Ernest Hemingway is considered one of the best American authors. Ernest Hemingway’s novel, The Sun Also Rises, is an international classic. Ernest Hemingway won the Nobel Prize for literature in 1954. Ernest Hemingway’s work influences countless writers. Ernest Hemingway killed himself at age 61 with a shotgun to the head. Ernest Hemingway was a heavy drinker and smoker. Ernest Hemingway is one of the most studied authors in American schools today. Ernest Hemingway is loved by people all over the world for his books; the life he lived is, also, admired by many.
The Ernest Hemingway we know today might be different from what he was like when he was alive. Ernest Hemingway hated his mother with a passion that would not cease until she died. Ernest’s mother, Grace Hall Sage, was an absolute monster; she made Ernest’s life hell and Ernest lived in fear of her wrath and violence until she killed herself when Ernest was twenty-two years old (Bowker). Some might wonder: how did Ernest come to hate his mother? Ernest’s mother alienated him from his father, Clarence Edmonds Hemingway, Ernest’s hero.
Ernest was forced to live with an emotionally unstable, mean woman for almost twenty years of his life. Ernest developed psychological scars that he dealt with until the day he died. The story began when Ernest was born on July 21st, 1899 in Oak Park, Illinois (Bowker). Ernest grew up playing sports and being a rebel; this attitude stemmed from Ernest’s relationship with Grace Hall Hemingway. Ernest’s father was a true man of the American Midwest: strong-willed, sporty, albeit something of a kook at times according to his son (Bowker).
Clarence Hemingway had blue eyes and red hair, Ernest’s mother Grace had brown hair and green eyes. Ernest was a very sickly baby; he would fail to thrive in the coming years. Grace Hall Hemingway gave birth to Ernest in July of ’99 and Ernest was not a healthy baby by any stretch of the imagination (Bowker). Ernest’s personality changed when his older brother, Leicester Hall “Bumby” Hemingway, was born when Ernest was two years old (Bowker). Ernest loved Bumby from the second he set eyes on him; Ernest could do nothing but love his little brother even if he never got much attention from Bumby.
Clarence Hemingway was an outdoors man who loved fishing and hunting more than anything else (Bowker). Ernest’s mother looked at Ernest in much the same way she would have looked upon a fish in need of being filleted. Ernest never got to do anything with his father for this reason; Ernest soon grew up idolizing his father who seemed almost god-like in Ernest’s eyes (Bowker). Ernest was not allowed to play sports because Grace Hall Hemingway did not believe that Ernest should engage himself in what she considered “boyish games” (Bowker).
Grace despised sports and physically disciplined Ernest for playing them when he was growing up. Ernest felt much the same about school as he did about playing sports: it was something involving other boys which meant Ernest would fail to thrive once again. Ernest hated school from the day he set foot into Oak Park and River Forest High School (Bowker). Ernest remained a poor student until his later years when Ernest applied himself and won the Pulitzer Prize for The Old Man and the Sea . Ernest’s hatred of school stemmed from Ernest having to associate with other boys; Ernest would never change.
Ernest loved to read books as well as listen to music like Light Cavalry Overture by Franz von Suppe (Bowker). Ernest loved books such as Robinson Crusoe, Treasure Island, Moby Dick , Aesop’s Fables , among others. Ernest also learned how to play the piano after being taught by his mother who was a very fast learner according to Ernest (Bowker). Ernest loved to do anything that involved the great outdoors, Ernest especially loved fishing because Ernest could be with his father at the same time (Bowker). Ernest loved to fish so much that Ernest would fish all year round despite freezing weather or pouring rain; Ernest loved it that much.
Ernest was in grade school when he began writing for Oak Leaves , Oak Park High School’s newspaper. Ernest wrote about sports in high school; Ernest decided to become a sports writer when he grew up (Bowker). Ernest graduated high school and went off to college but dropped out after only two semesters at University of Illinois (literature), Toronto (engineering) and Kansas City Polytechnic Institute (journalism) respectively because Ernest did not like anything about them; Ernest lost out on three years of tuition money due to Ernest’s hatred of school (Bowker).
Ernest worked as a reporter at the Star , Kansas City Post , Toronto Daily Star , among others. Ernest took off for Italy after being inspired by one of his favorite books, The Inferno by Dante Alighieri . Ernest wanted to be an Italian writer when he grew up just like what he idolized, Giosue Carducci. Ernest loved writing but Ernest also loved Paris and was often stuck between choosing which city he would rather spend time in: Paris or Rome (Bowker).
Ernest became engaged to Hadley Richardson who Ernest met while working for the Cooperative Society in Paris; Ernest preferred living in France despite loving Italy because it was cheaper to live there than in Italy (Bowker). Ernest and Hadley were married to each other on September 3, 1921 at the Church of Notre-Dame de France in Paris; Ernest took Hadley’s last name instead of her taking his (Modern Library) . Ernest gave up journalism for good after marrying Hadley to become a novelist (Bowker).
Ernest was happy with Hadley but still felt the need to be alone every now and then; Ernest would take off without telling anyone where he was going whether it be Paris or another city. Ernest loved writing about his experiences as a reporter regardless of Ernest wanting to quit doing so (The Gilded Toad ). Ernest wrote The Sun Also Rises which introduced Americans who fought during World War I to Ernest and classed as Ernest’s first successful novel (The Gilded Toad ).
Ernest and Hadley lived in Paris for a short while before moving to Key West, Florida because Ernest loved the sun so much; Ernest was unable to deal well with cold weather but loved to fish so Ernest would go fishing all year round no matter how cold it got (Bowker). Ernest ran out of money trying to publish The Torrents of Spring by himself so Max Perkins helped Ernest get the book published. Ernest wrote about war just like what Ernest experienced during World War I: A Farewell to Arms which tells about an American who experiences World War I and falls in love with an English nurse.
