About Josh Silverstein Expertise I will answer questions relating to Ernest Hemingway's life or literature. I can also help with quotation source requests. No homework questions please.
Experience Mr. Silverstein holds a B.A. in English Literature and has been studying the life and works of Ernest Hemingway for the past ten years. His major work on Hemingway is titled, "The Importance of Being Ernest: Hemingway's Truth in Fiction and his Fiction in Truth." He is also author of "Hemingway: Alive and Well Online," an article exploring Hemingway's presence and position in the online community. He is the founder of "Timeless Hemingway," an award winning web site devoted to Ernest Hemingway.
Question Was there a theme that Hemingway used over and over again in his works? Was there a common setting he used (ie Like faulkner's continuous use of the south)?
Thank you
Answer Hello,
One common Hemingwayesque theme is what one loves must eventually be destroyed.
A good example of this can be seen in "The Old Man and the Sea."
Santiago loves this fish, respects its beauty, its size, its power, but still must demonstrate his own power, mainly for the sake of his pride. When he catches the fish, ties it to the skiff, and hauls it back to shore, frenzied sharks begin to feed on the now defenseless carcass. Santiago acts in the great marlin's defense, protecting its beauty, its dignity, as well as his own triumph over the mammoth beast. He needs to be the sole destroyer of this fish. Yet the marlin is still decimated by the relentless sharks, and Santiago feels he must blame himself for the fish's demise.
Regarding setting, Hemingway seems to like naturalistic settings: many of his short stories take place in the Michigan woods, "The Old Man and the Sea" takes place mostly on the sea, and "For Whom the Bell Tolls" is set in the woods and mountains surrounding the Spanish city of Segovia.
