The lost generation: Ernest Miller Hemingway

American writer Ernest Hemingway (1898-1961) is famous for novels such as The Old Man and the Sea and A Farewell to Arms. He was also a prolific and accomplished short story writer.

Old Man at the Bridge

An old man with steel rimmed spectacles and very dusty clothes sat by the side of the road. There was a pontoon bridge across the river and carts, trucks, and men, women and children were crossing it. (...) But the old man sat there without moving. He was too tired to go any farther.

It was my business to cross the bridge, explore the bridgehead beyond and find out to what point the enemy had advanced. I did this and returned over the bridge. There were not so many carts now and very few people on foot, but the old man was still there.

'Where do you come from?' I asked him.

'From San Carlos' he said, and smiled.

That was his native town and so it gave him pleasure to mention it and he smiled.

'I was taking care of animals,' he explained.

'Oh,' 1 said, not quite understanding.

'Yes,' he said, 'I stayed, you see, taking care of animals. I was the last one to leave the town of San Carlos.'

He did not look like a shepherd nor a herdsman and 1 looked at his black dusty clothes and his grey dusty face and his steel rimmed spectacles and said, 'What animals were they?'

'Various animals,' he said, and shook his head. 'I had to leave them.' (...)

'What animals were they?' I asked.

'There were three animals altogether,' he explained. There were two goats, and a cat and there were four pairs of pigeons.'

'And you had to leave them?' I asked.

'Yes. Because of the artillery. The captain told me to go because of the artillery.'

'And you have no family?' I asked, watching the far end of the bridge where a few last carts were hurrying down the slope of the bank.

'No,' he said, 'only the animals I stated. The cat, of course, will be all right. A cat can look out for itself, but I cannot think what will become of the others.'

'What politics have you?' 1 asked.

'I am without politics,' he said. 'I am seventy-six years old. I have come twelve kilometers now and I think now I can go no farther.'

'This is not a good place to stop,' I said. 'If you can make it, there are trucks up the road where it forks for Tortosa.'

'I will wait a while,' he said, 'and then I will go.' (...)

He looked at me very blankly and tiredly, then said, having to share his worry with someone, 'The cat will be all right, f am sure. There is no need to be unquiet about the cat. But the others. Now what do you think about the others?'

'Why, they'll probably come through it all right.'

'Yon think so?'

'Why not?' I said, watching the far bank where now there were no carts.

'But what will they do under the artillery when I was told to leave because of the artillery?'

'Did you leave the dove cage unlocked?' I asked.

'Yes.'

'Then they'll fly.'

'Yes, certainly they'll fly. But the others. It's better not to think about the others,' he said.

'If you are rested I would go,' I urged. 'Get up and try to walk now.'

'Thank you,' he said and got to his feet, swayed⁷ from side to side and then sat down backwards in the dust.

'I was only taking care of animals,' he said dully, but no longer to me.

'I was only taking care of animals.'

There was nothing to do about him. It was raster Sunday and the Fascists were advancing toward the Ebro. It was a grey overcast day with a low ceiling so their planes were not up. That and the fact that cats know how to look after themselves was all the good luck that old man would ever have.

† General understanding and literary analysis – theme:

1. Where was the old man sitting and why?

________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________.

2. What task did the narrator have to carry out?

________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________

3. Why was the old man the last person to leave the town?

________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________

4. Why was the old man concerned about the animals? Which animal was he least worried about and why?

________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________

5. Did the old man support either side in the conflict?

________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________

6. Why did the narrator want the old man to move on?

________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________

7. What happened when the old man stood up to leave?

________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________

8. Is it clearly stated whether the old man survived the war or not? How do you interpret the final sentence in the story?

________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________

9. Which of the following statements best summarises the theme of the short story?

* War is evil.

* Even when exposed to the atrocities of war some people do not lose their basic humanity.

* War reduces mankind to the level of animals.

* Many innocent people become victims of war.

* War makes our everyday concerns seem ridiculous.

