The Enduring Hero in the Works of Ernest Hemingway Essay examples

Ernest Hemingway is among the most unmatched of American authors. In his works, he is often said to focus on gender roles, especially those of men. Hemingway often created characters that showed the characteristics that he believed made a boy into a man. However, these characteristics are not gender-specific, and could very well apply to women as well. This collection of characteristics became the Hemingway Code Hero. The Hemingway Code Hero, more commonly referred to as the Code Hero, was an embodiment of male prowess. Most of Hemingway’s characters failed to live up to this almost impossible standard, however, all of his characters are capable of

Per Ernest Hemingway, a Code Hero “lives correctly, following the ideals of honor, courage and endurance in a world that is sometimes chaotic, often stressful, and always painful.” Hemingway’s Code Heroes endure the toughest of conditions stoically and courageously. However, not all agree that a hero, such as Hemingway’s Santiago, must approach scenarios in an emotionless manner. An example is shown in that of F. Scott Fitzgerald’s Jay Gatsby, who displays strong emotion in his struggles yet still shows the life of pain, lack of morality, and relentless pursuit of goals that are common to Code Heroes. Therefore, we can observe that Hemingway and Fitzgerald Code Heroes share characteristics such as pain and immorality although do not share emotionlessness found in Hemingway Code Heroes. However, the question remains: How and why are Hemingway and Fitzgerald Code Heroes similar or dissimilar?

He was finally able to participate in World War I as a voluntary ambulance driver for the Red Cross, after repeatedly being rejected because of his damaged eye, caused by his boxing. On July 8, 1918 the nineteen year old was severely injured on the Austro-Italian front and hospitalized in Milan and had an affair with a Red Cross nurse named Agnes Von Kurowsky, who turned down his proposal to marriage. War punctuated Ernest Hemingway’s life and career (Ernest Hemingway 1024). The relationship is said to have formed the basis for one of

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.

       In his novels Ernest Hemingway suggests a code of behavior for his characters to follow: one that demands courage in difficult situations, strength in the face of adversity, and grace under pressure.  Termed the "code hero," this character is driven by the principal ideals of honor, courage, and endurance in a life of stress, misfortune, and pain.  Despite the hero's fight against life in this violent and disorderly world, he is rarely the victor.  The code that the hero follows demands that he act honorably in this uphill battle and find fulfillment by becoming a man and proving his worth.  Hemingway himself lived his life trying to show how strong and unlimited

   The imagery of bulls and steers pervades Hemmingway's novel, The Sun Also Rises. Bullfighting is a major plot concern and is very important to the characters. The narrator physically resembles a steer due to the nature of his injury. Mike identifies Cohn as a steer in conversation because of his inability to control Brett sexually. Brett falls for a bullfighter, who is a symbol of virility and passion. However, there is a deeper level to the bull-steer dichotomy than their respective sexual traits. The imagery associated with bulls and steers is more illustrative than their possession or lack of testicles. In their roles and in the images associated with them, bulls are glorious,

The characters in Hemingway’s stories reveal much about how he feels about men and the role they should play in society. Most of Hemingway’s male characters can be split into one of two groups. The first of which is the “Code” Hero. This is the tough, macho guy who chooses to live his life by following a “code of

Examples of the “code” hero in Hemingway’s work include Manuel the bullfighter, in “The Undefeated” he fights with a noble dignity even when he is jeered by the crowd and gored by the bull, along with Wilson, the big game hunter from “The Short Happy Life of Francis Macomber” who shows no fear when confronted with a charging lion. But perhaps the greatest figure of masculinity found in Hemingway’s work is Santiago from The Old Man and the Sea. He keeps his composure and maintains dignity after the fish that he has been fighting is lost to the sharks.

Most importantly, Hemingway’s “heroes are not defeated except upon their own terms” (Warren, 55); what matters to them “is the stoic endurance, … the stiff upper lip” (Warren, 55) which represents victory in their own ways. Hemingway then masterfully shows how these principles affect the character’s lives in a positive light. Santiago, the protagonist of The Old Man and The Sea, shows how the code hero principles help him gain peace despite his failure to catch the large fish. The struggle may also be arduous and testing, as shown in The Nick Adams Stories. We the audience see Nick Adams, the protagonist and code hero, evolve from a naïve child in the beginning of the story, all the way to a fully realized code hero at the end. Hemingway maps Adam’s journey as one with both blessings and hardships; however, in the end, these learned principles give Adams peace and understanding with his life. These heroes all face different forms of defeat or death; however in the end, they “all manage to salvage something” (Warren, 35) out of these excruciating circumstances. Ernest Hemingway utilizes Santiago from The Old Man and the Sea as a fully developed code hero and Nick Adams

In Ernest Hemingway’s novel, The Old Man and the Sea, Santiago demonstrates the traits of the code hero. The Hemingway’s code hero covers the principal ideals of honor, courage, and endurance in a misfortune life. Throughout the novel, Santiago shows a contrast between opposite attitudes and values which associate his behavior with the guidelines of the code. In this case, the depiction of conflicting values, such as dignity despite humility, perseverance despite despair, and victory despite defeat are aspects that help to describe and understand the role of Santiago in the novel, and reflect the reason why this character is perfectly suited to the heroic conduct established by Hemingway.

Star. Hemingway signed up as a volunteer ambulance driver for the Red Cross during WWI. He was accepted in December of 1917, left his job at the paper in April of 1918, and sailed for Europe in May. When Hemingway returned home from Italy in January of 1919 he found Oak Park dull compared to the adventures of war. With a letter of introduction from Sherwood Anderson, Hemingway met some of Paris' prominent writers and artists and forged quick friendships with them during his first few years. Counted among those friends were Ezra Pound, Gertrude Stein, Sylvia Beach, James Joyce, Max Eastman, Lincoln Steffens and Wyndahm Lewis, and he was acquainted with the painters Miro and Picasso. Hemingway was inspired to write different works at different times because of the events that occured in his life.

Many of the passages of the novel reflect his life. Hemingway writes: “But man is not made for defeat," he said. "A man can be destroyed but not defeated.” This has been shown through his life, as Hemingway wrote the novella to prove he wasn’t finished as a writer. This is also reflected during his time in World War 1. Hemingway was wounded by Austrian Mortar fire, and yet despite his injuries or “defeat,” Hemingway carried a wounded italian soldier to safety. Hemingway wrote: "When you go to war as a boy you have a great illusion

“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).

Ernest Hemingway the winner of the Nobel Peace prize lived a troubled life over his Sixty-two years of life and experienced many struggles. He went through a few marriages, different faiths and in the end, he lost his battle with depression. However, though all of this he made an impact on the world with the style and theme of American literature he wrote and is a significant influence to many authors and readers alike. During his life, there were many things that were an influence and help shape his writing into what it is today. Hemingway heavily focused on the theme of war during his career and was a topic of several of his novels one of those novels being “For whom the bell tolls” (Hemingway) The recognizable effects of Hemingway’s influence on literature is still witnessed around the world in the many tributes to him to this day.

The 1936 short story “Snows of Kilimanjaro” is one of the most famous fictional works of Ernest Hemingway and the title short story for his 1961 collection The Snows of Kilimanjaro and Other Stories. He depicts many themes throughout his story including love and war. Love is reflected as an anathema to a fruitful romantic relationship with relationships based on lies flourishing as the ones based on love collapse. Further, war is shown as a vain slaughter of men, led by incompetence and causing great suffering for nothing (Hemingway). A contemporary reader can however not fail to notice that although inadvertently, racism is well entrenched in the work. Further, the author carefully paints the picture of the main character Harry, an