Editing Ernest Hemingway (section)

== Themes ==
Hemingway's writing includes themes of love, war, travel, expatriation, wilderness, and loss.<ref>Svoboda (2000), 155</ref> Critic [[Leslie Fiedler]] sees the theme he defines as "The Sacred Land"—the [[American Old West|American West]]—extended in Hemingway's work to include mountains in Spain, Switzerland and Africa, and to the streams of Michigan. The American West is given a symbolic nod with the naming of the "Hotel Montana" in ''The Sun Also Rises'' and ''For Whom the Bell Tolls''.<ref name="Fiedler" /> In ''Hemingway's Expatriate Nationalism'', Jeffrey Herlihy describes "Hemingway's Transnational Archetype" as one that involves characters who are "multilingual and bicultural, and have integrated new cultural norms from the host community into their daily lives by the time plots begin."<ref name = "herlihy2011 p.49">Herlihy (2011), 49</ref> In this way, "foreign scenarios, far from being mere exotic backdrops or cosmopolitan milieus, are motivating factors in-character action".<ref name = "herlihy2011 p.3">Herlihy (2011), 3</ref>

In Hemingway's fiction, nature is a place for rebirth and rest; it is where the hunter or fisherman might experience a moment of transcendence at the moment they kill their prey.<ref name="Stoltzfus" /> Nature is where men exist without women: men fish; men hunt; men find redemption in nature.<ref name="Fiedler" /> Although Hemingway does write about sports, such as fishing, Carlos Baker notes the emphasis is more on the athlete than the sport.<ref name="Baker1972 120–121">Baker (1972), 120–121</ref> At its core, much of Hemingway's work can be viewed in the light of American [[Naturalism (literature)|naturalism]], evident in detailed descriptions such as those in "Big Two-Hearted River".<ref name="Beegel2000, p. 63-70" />

Fiedler believes Hemingway inverts the American literary theme of the evil "Dark Woman" versus the good "Light Woman". The dark woman—Brett Ashley of ''[[The Sun Also Rises]]''—is a goddess; the light woman—Margot Macomber of "[[The Short Happy Life of Francis Macomber]]"—is a murderess.<ref name="Fiedler">Fiedler (1975), 345–365</ref> [[Robert Scholes]] says early Hemingway stories, such as "[[A Very Short Story]]", present "a male character favorably and a female unfavorably".<ref>Scholes (1990),  42</ref> According to Rena Sanderson, early Hemingway critics lauded his male-centric world of masculine pursuits, and the fiction divided women into "castrators or love-slaves". Feminist critics attacked Hemingway as "public enemy number one", although more recent re-evaluations of his work "have given new visibility to Hemingway's female characters (and their strengths) and have revealed his own sensitivity to gender issues, thus casting doubts on the old assumption that his writings were one-sidedly masculine."<ref>Sanderson (1996), 171</ref> [[Nina Baym]] believes that Brett Ashley and Margot Macomber "are the two outstanding examples of Hemingway's 'bitch women.{{'"}}<ref>Baym (1990), 112</ref>

{{quote box | width = 22em
|quote =The world breaks everyone and afterward many are strong in the broken places. But those that will not break it kills. It kills the very good and the very gentle and the very brave impartially. If you are none of these you can be sure it will kill you too but there will be no special hurry.
| source =—Ernest Hemingway in ''[[A Farewell to Arms]]''<ref>Hemingway, Ernest. (1929) ''A Farewell to Arms''. New York: Scribner's</ref>
| style = padding:1.5em
| fontsize=85%
}}

Death permeates much of Hemingway's work. Young believes the emphasis on death in "Indian Camp" was not so much on the father who kills himself, but on Nick Adams, who witnesses these events and becomes a "badly scarred and nervous young man". Young believes the archetype in "Indian Camp" holds the "master key" to "what its author was up to for some thirty-five years of his writing career".<ref>Young (1964), 6</ref> Stoltzfus considers Hemingway's work to be more complex with a representation of the truth inherent in [[existentialism]]: if "nothingness" is embraced, then redemption is achieved at the moment of death. Those who face death with dignity and courage live an authentic life. Francis Macomber dies happy because the last hours of his life are authentic; the [[bullfighter]] in the [[Bullfighting|corrida]] represents the pinnacle of a life lived with authenticity.<ref name="Stoltzfus">Stoltzfus (2005), 215–218</ref> In his paper ''The Uses of Authenticity: Hemingway and the Literary Field'', Timo Müller writes that Hemingway's fiction is successful because the characters live an "authentic life", and the "soldiers, fishers, boxers and backwoodsmen are among the archetypes of authenticity in modern literature".<ref>Müller (2010), 31</ref>

Emasculation is prevalent in Hemingway's work, notably in ''God Rest You Merry, Gentlemen'' and ''The Sun Also Rises''. Emasculation, according to Fiedler, is a result of a generation of wounded soldiers; and of a generation in which women such as Brett gained [[Women's suffrage|emancipation]]. This also applies to the minor character, Frances Clyne, Cohn's girlfriend in the beginning of ''The Sun Also Rises''. Her character supports the theme not only because the idea was presented early on in the novel but also the impact she had on Cohn in the start of the book while only appearing a small number of times.<ref name="Fiedler" />

In ''God Rest You Merry, Gentlemen'', the emasculation is literal, and related to religious guilt. Baker believes Hemingway's work emphasizes the "natural" versus the "unnatural". In "[[An Alpine Idyll]]" the "unnaturalness" of skiing in the high country late spring snow is juxtaposed against the "unnaturalness" of the peasant who allowed his wife's dead body to linger too long in the shed during the winter. The skiers and peasant retreat to the valley to the "natural" spring for redemption.<ref name="Baker1972 120–121" />

In recent decades, critics have characterized Hemingway's work as [[misogynistic]] and [[homophobic]]. Susan Beegel analyzed four decades of Hemingway criticism and found that "critics interested in multiculturalism" simply ignored Hemingway. Typical is this analysis of ''The Sun Also Rises'': "Hemingway never lets the reader forget that Cohn is a Jew, not an unattractive character who happens to be a Jew but a character who is unattractive because he is a Jew." During the same decade, according to Beegel, criticism was published that investigated the "horror of homosexuality" and racism in Hemingway's fiction.<ref name="Beegel 1996 282">Beegel (1996), 282</ref> In an overall assessment of Hemingway's work Beegel has written: "Throughout his remarkable body of fiction, he tells the truth about human fear, guilt, betrayal, violence, cruelty, drunkenness, hunger, greed, apathy, ecstasy, tenderness, love and lust."<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.kansascity.com/entertainment/arts-culture/article294978/Susan-Beegel-What-I-like-about-Hemingway.html|title=Susan Beegel: What I like about Hemingway|website=kansascity.com|access-date=July 11, 2017}}</ref>