A Farewell to Arms

1567 Words4 Pages
bulb-icon

Recommended: Essay about the Ernest Hemingway biography

Ernest Hemingway is considered the main personification of the American writers of the ‘Lost Generation’, who lived and wrote his novels during World War I. He became a famous writer in a short time, and the most important author of his generation, and perhaps the 20th century.

To begin, I would like to mention his finest novel “A Farewell to Arms” that emerged from World War I, as well as his first important work “The Sun Also Rises”, and his most ambitious novel “For Whom the Bell Tolls”. The most outstanding of his works is the short novel, “The Old Man and the Sea”, that describes the journey of an old fisherman and his long and lonely struggle with a big fish in the sea, as well as his efforts for victory, which end up in defeat.

Ernest Hemingway was born on July 21, 1899, in Illinois, in a suburb of Chicago, where he also grew up. Hemingway would refer to it, as a town of ‘wide lawns and narrow minds.’ He was raised with the strict values of hard work, strong religion, and self-determination. He was taught that if one possessed these qualities, he would be successful in whatever field he chose in life.

His father taught him to hunt and fish along the shores and in the forests around Lake Michigan. Nature would be the key of Hemingway's life and work, and once he became successful he chose isolated places to live, which were also convenient locales for hunting and fishing. His mother taught him fine music.

When he was in high school, he would play football, go swimming, play water basketball and serve as the track team manager. The first articles that he wrote on the high school newspaper the Trapeze, were generally humorous. Hemingway graduated in 1917. While Hemingway was graduating from High School, World War I was ...

... middle of paper ...

... He would also recite or speak out loud the conversations he was creating, because the ear is a good censor. He would never write down anything on paper, until he’d have it so expressed that it would be clear to anyone.

However, it is impossible to describe this great man’s life in a few pages. Interpretations for his work are never-ending and come from different viewpoints, since every reader has one for his work. The world has nothing but a fortune.

WORK CITED

- Levin, Harry “Observations on the Style of Ernest Hemingway”, from "Contexts of Criticism" (Harvard University Press, 1957).

- Palin, Michael. “Hemingway's Travels”. Weidenfeld & Nicolson: London, 1999.

- University Press: New York and Oxford, 2000.

- http://www.lostgeneration.com/lastdays.htm

- http://www.theparisreview.org/interviews/4825/the-art-of-fiction-no-21-ernest-hemingway

Show More
Related

  • Coping with War: A Comparison Between Slaughterhouse Five and A Farewell to Arms

    1622 Words  | 4 Pages

    Trogdon, Robert W. Ernest Hemingway: A Literary Reference. New York: Carroll & Graf, 2002. Print.

    Read More

  • Biographical References in and Hemingway's Male Characters

    3948 Words  | 8 Pages

    Waldhorn, Arthur. Ernest Hemingway: A Collection of Criticism (Contemporary Studies in Literature). Chicago: Syracuse University Press, 1978.

    Read More

  • An Inspiration to Young Writers: Ernest Hemingway

    1994 Words  | 4 Pages

    Ernest Miller Hemingway was born on July 21st in 1899. Named after his grandfather, Hemingway was the second of six siblings in his family. He was born and raised in a town called Oak Park, which was known for being an upper/middle-class suburb only ten miles from Chicago. Hemingway would later refer to his place of birth as a “neighborhood of wide lawns and narrow minds.” This was likely due to the fact that Oak Park was mainly a conservative town that tried to separate from the liberal views of the big city. Hemingway was raised with very strict, conservative values, which taught him that the most important things in life were religion, hard work, physical fitness and self-determination. Hemingway’s father, Clarence Edmonds Hemingway, taught him to hunt and fish by the forests of Lake Michigan. Hunting quickly became one of Hemingway’s most loved passions; he often uses his knowledge of the sport to his advantage in his writing. Hunting is just one of the many inspirations that Ernest Hemingway uses to develop one of his short stories. A major influence on his pieces was World War I; he was enlisted in the World War I ambulance drivers. In 1918, he was seriously wounded after being struck by a mortar shell in Italy and returned home (Lost Generation). The effects of the war on Hemingway’s mind and body played a huge role in short stories that he wrote, but also on possibly his most famous novel of all time, A Farewell To Arms. In an interview with Matthew J. Bruccoli, Hemingway listed the following writers as influences on his own work: Ring Lardner, Sherwood Anderson, Ezra Pound, and Gertrude Stein (Conversations with E.H.).