 

2. Focus on the title of the story Old Man at the Bridge. Omitting the article 'a/an' is typical of captions to paintings, photographs etc. In what sense is Hemingway's story similar to a painting or a photograph?

________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________

 

3. Formulate the theme (not the subject!) of a story, poem, play or film script you would like to write. For example: elderly people are disregarded by modem society when in fact they have an invaluable contribution to make.

________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________

A Farewell to Arms

 

The main character in A Farewell to Arms is an American volunteer in the Italian army who eventually deserts. European countries have differing policies as regards the recruitment of personnel for their armed forces. Britain, for example, does not have compulsory military service. Do a class survey on attitudes to military service. Choose one of the following options and discuss the results with your classmates.

1. Military service should be compulsory for men.

2. Military service should be compulsory for men and women.

3. Military or community service should be compulsory for men.

4. Military or community service should be compulsory for men and women.

5. There should be no form of compulsory military or community service.

† General understanding: Ernest Hemingway's clear, direct way of writing mirrors, to a certain extent, his own approach to life. He was not a man who only observed, but who experienced things at first hand, be it war or hunting or fishing. His novels and stories do not try to gloss over reality but paint a vivid picture of what he himself lived through.

A Farewell to Arms draws heavily on his time spent as an ambulance driver in northern Italy during the First World War.

† Characters:

• Frederic Henry, an American fighting with the Italian army

• Catherine Berkeley, his girlfriend

 

† The story: Lieutenant Frederic Henry, an American ambulance driver with the Italian army fighting in the Austrian front, falls in love with an English nurse, Catherine Berkeley. They are posted to different places but meet up again in Milan, where Frederic is convalescing after being wounded. Catherine gets pregnant but Frederic must go back to the front. Having almost been executed by the Carabinieri for abandoning the battlefront, he decides to desert and head for Switzerland with Catherine. They live happily together for a few  but Catherine and her child die during childbirth.

 

I Was Through

Lieutenant Henry has retreated from the front with some of his men. He was stopped by the Carabinieri and almost executed because they thought he should not have abandoned his position. He managed to escape by swimming across a river and hasdecided to desert from the army. He has jumped a train and is lying on the floor of acarriage under a canvas surrounded by guns, hoping not to be detected.

Chapter 32

Lying on the floor of the flat-car with the guns beside me under the canvas I was wet, cold and very hungry. Finally I rolled over and lay flat on my stomach with my head on my arms. My knee was stiff, but it had been very satisfactory. Valentini had done a fine job. I had done half the retreat on foot and swum part of the Tagliamento with his knee. It was his knee all right. The other knee was mine. Doctors did things to you and then it was not your body any more. The head was mine, and the inside of the belly. It was very hungry in there. I could feel it turn over on itself. The head was mine, but not to use, not to think with, only to remember and not too much remember.

I could remember Catherine but I knew I would get crazy if I thought about her when I was not sure yet I would see her, so I would not think about her, only about her a little, only about her with the car going slowly and clickingly, and some light through the canvas and my lying with Catherine on the floor of the car. Hard as the floor of the car to lie not thinking only feeling, having been away too long, the clothes wet and the floor moving only a little each time and lonesome inside and alone with wet clothing and hard floor for a wife.

You did not love the floor of a flat-car nor guns with canvas jackets and the smell of vaselined metal or a canvas that rain leaked through, although it is very fine under a canvas and pleasant with guns; but you loved some one else whom now you knew was not even to be pretended there; you seeing now very clearly and coldly – not so coldly as clearly and emptily. You saw emptily, lying on your stomach, having been present when one army moved back and another came forward. You had lost your cars and your men as a floorwalker loses the stock of his department in a fire. There was, however, no insurance. You were out of it now. You had no more obligation. If they shot floorwalkers after a fire in the department store because they spoke with an accent they had always had, then certainly the floorwalkers would not be expected to return when the store opened again for business. They might seek other employment; if there was any other employment and the police did not get them.

