Hemingway in Nature
Laura Lenn
Mr. Komb
American Literature Section 4
15 April 2011
Nature as a Character in Hemingway 's Work
The great respect Ernest Hemingway has for nature is manifested as an important character in his works. Although Hemingway cut down his prose to the minimum necessary to convey the action of his characters, he carefully advanced the theme of nature. Hemingway describes trees, leaves and needles, water, rain and bodies of water, rocks, wind and breezes and animals as part of the theme of nature. In so deliberately including the nature theme in his work, Hemingway elevates it as more than a part of the setting of the action to a point that nature plays a role or a character in the action. Hemingway expresses important concepts and ideas in his writing in a deliberate manner.
Within the structure of his sentences and paragraphs, he shapes the concept he is emphasizing by repeating it and using description to highlight it:
He lay on the brown, pine-needled floor of the forest, his chin on his folded arms, and high overhead the wind blew in the tops of the pine trees. (Hemingway 1)
Here, the concept of a pine tree is emphasized through its placement both at the beginning and the end of a single, short sentence and the "fruit" of the tree, the needles, are emphasized to a greater degree by description as the "brown, pine-needled floor". Hemingway makes clear that pine tree is thought of both as a living evergreen tree, i.e., green in color, as well as a tree that sheds its needles to create a brown blanket of cover on the floor of the forest. Also, the pine trees are not simple and unmoving objects. The pine trees have acted to cover the floor with needles, and they sway, having been blown by the wind. The character then is not alone in a woods, but rather he is among the pine trees who are moving and acting in the scene as the character does. Hemingway takes the emphasizing to a whole another literal level as he characterizes the interaction
Mr. Komb
American Literature Section 4
15 April 2011
Nature as a Character in Hemingway 's Work
The great respect Ernest Hemingway has for nature is manifested as an important character in his works. Although Hemingway cut down his prose to the minimum necessary to convey the action of his characters, he carefully advanced the theme of nature. Hemingway describes trees, leaves and needles, water, rain and bodies of water, rocks, wind and breezes and animals as part of the theme of nature. In so deliberately including the nature theme in his work, Hemingway elevates it as more than a part of the setting of the action to a point that nature plays a role or a character in the action. Hemingway expresses important concepts and ideas in his writing in a deliberate manner.
Within the structure of his sentences and paragraphs, he shapes the concept he is emphasizing by repeating it and using description to highlight it:
He lay on the brown, pine-needled floor of the forest, his chin on his folded arms, and high overhead the wind blew in the tops of the pine trees. (Hemingway 1)
Here, the concept of a pine tree is emphasized through its placement both at the beginning and the end of a single, short sentence and the "fruit" of the tree, the needles, are emphasized to a greater degree by description as the "brown, pine-needled floor". Hemingway makes clear that pine tree is thought of both as a living evergreen tree, i.e., green in color, as well as a tree that sheds its needles to create a brown blanket of cover on the floor of the forest. Also, the pine trees are not simple and unmoving objects. The pine trees have acted to cover the floor with needles, and they sway, having been blown by the wind. The character then is not alone in a woods, but rather he is among the pine trees who are moving and acting in the scene as the character does. Hemingway takes the emphasizing to a whole another literal level as he characterizes the interaction
Cited: Atlas, James. “Papa Lives” The Atlantic.com Atlantic Monthly Group. 31 Mar. 2011. Web. 31 Mar Bloom, Harold. Bloom 's How to Write about Ernest Hemingway. New York: Infobase, 2009. Print. Hemingway, Ernest. Farewell to Arms. New York: Scribner Paperback Fiction, 1929. Print. Hemingway, Ernest. The Old Man and the Sea. New York: Charles Scribner 's Sons, 1952. Print. Hemingway, Ernest. "Up in Michigan." The Short Stories. New York: Scribner Paperback Fiction, 1953 "Reflections on Hemingway." Pbs.org. Joe Stoppard. Web. 31 Mar. 2011. <http://www.pbs.org/wnet/americanmasters/episodes/ernest-hemingway/reflections-on-ernest-hemingway/629/>. Siminoff, David. "From Whom the Bell Tolls." Shmoop. Web. 31 Mar. 2011. <http://www.shmoop.com/for-whom-the-bell-tolls/>. Verdelle, A.J. "Hemingway at 100", PBS NewsHour. Web. 15 Mar. 2011.