Mourning and Melancholia in Hemingway’s For Whom the Bell Tolls

Ernest Hemmingway is a masculine writer of immense emotion. He writes off of his life experiences and his feelings towards different subjects. Ernest Hemingway’s themes are virile on the surface, but when analyzed, one will find them to be romantic and sentimental.

It is safe to assume that the author is no stranger to death. He has seen many people close to him grieve. He has noticed that everyone grieves differently. He understands the need for God’s grace in the midst of grief to get one through the stages of grief.

For her memory to fade from our lives like a dream; Our lips need not speak when our hearts mourn sincerely, For grief often dwells; Where it is seldom seen.

In Hemingway’s writing, he is always searching for truth, although, he often looks at the world in a nihilistic way. When reading through the authors’ short-stories or novels, he often refers to nothingness and the meaninglessness of existence. However, he also uses a practical application to repair his existential nihilistic viewpoints. Hemingway’s work is often seen as a representation of himself, and I believe that he used pragmatism as a distraction from the meaninglessness of the world. With suicide being prevalent in his family, I firmly believe that Hemingway himself strived for meaning in life, but eventually opted out because life is chaotic and there are too many unknown answers in the world. Hemingway tried to establish values and morals through pragmatism, but in reality, values are constantly changing and everything is temporary. By looking through a philosophical lens, I will demonstrate how Hemingway uses absurdism, nihilism, and pragmatism as a way to understand and interpret the world. In order to do so, I will look through Hemingway’s short-stories and novels and analyze passages critically to showcase the theories that are present in his work. In order to undertake this grand idea, I will also incorporate biographical elements to display Hemingway’s family history of suicide and to showcase his personal struggle to find meaning in the world.

This presents a disbelieving tone towards having to witness a loved one’s life come to an end. Finally, Thomas describes the heartache and pain, begging his

When evaluating the causes behind the atrocities experienced during World War II, many reasons for these events can be found in the conditions occurring beforehand. Beyond this, many of these causes can be applicable contributions to each World War. In terms of cause, World War II can be considered an inevitable continuation of the first World War. It erupted due to Hitler’s extreme desire for expansion and hostile foreign policy, war was immediately declared upon German militarization of Poland. However, the expectation for global warfare had been longstanding before Mussolini and Hitler came to power or Japan’s assault upon China. Whereas the tensions leading to World War I came about due to a rise in nationalism in response to

Ernest Hemingway pulled from his past present experiences to develop his own thoughts concerning death, relationships, and lies. He then mixed these ideas, along with a familiar setting, to create a masterpiece. One such masterpiece written early in Hemingway's career is the short story, "Indian Camp." "Indian Camp" was originally published in the collection of "in Our Time" in 1925. A brief summary reveals that the main character, a teenager by the name of Nick, travels across a lake to an Indian village. While at the village Nick observes his father, who is a doctor, deliver a baby to an Indian by caesarian section. As the story continues, Nick's father discovers that the newborn's father has committed

When thinking of the phrase “The Second World War”, often the first thing to pop into the average person’s mind are images of combat, death and endless rows upon rows of sharply uniformed soldiers passing by, their leaders shouting an impassioned speech behind them. However, behind every image is a history. Wars do not simply spring out of nothing. What is it that drives entire countries to invade, murder, and commit atrocities otherwise never seen? The answer is simpler than one would think. World War Two was more than a war between countries; it was a war between regimes and ideas. The causes behind World War Two are complex and heavily intertwined, however, in the end it was Fascism that acted as the main catalyst.

shall rest, a loved one with him whom I have loved, sinless in my crime; for I owe a longer allegiance to the dead than to the living: in that world I shall abide for ever. But if thou wilt, be guilty of dishonouring laws which the gods have established in honour.

Ernest Hemingway’s novel, A Farewell to Arms, focuses on a man named Frederick Henry, an American Lieutenant fighting alongside Italians during World War I. During his stay with the Italian army, Henry goes through love, pain, and death of his comrades. He conforms to the military tradition because that is his duty; however, towards the end of the novel, Henry decides to abandon this conformity, and chooses to live for Catherine, his lover, and himself. This striking change of action and philosophy arises from Henry’s disgust with violence and war. The change does not occur immediately; instead, Henry peels off his militaristic self layer by layer, and Hemingway shows this in a very biblical manner. These spiritual peelings are majorly highlighted

The period between World War I and World War II was a very turbulent time in America. Ernest Hemingway most represented this period with his unrestrained lifestyle. This lifestyle brought him many successes, but it eventually destroyed him in the end. His stories are read in classrooms across America, but his semi-autobiographical writings are horrible role models for the students who read them. Hemingway’s lifestyle greatly influenced his writings in many ways.

For Whom the Bell Tolls, by Ernest Hemingway, was published in 1940. It is a novel set in the Spanish Civil War, which ravaged the country in the late 1930’s. Tensions in Spain began to rise as early as 1931,when a group of left-wing Republicans overthrew the country’s monarchy in a bloodless coup. The new Republican government then proposed controversial religious reforms that angered right-wing Fascists, who had the support of the army and the Catholic Church. Hemingway traveled extensively in Spain, and grew very interested in Spanish culture. Specifically, he writes about bullfighting, not only in this novel, but also in his other works as well. While Hemingway’s novels carry a common theme, For Whom the Bell Tolls is no different. In

Hemingway died July 2, 1961, at his home, as the result of self-inflicted gunshot wounds. Ernest Hemingway had a different style of writing than the other authors in his

James Shirley’s poem, “The Glories of Our Blood and State,” uses the idea that since all people die, they are all equal, in the end. Since they are all equal in the end, then that must mean that all earthly titles and nobilities are made up and do not really exist. Shirley explores this idea as he says that, “ Sceptre and Crown must tumble down, and in the dust be equal made…” This statement shows that even kings are equal to their subjects as they die. Shirley’s poem gives a new perspective on death, relating to how it affects all of those alive and how much they value things.

“Hemingway’s greatness is in his short stories, which rival any other master of the form”(Bloom 1). The Old Man and the Sea is the most popular of his later works (1). The themes represented in this book are religion (Gurko 13-14), heroism (Brenner 31-32), and character symbolism (28). These themes combine to create a book that won Hemingway a Pulitzer Prize in 1953 and contributed to his Nobel Prize for literature in 1954 (3).