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Ernest Hemingway: The affect of World War I on his life style Table of Contents Thesis... pg. i Introduction. pg. 1 Body pg. 2 Conclusion... pg. 7 Endnotes. pg. 8 Works Cited pg. 10 Thesis Statement: Ernest Hemingway's experience in World War I affected his actions, writings, and emotions throughout his life.
Introduction While handing out chocolate bars on the West Bank of the Piave River, Ernest Hemingway was severely wounded by a mortar shell. Even with both his legs penetrated with fragments of ammunition, he carried an Italian soldier to safety. For his courage he was awarded the Croce de Guerra and the Medaglia d Argento al Valor Military. During Ernest's stay in a Red Cross hospital he fell in love with a nurse. Agnes Von Kurowsky was seven and a half years older than Ernest, who was almost eighteen. At first Agnes refused his advances, stating that it was against regulations to become involved with a patient.
However, after a time, she allowed herself to return the love that was being offered to her. Before Ernest was shipped back to the states they agreed to be married after the war. Only three months later, Agnes wrote Ernest a letter saying that she was going to marry an Italian Lieutenant named Duca Dominica Caraceiolo instead. Back in America, Ernest was crushed and he fell into depression. Ernest was so heartbroken that he would write letters to nurses and patients from back in Italy about the terrible things he hoped would happen to Agnes. Thus began his career as a writer of emotion, truth and everything in-between.
The people of Oak Park, Illinois probably never guessed that the boy down the block would become one of the most influential writers of his time. When Ernest Hemingway ran away at the age of fifteen to pursue a journalism career at the Kansas City Star, his parents thought of him as a foolish, young boy. Ernest realized the difficulty of keeping a job at such a young age and returned home, only to stay for a short while. 1 In May of 1918 Ernest left America to join the Red Cross in Italy at the height of World War I. When Ernest arrived in Italy he was assigned the duty of searching for survivors and retrieving the victims body parts. During this job he would notice the expressions on the faces of the deceased and he would write stories about them, as well as write articles for the local war paper. Ernest grew restless with this job and requested a change of assignment.
He was granted that change and was posted to American Red Cross Station Four in School, Italy. He was an ambulance driver with the rigorous shift of twenty-four hours on duty, 2 twenty-four hours off duty. In late June he offered to man a canteen close to the front at Fossalta on the Piave River. 2 One night while handing out candy bars and cigarettes in the trenches he was wounded by a mortar shell. Even though the shell had hit both his legs, he was able to carry another man to safety.
Showing his high moral character he repeatedly refused medical attention before other soldiers. After Ernest had been stabilized he was moved to a makeshift hospital in a nearby village. During his recovery he met a nurse named Agnes Von Kurowsky. Ernest was quite taken with her and tried to repeatedly court her to no avail. It was well into his recovery that he was awarded the Silver Medal of Military Valor. It was also about that time that Agnes began to pay more attention to Ernest.
They started to take walks around the village together, as soon as Ernest could move on crutches. 3 That October, Agnes was moved to Florence and Ernest fell into depression. He would write her letters, sometimes two or three a day, telling her how he felt about her. 4 Just before he was shipped home on the S. S. Giuseppe Verdi in January of 1919, they agreed to be married after the war was over. 5 That April, Agnes wrote Ernest a letter breaking off their engagement by telling him that she had fallen in love with someone else.
Once again Ernest fell into depression. He started writing angry letters to his friends from Italy who knew Agnes. He wrote about the terrible things that he hoped would befall her. 6 Some time later Ernest learned that Agnes engagement had been broken off, but his wounded pride prevented him from forgiving her. 7 After his mother had a nervous breakdown, Ernest moved out of his parents house, and began writing short stories 8 at Walloon Lake in Michigan 9. His first book published was titled Our Time.
The first story in the book, Indian Camp, establishes the life-style of the hero Nick Adams. Nick is an energetic young man, much like young Ernest Hemingway. The story is about Nicks father delivering a baby by c-section without any anesthesia for the mother. The baby is delivered safely but the mothers screaming, which lasted for days, tormented the father to the point of suicide.
The babys father nearly decapitated himself with a razor and in 1961, about fifty years later, Ernest Hemingway similarly used his favorite shotgun to shoot most of his head off. That is only one of the similarities between Hemingway's books and his life. In relation to Our Time both Nick and Ernest were wounded in World War I and had fathers who were doctors. Most of Nick Adams stories represent Hemingway's boyhood. 10 On a trip to Paris Ernest decided that he wanted to be a writer instead of a journalist. 11 In his writings Ernest Hemingway expressed loss of faith, denial of standards 12, bitterness and frustration, perhaps, caused by his relationship with Agnes Von Kurowsky.