Anger was washed away in the river along with any obligation. Although that ceased when the carabiniere put his hands on my collar. I would like to have had the uniform off although I did not care much about the outward forms. I had taken off the stars, but that was for convenience. It was no point of honor. I was not against them. I was through. I wished them all the luck. There were the good ones, and the brave ones, and the calm ones and the sensible ones, and they deserved it. But it was not my show any more and I wished this bloody train would get to Mestre and I would eat and stop thinking. I would have to stop.

Piani would tell them they had shot me. They went through the pockets and took the papers of the people they shot. They would not have my papers. They might call me drowned. I wondered what they would hear in the States. Dead from wounds and other causes. Good Christ I was hungry. I wondered what had become of the priest at the mess. And Rinaldi. He was probably at Pordenone. If they had not gone further back. Well, I would never see him now. I would never see any of them now. That life was over. I did not think he had syphilis. It was not a serious disease anyway if you took it in time, they said. But he would worry. I would worry too if I had it. Any one would worry.

I was not made to think. I was made to eat. My God, yes. Eat and drink and sleep with Catherine. To-night maybe. No that was impossible. But to-morrow night, and a good meal and sheets and never going away again except together. Probably have to go damned quickly. She would go. I knew she would go. When would we go? That was something to think about. It was getting dark. I lay and thought where we would go. There were many places.

 

† General understanding

1. How did Frederic feel as he lay on the floor of the carriage?

________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________2. Why was he pleased with his knee?

________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________3. Why did he not want to think about Catherine too much?

________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________4. Frederic compares losing his cars and men to a floorwalker losing the stock of his department in a fire. What would the floorwalker (and, by implication, Frederic) not be expected to do?

________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________5. When did Frederic stop being angry? When did he no longer feel any obligation?

________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________6. Did Frederic resent the men who remained at the front?

________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________7. How would the news of Frederic's disappearance be reported officially?

________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________8. What would Frederic and Catherine have to do shortly after being reunited?

________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________

† Literary analysis

The text is written as a stream of consciousness which blows Frederic's thoughts as he tries to escape from the Carabinieri. Follow the way his line of thought digresses.

a. Frederic's first concern is for his physical safety. Underline words that refer to parts of the body in the first paragraph and enumerate them below:

________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________Why does Frederic seem to disown his knee? Frederic's knee has passed a difficult endurance test and is no longer a liability. The parts of his body which may now create problems are his head andhis stomach. Why?

________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________b. Frederic's thoughts turn to Catherine in the second paragraph. The memory of Catherine seems to become confused in Frederic'-s mind with thoughts of the following points. Find examples of each:

- his immediate surroundings:

________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________

- his physical state:

________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________

- his emotional state:

________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________

Underline examples of repetition in the 2^nd and 3^rd paragraphs and enumerate them below:

________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________

What does the use of repetition suggest about Frederic's thought patterns? They are:

 clear and logical;

 confused and illogical.

________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________

c. In the third paragraph Frederic draws an analogy between his situation and that of a floorwalker who loses his stock in a fire. Although apparently referring to floorwalkers, Frederic is clearly thinking about himself. Which details directly refer to his recent experiences? How would you define Frederic's comparison between himself and the floorwalker?

 Effective

 Enlightening

 Absurd Confused

Why does he draw the analogy?

 To help the reader to understand his predicament.

 To justify his actions to himself.

 To show that his actions are not cowardly.

d. Which image in the fourth paragraph has strong religious associations? Although he has decided to desert, Frederic does not wish to turn his back on his ex-comrades. Which sentences underline his support and solidarity?

________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________

e. In the final paragraphs Frederic's stream of thoughts move rapidly and fretfully from one subject to another. Enumerate the sentences where he refers to:

- his ex-comrades in the army:

________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________

- his former life in the USA:

________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________

- his hunger:

________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________

- his future with Catherine:

________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________

 

Please Don't Let Her Die

Frederic and Catherine have escaped to Switzerland, She is now in the maternity ward of a hospital in Lausanne where she has just lost her baby. Frederic has just left the hospital to take a short break and is eating in a cafe.