    Read More

  • Essay On Ernest Hemingway

    1106 Words  | 3 Pages

    Ernest Hemingway was a great American author whom started his career humbly in a newspaper office in Kansas City at the ripe, young age of seventeen. Once the United States joined World War One, Hemingway deemed it fit to join a volunteer ambulance service. During this time Hemingway was wounded, and decorated by the Italian Government for his noble deeds. Once he completely recovered, he made his way back to the United States. Upon his arrival he became a reporter for the American and Canadian newspapers and was sent abroad to cover significant events. For example, he was sent to Europe to cover the Greek revolution. During his early adulthood, Hemingway became a member of the group of expatriate Americans in Paris. This is known as the time in his life in which he describes in two of his novels; A Farewell to Arms and The Sun Also Rises the latter of the two being his first work. Hemingway was able to use his experiences of serving in the front during the war and his experience of being with other expatriates after the war to shape both of these novels. He was able to successful write these novels due to his past experience with working for newspapers. His experience with the newspaper seemed to be far more beneficial than just supplying him with an income, with the reporting experience under his belt he also was able to construct another novel that allowed him to sufficiently describe his experiences reporting during the Civil War; For Whom the Bell Tolls. Arguably his most tremendous short novel was a about an old fisherman’s journey and the long, lonely struggle with a fish and the sea with his victory being in defeat.

    Read More

  • A Moveable Feast by Ernest Hemingway

    563 Words  | 2 Pages

    Ernest Hemingway was born on July 21, 1899, to Dr. Clarence and Grace Hemingway and the second oldest out of 6 children. Hemingway's childhood pursuits such as hunting and sports fostered the interests that would blossom into literary achievements. In 1918, during World War I, Hemingway served as a Red Cross volunteer in Italy, driving an ambulance and working at a canteen. "After working in Italy for six weeks, he was seriously wounded by a fragm...

    Read More

  • No Heros in The Red Badge of Courage and A Farewell to Arms

    1594 Words  | 4 Pages

    ... Bender, David. A. Readings by Ernest Hemingway. San Diego: Greenhaven Press, 1997. Bloom, Harold, ed., pp.

    Read More

  • A Comparison of Hemingway and Frederic in A Farewell to Arms

    1706 Words  | 4 Pages

    Ernest Hemingway was born on July 21, 1899, in Oak Park, Illinois. Hemingway worked as a reporter for the Kansas City Star after graduating from high school in 1917.  During World War I, he served as an ambulance driver in the Italian infantry and was wounded just before his 19th birthday.  Hospitalized, Hemingway fell in love with an older nurse.  Later, while working in Paris as a correspondent for the Toronto Star, he became involved with the expatriate literary and artistic circle surrounding Gertrude Stein.  During the Spanish Civil War, Hemingway served as a correspondent on the loyalist side. He fought in World War II and then settled in Cuba in 1945. In 1954, Hemingway was awarded the Nobel Prize for Literature.  After his expulsion from Cuba by the Castro regime, he moved to Idaho.  In his life, Hemingway married four times and wrote numerous essays, short stories and novels.  The effects of Hemingway's lifelong depressions, illnesses and accidents caught up with him. In July 1961, he committed suicide in Ketchum, Idaho.  What remains, are his works, the product of a talented author.

    Read More

  • The Lost Generation In The Great Gatsby And The Sun Also Rises

    1900 Words  | 4 Pages

    World War I had the highest casualty rate, the greatest cost, and the farthest reaching consequences of any preceding war in history. One of these consequences was the desolation of traditional values in the soldiers that survived the war. This loss created what was known as the “Lost Generation,” the generation that came of age during the war and due to the traumatizing experiences they faced they were left confused and aimless. From this generation emerged many notable writers who portrayed varying viewpoints and aspects of the Lost Generation. The preeminent writers of this time were F. Scott Fitzgerald and Ernest Hemingway. Two of their most widely known novels, The Great Gatsby and The Sun Also Rises respectively; reflect the author’s experience in WWI, and despite their seemingly contradicting depiction of early 1920’s life, both are stories that illustrate the Lost Generation.

    Read More

  • Farewell to Arms

    2417 Words  | 5 Pages

    Butcher, Fanny. “Here is Genius, Critic Declares of Hemingway.” In Chicago Daily Tribune, September 28, 1929 (p. 11) Fetterley, Judith. A. The Resisting Reader:

    Read More

  • An Analysis of The Snows of Kilimanjaro by Ernest Hemingway

    1684 Words  | 4 Pages

    During his life, Ernest Hemingway has used his talent as a writer in many novels, nonfiction, and short stories, and today he is recognized to be maybe "the best-known American writer of the twentieth century" (Stories for Students 243). In his short stories Hemingway reveals "his deepest and most enduring themes-death, writing, machismo, bravery, and the alienation of men in the modern world" (Stories for Students 244).