Agnes rejection of Ernest left him emotionally closed off. His only way to express how he felt was through his writing. This inability to express himself may have contributed to the reasons for his four failed marriages. Perhaps his failed relationship with Agnes caused him to feel unsafe around women anymore, thus making a marriage impossible. The relationships, which he creates in his books, are often glorified physical attraction 13. Agnes actions and lack of emotional commitment most likely defined his sense of values and insecurities.
Ernest Hemingway also had a preoccupation with violence and death. While in Italy during the war, Ernest was exposed to the most ruthless kind of death and violence. He had first hand contact with both at a munitions factory bombing in Milan and on the Piave River 14. The wound Ernest Hemingway received in Italy played roles in quite a few of his books. The wound symbolized both Ernest's physical and psychological wounds 15. Hemingway wasnt able to run, carry any amount of weight or even walk as he used to for a long time after the war.
He also fell into depression numerous times 16. The men in Ernest Hemingway's books will die a thousand times before their deaths and will learn to live with some of their troubles and how to overcome others, yet they will never completely recover from their wounds. 17 In his writing Hemingway created a world in which things break, decompose or are eaten away but is saved from total misery by visions of endurance and courage 18. Once again Hemingway's books mirror his life. Ernest's depressions are counteracted by his trips around the world. Hemingway writes from a tiny viewpoint, as if he is standing at the top of a skyscraper looking down at the city hoping to find one single person in the crowd. All the while he is being chased by anger and violence.
The world he creates is a world at war both literally and figuratively. 19 In truth there is a conflict but the violence and hostility is made up in his mind. In World War I Hemingway saw death and violence first hand and it stayed with him throughout his life, plaguing him. The only way to release that horror was through writing. Conclusion Ernest Hemingway's emotion and character is a wonder. It seems in his writing that World War I left no positive effect on him.
Admittedly, Hemingway saw many people killed and he lost the love of his life. He also made friends, got to travel, and was given a chance to write stories that more then just Kansas City residents would read. It is unfortunate that one thing in someones life could have such a lasting negative effect on him. With Ernest Hemingway, however, one cannot be sure of whether or not that is a good or bad thing. If he had just gotten over Agnes and tried to put the war into the back of his mind, the world never would have had his great books to teach and inspire readers on how to live. He also could have had a more positive outlook on life and maybe enjoyed more of it.
Endnotes 1 Untermeyer, Louis, Makers of the Modern World. (New York: Simon and Schuster, 1955) 165. 2 Ferrell, Keith, Ernest Hemingway: The Search for Courage. (New York: M. Evans and Company, 1984) 45. 3 Lynn, Kenneth S. , Hemingway. (New York: Simon and Schuster, 1987) 96. 4 Ferrell, Keith, Ernest Hemingway: The Search for Courage. (New York: M. Evans and Company, 1984) 38. 5 Lynn, Kenneth S. , Hemingway. (New York: Simon and Schuster, 1987) 112. 6 Lynn, Kenneth S. , Hemingway. (New York: Simon and Schuster, 1987) 123. 7 Lynn, Kenneth S. , Hemingway. (New York: Simon and Schuster, 1987) 118. 8 Lynn, Kenneth S. , Hemingway. (New York: Simon and Schuster, 1987) 116. 9 Ferrell, Keith, Ernest Hemingway: The Search for Courage. (New York: M. Evans and Company, 1984) 23. 10 Ernest Hemingway. American Writers II. 1974 ed. 11 Untermeyer, Louis, Makers of the Modern World. (New York: Simon and Schuster, 1955) 164. 12 Untermeyer, Louis, Makers of the Modern World. (New York: Simon and Schuster, 1955) 167. 13 Untermeyer, Louis, Makers of the Modern World. (New York: Simon and Schuster, 1955) 171. 14 Ferrell, Keith, Ernest Hemingway: The Search for Courage. (New York: M. Evans and Company, 1984) 33. 15 Ernest Hemingway.
American Writers II. 1974 ed. 16 Lynn, Kenneth S. , Hemingway. (New York: Simon and Schuster, 1987) 98. 17 Ernest Hemingway. American Writers II. 1974 ed. 18 Ernest Hemingway. American Writers II. 1974 ed. 19 Ernest Hemingway. American Writers II. 1974 ed. Works Cited Ernest Hemingway. American Writers II. 1974 ed Ferrell, Keith.
Ernest Hemingway: The Search for Courage. New York: M. Evans and Company, 1984. Lynn, Kenneth S. Hemingway. New York: Simon and Schuster, 1987.
Untermeyer, Louis. Makers of the Modern World. New York: Simon and Schuster, 1955.
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