Chapter 41

(...)

I ate the ham and eggs and drank the beer. The ham and eggs were in a round dish – the ham underneath and the eggs on top. It was very hot and at the first mouthful I had to take a drink of beer to cool my mouth. I was hungry and I asked the waiter for another order. I drank several glasses of beer. I was not thinking at all but read the paper of the man opposite me. It was about the break through on the British front. When he realized I was reading the back of his paper he folded it over. I thought of asking the waiter for a paper, but I could not concentrate. It was hot in the cafe and the air was bad. Many of the people at the tables knew one another. There were several card games going on. The waiters were busy bringing drinks from the bar to the tables. Two men came in and could find no place to sit. They stood opposite the table where I was. I ordered another beer. I was not ready to leave yet. It was too soon to go back to the hospital. I tried not to think and to be perfectly calm. The men stood around but no one was leaving, so they went out. I drank another beer. There was quite a pile of saucers now on the table in front of me. The man opposite me had taken off his spectacles, put them away in a case, folded his paper and put it in his pocket and now sat holding his liqueur glass and looking out at the room. Suddenly I knew I had to get back. I called the waiter, paid the reckoning, got into my coat, put on my hat and started out the door. I walked through the rain up to the hospital.

Upstairs I met the nurse coming down the hall.

“I just called you at the hotel,” she said. Something dropped inside me.

“What is wrong?”

“Mrs. Henry has had a hemorrhage.”

“Can I go in?”

“No, not yet. The doctor is with her.”

“Is it dangerous?”

“It is very dangerous.” The nurse went into the room and shut the door. I sat outside in the hail. Everything was gone inside of me. I did not think. I could not think. I knew she was going to die and I prayed that she would not. Don’t let her die. Oh, God, please don’t let her die. I’ll do anything for you if you won’t let her die. Please, please, please, dear God, don’t let her die. Dear God, don’t let her die. Please, please, please don’t let her die. God please make her not die. I’ll do anything you say if you don’t let her die. You took the baby but don’t let her die. That was all right but don’t let her die. Please, please, dear God, don’t let her die.

The nurse opened the door and motioned with her finger for me to come. I followed her into the room. Catherine did not look up when I came in. I went over to the side of the bed. The doctor was standing by the bed on the opposite side. Catherine looked at me and smiled. I bent down over the bed and started to cry.

“Poor darling,” Catherine said very softly. She looked gray.

“You’re all right, Cat,” I said. “You’re going to be all right.”

“I’m going to die,” she said; then waited and said, “I hate it.”

I took her hand.

“Don’t touch me,” she said. I let go of her hand. She smiled. “Poor darling. You touch me all you want.”

“You’ll be all right, Cat. I know you’ll be all right.”

“I meant to write you a letter to have if anything happened, but I didn’t do it.”

“Do you want me to get a priest or any one to come and see you?”

“Just you,” she said. Then a little later, “I’m not afraid. I just hate it.”

“You must not talk so much,” the doctor said.

“All right,” Catherine said.

“Do you want me to do anything, Cat? Can I get you anything?”

Catherine smiled, “No.” Then a little later, “You won’t do our things with another girl, or say the same things, will you?”

“Never.”

“I want you to have girls, though.”

“I don’t want them.”

“You are talking too much,” the doctor said. “Mr. Henry must go out. He can come back again later. You are not going to die. You must not be silly.”

“All right,” Catherine said. “I’ll come and stay with you nights,” she said. It was very hard for her to talk.

“Please go out of the room,” the doctor said. “You cannot talk.” Catherine winked at me, her face gray. “I’ll be right outside,” I said.

“Don’t worry, darling,” Catherine said. “I’m not a bit afraid. It’s just a dirty trick.”

“You dear, brave sweet.”

I waited outside in the hall. I waited a long time. The nurse came to the door and came over to me. “I’m afraid Mrs. Henry is very ill,” she said. “I’m afraid for her.”

“Is she dead?”

“No, but she is unconscious.”

