over the past year I have heard many attacks in Hemingway's direction, I simply wish to relieve some of the battering placed upon him. (I apologize if any of the dates I give, or some of the information is not exact, I am writing off of memory from a short biography of his life that I recently read).

Hemingway was, to say the very least, a man's man. Using The Old Man and the Sea as an example (which is conveniently probably his most well known novel), his novels revolved around the pure aggression and intincts that lie within a man. He referred to these steriotypical men he created as "grace under pressure" which is interesting. His writing style may convey a sense of grace, but the men in question do not act as such. Rippling muscles draw blood in times of pressure, this does not convey grace in my eyes. However, I do not criticize how he may see his creations because I do believe they are beautiful and maybe it is simply the world that I live in that has lead me to believe his characters are more barbarian than graceful. He is often attacked for having such pessimistic writings with such pessimistic, almost crude characters. This is because people do not understand where he comes from (I do not claim to either). He grew up in a different time than the one we live in, we do not understand the same pain he experienced. His father committed suicide when he was only 29 years old by shooting himself. Hemingway was a catholic man and believed very clearly that, although he loved his father, his father would be going to Hell for having committed suicide. Christian teachings refer to suicide as a sin; God gave you a body and you are to respect it, not doing so is against God's will. In addition to that, Hemingway was a member of the Red Cross corps in World War I (he wanted to fight, but had some sort of health problem that did not allow him to do so, I cannot remember exactly what at the moment). It is said that he loved being close to the front lines of battle. His first day in the war, an ammunitions factory was blown up and he was part of the group asked to tend to the injured. He wrote about this and having to sort through the dead, and severed limbs in his novel A Natural History of the Dead, on which I have seen a documentary, but have not been fortunate enough to read. Later in his life, Ernest Hemingway participated in the Navy during World War II.
I am sure that there are more situations in his life that contributed to his brutal characters, but the previously mentioned are those that I am aware of, and I am sure that they are enough to cause pessimism and brutality in any man.

Not only is he criticized for his negative connotations of the human conditions (some of which I share), he is also seen as a death to beauty in writing. He wrote at the same time that some great English writers wrote, as an American writer, his writing did not hold the same beauty and flow as the European novels. His writing is done in more of a short, choppy fashion that conveyed his point without hesitation and without beating around the bush. He is accused of being somewhat responsible for the literature that exists today: the novel's story may be great, but the writing is terrible compared to the beauty of the 20th century.

The one thing I will openly criticize in relation to Hemingway's life is ironically his death. He committed suicide on his 62nd birthday. It is believed that much of his family suffered from a hereditary disease, which caused many problems including manic depression (much of his family committed suicide, including his father, two siblings and a grand-daughter). We know now that Hemingway was also bi-polar. Two reasons are given for his death:
1. He had received electro-shock therapy as treatment for bi-polar disease. He blamed the treatment for his rapid memory loss and slow course to senility. He did not want to live long enough to become fully senile.
2. In effect of the first reason, he believed that he was no longer a man. He could no longer protect the ones he loved or himself, age had taken away his physical and mental strength and he did not want to be known as anything less than a completely ideal man. He therefore took his own life, being in control for one last time.

Both theories are possible as they connect to each other, I strongly believe the second point was mainly responsible for his death. The only reason I criticise this death is due to the fact that he was so afraid of being seen as a coward or as anything less than a man, that he reverted to suicide. This causes a direct paradox to his reason for death.

I believe that all writers work their personal opinions and views into all of their writing. For this reason, I've always found that the ending to The Old Man and the Sea to be very interesting. (SPOILER)

He succeeds in capturing this great beast of a swordfish and although he has captured nature he loses it to another source of nature. A skeleton lies on the beach from the capture that should have existed and yet Santiago decides to sleep and revert back to his normal life. He completely disregards the loss of his success. Yet Hemmingway commits suicide before failure even comes.