    Read More

  • The Lost Generation Exposed in The Sun Also Rises by Ernest Hemingway

    2080 Words  | 5 Pages

    In the early portion of the 1920’s, Gertrude Stein told Ernest Hemingway, “All of you young people who served in the War, you are the lost generation.” (Shi 987) After World War I, those who served returned to a world that had lost morals, ways of life and a traditional status quo. Consequently, young soldiers were forced to reconcile with a world that seemingly lacked meaning. To compensate, the generation turned to alcohol, sex and tainted love affairs. (Shi 988) From 1920-1926, a series of novels, including Hemingway’s The Sun Also Rises formed a modern form of literature (Reynolds 6); furthermore, these novels were based on the “Lost Generation,” and the issues that perpetually following the Great War. Ernest Hemingway himself was a member of this generation, an...

    Read More

  • The Lost Generation

    837 Words  | 2 Pages

    The lost generation was a group of writers who gained much popularity and grew in their literary expansion post WWI from 1918 through 1930. (Lost Generation) Prior to enlisting in the war, Americans were promised an upbringing of patriotism and honor for serving one’s country. They found returning home that the honor in which they believed to be fighting for was nothing more than witnessing innocent men killed. Upon returning back from WWI the image of patriotism and honor faded when the realism of the after effects of the war and the consequence became apparent in our young men. World War I destroyed the virtuous envision young American men had towards their country when they returned home after witnessing friends dying in battle and many returning home in a state that left them both physically and emotionally impaired. (The Lost Generation: American Writers of the 1920's)

    Read More

  • Ernest Hemingway: A Brief Biography

    1222 Words  | 3 Pages

    Ernest Hemingway was born in Oak Park, Illinois in 1899. He was a writer who started his career with a newspaper office in Kansas City when he was seventeen. When the United States got involved in the First World War, Hemingway joined with a volunteer ambulance unit in the Italian army. During his service, he was wounded, and was decorated by the Italian Government. Upon his return to the United States, he was employed by Canadian and American newspapers as a reporter, and sent back to Europe to cover the Greek Revolution. In the 1920’s, Hemingway was a member of expatriate Americans in Paris. In one writing of Hemingway, it reads, “In the nearly sixty two years of his life that followed he forged a literary reputation unsurpassed in the twentieth century” (LostGeneration). During this time, he wrote some of his most important and successful works of literature. Ernest Hemingway is one of the most influential writers of his time. One biography of him said, “His novels and short fictions have left an indelible mark on the literary production of the United States and the world” (TheEuropeanGraduateSchool).

    Read More

  • A Farewell To Arms Research Paper

    694 Words  | 2 Pages

    His war experience, the people in his life, his education level and even the time period during which he lived put their spin on what was considered politically correct and what was immoral and unethical. A major influence on his characters was the real people in his life. As written by the Bio.com staff, “In 1918, Hemingway went overseas to serve in World War I as an ambulance driver in the Italian Army.” (bio.com).

    Read More

  • Themes of Love and War in A Farewell to Arms

    2035 Words  | 5 Pages

    Theme is a literary element used in literature and has inspired many poets, playwrights, and authors. The themes of love and war are featured in literature, and inspire authors to write wartime romances that highlight these two themes. Ernest Hemingway’s A Farewell to Arms deals with the collective themes in the human experience such as love and the reality of war. A Farewell to Arms is narrated from the perspective of Fredric Henry, an ambulance driver in the Italian army, and pertains to his experiences in the war. The novel also highlights the passionate relationship between Henry and Catherine Barkley, a British nurse in Italy. Henry’s insight into the war and his intense love for Catherine emphasize that love and war are the predominant themes in the novel and these themes contribute to bringing out the implicit and explicit meaning of the novel. Being a part of the Italian army, Henry is closely involved with the war and has developed an aversion to the war. Henry’s association with the war has also made him realise that war is inglorious and the sacrifices made in war are meaningless. Specifically, Henry wants the war to end because he is disillusioned by the war and knows that war is not as glorious as it is made up to be. The state of affairs and the grim reality of the war lead Henry towards an ardent desire for a peaceful life, and as a result Henry repudiates his fellow soldiers at the warfront. Henry’s desertion of the war is also related to his passionate love for Catherine. Henry’s love for Catherine is progressive and ironic. This love develops gradually in “stages”: Henry’s attempt at pretending love for Catherine towards the beginning of the novel, his gradually developing love for her, and finally, Henry’s impas...

    Read More

More about A Farewell to Arms

Open Document