It seems she had one hemorrhage after another. They couldn’t stop it. I went into the room and stayed with Catherine until she died. She was unconscious all the time, and it did not take her very long to die.

 

† General understanding

1. What was Frederic eating and drinking?

________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________

2. Why did the man opposite Frederic fold his newspaper?

________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________

3. Why did Frederic order another beer?

________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________

4. Why had the nurse called Frederic at the hotel?

________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________

5. What did Frederic do as he sat outside in the hallway?

________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________

6. Did Catherine know that she was going to die?

________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________

7. What did the doctor advise Catherine to do?

________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________

8. What did Catherine ask Frederic not to do if she died?

________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________

9. How did the doctor try to reassure Catherine? Why did he ask Frederic to leave?

________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________

10. Why did Catherine become unconscious?

________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________

11. Where was Frederic when Catherine died?

________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________

 

† Literary analysis

 

1. Focus on the description in the first two paragraphs of the text.

a. What kind of sentences characterise it?

 Short  Complex  Simple

 Negative  Affirmative  Interrogative

b. List some of the seemingly minor details Frederic focuses on.

________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________

 

c. Frederic's detailed observation of his surroundings seems to keep him from thinking. Which expression confirms his desire to remain detached and calm?

________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________

 

d. Henry observes the man with the newspaper and the two men waiting to be seated. What is his attitude towards them?

 Hostility  Friendliness  Aggression

 Indifference  Curiosity  Other:.........................................

What state of mind does he seem to be in?

________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________

 

e. Which word in the second paragraph suddenly introduces a note of urgency into the description? How does the sentence structure reinforce the sense of rapid action and tension?

________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________

 

2. The reader is given very little access to Frederic's emotions. Which expression in the 2^nd and the following paragraphs describes Frederic's emotional response to the news that his wife is in a critical condition?

________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________

What effect does the sustained repetition create?

 It conveys Frederic's emotional turmoil and anguish.

 It shows Frederic's strong religious belief.

 It creates a spiralling sense of heightened emotion. It reflects Frederic's detached, cynical attitude.

3. At what point does Frederic finally release his emotions? In the dialogue between Frederic and Catherine which of the two characters comforts and consoles?

________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________

4. When the nurse approaches Frederic in the hall and tells him that Catherine is very ill, he asks a very blunt question: 'Is she dead?' What tone of voice do you think he would have used to ask the question?

 Detached

 Numb

 Mechanical Hysterical Pleading Disbelieving

 Other:.........................................

5. How would you define the tone of the final paragraph?

 Calm  Emotional  Resigned

 Angry  Resentful  Hysterical

 Other:…......................................

5. Style. The term style refers to a writer's personal way of using language to convey his or her experience and emotions. Any attempt to examine a writer's style must take into con­sideration his diction (his choice of words) and syntax (how he arranges the words).

Hemingway's style is usually described as economical and terse. Find examples of these characteristics in the opening two paragraphs of the given extract:

- short, simple sentences:

________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________

- commonplace vocabulary:

________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________

- the absence of unnecessary adjectives and adverbs:

________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________

Although Hemingway's style is spare and restrained, he succeeds in communicating strong, powerful emotions. Which lines in the opening paragraph of the given extract convey the emotional turmoil Frederic is experiencing?

________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________

 

Write a paragraph, in Hemingway's style, in which you focus on the external world to distract you from strong, emotional turmoil.

Imagine that you are in an examination hall about to do an important examination:

- focus on some details of the setting and describe them in short, simple sentences;

- make one brief and understated reference to how you are feeling;

- read your work out to your classmates. Discuss whether this is an effective method of communicating emotions.

________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________

 

Aware that his wife is in a critical condition, Frederic tries to restrain his emotions by focusing on the external world that surrounds him. Later, in the presence of his dying wife, he releases his emotions and breaks down and cries.

When you are in an emotional situation, do you try to restrain the emotions you are feeling or do you express them openly? Do you ever cry in public, for example during sad films?

Can you think of any circumstances when it is better to let your emotions out, or to restrain them?

________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________