The Life and Work of Ernest Hemmingway

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The Life and Work of Ernest Hemmingway Author: Hemmingway, Ernest Works to be analyzed: “Hills Like White Elephants”, “The Sun Also Rises” Ernest Miller Hemmingway was born on July 21, 1899 in what is now called Oak Park, Illinois. According to an article written by John Walsh in The Independent News Paper, Hemmingway’s parents were physically and mentally abusive to him stating that his father, “Clarence Hemingway was a barrel-chested, six-foot bully, a disciplinarian who beat his son with a razor strop” and his mother was controlling and mentally abusive by often dressing him like a girl, “She referred to him, in his cute lacy dress, as "Dutch dolly". (Walsh2011) He also states that “she also praised him for being good at hunting in the woods and fishing in the stream in boys' clothes. It was too confusing for a sensitive kid”. (walsh2011) Walsh believes that this treatment of young Ernest was the cause for a chronic identity crisis. “Henceforth he could be warm and generous or ruthless and overbearing. His friendships were often unstable (he could turn vicious or cruel, even with supposedly close pals) and his relations with women were full of conflict”. (Walsh.2011) So he spent most of his life thrill seeking so as to seem more masculine, and having problems with all relationships throughout the rest of his life. This also shows in his stories, with the characters’ relationships with women always tumultuous, somewhat like his own relationships. In 1918, during World War I, Hemmingway served in the Italian Army as an ambulance driver where he was injured and wound up in a hospital in Milan. There he fell in love with a nurse and became engaged, but then she left him for another man. This devastated him but laid the gr... ... middle of paper ... ...m>. Hemmingway, Ernest Miller. ""Hills Like White Elephants"." mays, Kelly J. The Norton Introduction to Literature-Shorter Eleventh Edition. New York: W.W.Norton & Company, Inc., 2012. 590-594. Print. Shmoop editorial team. "The Sun Also Rises Summary." shmoop.com.shmoop university,inc. 11 november 2008. Web. 9 May 2014. . Shmoop editorial team. "Hills Like White Elephants Analysis."shmoop.com.shmoop University,inc.. 11 November 2008. Web. 9 May 2014. . A&E Networks Television. "Ernest Miller Hemmingway" ." n.d. biography.com . n.d..Web. 9 May 2014. . Walsh, john. "Being Ernest: John Walsh unravels the mystery behind Hemingway's suicide." The Independent 11 june 2011.Web. 9 May 2014.

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