Sample Literature Paper on ytyuy7Hemingway’s Short Stories.
The short stories of Ernest Hemingway describe the posthumous collection of publications made by Heming in the 19th century (Hillman, 20). The collection comprises the first forty-nine stories and other works by his sons. There are five stories among the forty-nine describing the Spanish civil war, and the remaining part writes on the general life and human experiences. Among relevant topics that Heming writes about include: time factor, men without women, competition and winning. He argues widely on social economic and political life of the diversified American society which comprises mainly whites, Indians and Africans.
In the story “Father and Sons,” Nick Adams who is 38 is driving in a small town admiring the beauty of the scenery beside the road. The main economic activities in the country he lives is farming and timber extracting. As he drives, Nick tries to identify where he can easily find fresh coveys of quail. He thinks so much about his dead father who taught him how to hunt quails. His father by the name Adam was an experienced hunter and a professional doctor with special skills that was evident through the extremely keen eyesight that could detect a quail mile away. Nick compares his father’s keenness to that of a hawk. Most often his father would see objects that Nick could not see in the opposite shore as they strode across the lake. Although Nick has a perfect admiration of his father, he still has a negative attitude towards him. He is seen in many instances describing his father as a cruel, over ambitious, sentimental, arrogant, drunkard and nervous man who would not listen to any advice regarding his area of knowledge. His father died in a trap where those who knew he betrayed him. It is then realized that he had set the trap to aid his suicide mission (Hemingway 33-35).
Nick is seen judging his father despite the blood relationship. The reason as to why people judge their parent’s actions is when the behavior is inconsistent with the public judgment and way of conduct. Although Nick’s father is admired by many given the wisdom and knowledge he possesses on ground hunting, he fails to appreciate other people’s opinion. He is a both a racist and a sexist. The public opinion constitutes both the family members and other members of the society. When the public is not impressed by behavior and attitudes of a person, it is more likely that the family members would behave like the public. According to Smith (29-31), the theory of community rationality argues that a good attitude is appreciated by all while a poor attitude is rejected by many. The character of arrogance and cruelty could not impress both his son Nick and the members of the public. Psychology argues that children should be treated as individuals and independent observers, the main reason why many of them judge the behavior of their parents is when it violates the public opinion.
Nick avoids writing his father’s story so that he can continue remembering him. Whatever he writes he seems to forget about it altogether. Nick’s mother is always upset by Mr. Adams behavior, and out of it, she becomes more arrogant to her husband, something that makes Adams turn to the worst through alcohol drunkenness. Nick’s father is bullied by the mother regularly as they seem to disagree on many issues. The quarreling makes Nick feel shameful about his parents’ behavior. Nick’s mom appears to have acquired the attribute of being quarrelsome as a defense mechanism towards his husband who has a poor opinion of women and people of the opposite sex. The relationship between Nick’s father and mother is that both are arrogant and easily tempered at a slight provocation (Cliff and Earnest 20-22). The author Hemingway can see the same behavior from his father whom despite being aggressive in life he leaves back bad memories. The behavior of a husband can easily be learned from the wife. Adam’s wife has to behave in a way that is rebellious to avoid getting depressed.
In the story of “Indian Camp” Mr. Adam, a medical doctor is summoned to assist an American Indian woman who is in painful labor. The doctor takes his son, and his brother George accompanies him to the American Indian camp where he performs cesarean using a knife and no anesthesia to reduce pain. Upon completion, he realizes the woman’s husband had died while gazing at the painful process. The Indian man is frustrated in seeing his wife endure a lot of pain for a pregnancy that does not belong to him but Mr. George, the doctor’s brother. This story falls under the initiation category where Nick Adams has to endure a critical painful experience as his father undertakes the surgical process. The story deals with human suffering resulting from lack of due care in medical professional practice. It also shows segregation by sex and race. Nick is not interested in seeing the painful surgical process as it doesn’t please him. From the stories, Nick’s father just like the Indian husband dies of suicide (Benson and Jackson 65). The reason why both characters committed suicide is as a result of life frustrations. The Indian man cannot easily withstand the pain his wife undergoes when giving birth. Mr. Adam is so much disturbed with life issues and depression that makes him alcoholic and arrogant. He is not also pleased with the wrong opinion the public has towards him.
The Indians are being portrayed as being compassionate and full of love for their families. The husband decided to kill himself using a razor to avoid seeing his wife endure pain when giving birth. He also avoided seeing the child suffering during the process. They offer a high social value towards women and children compared to other races. Mr. Adams fails to use anesthesia despite knowing the painful consequences. He seems to care less when other people are undergoing pain. He is selfish and individualist not ready to care for the public opinion. The story does not present the Indians as equally important as the whites. Given the high level of racism, the whites are seen as superior while the Indians are inferior to a backward culture (Hillman 60). Doctor Adams undertakes a painful surgical process without minding the outcome. The Indians are more conservative in culture and are so much concerned with each other more than the whites who are an individualist with less concern for each other. The author presents the Indians accurately and truthfully as we can see the full character of individuals and that of the community from how the doctor interacts with the pregnant woman.
Nick Views Trudy Gilby, his first girlfriend as loving and full of romance. She acknowledges that she was the first person who taught him about sex something his father avoided in many occasions. Trudy loved other members of his family, and in most instances, she could accompany his brother Billy wherever she goes. Nick’s father is unsound on sex matters while interacting with his son. This is evident when Nick shoots a squirrel, and when it bit him, he calls it “dirty little bugger” these words do not please his father who sees the word bugger as a person who engages in bestiality behavior a heinous offense (Cliff and Earnest 38-45). His father is against sexual behavior of masturbation and prostitution which he considers undesirable. He recommends to his son to keep his hands off such social vices.
Works Cited
Smith, Paul. New Essays on Hemingway’s Short Fiction. Cambridge, United Kingdom; New York: Cambridge University Press, 2009.
Hillman, Hans-Joachim. The Short Stories. New York: Scribner Classics, 2016.
Hemingway, Ernest. The Short Stories. New York: Scribner, 2013.
Cliffs, Ernest Hemingway. Hemingway’s Short Stories, 2012.
Benson, Jackson J. The Short Stories of Ernest Hemingway: Critical Essays. Durham, N.C: Duke University Press, 2014.