Life And Death In The Works Of Hemingway Coursework

Introduction. The concept of life and death. The philosophical context. Literary Context. The concept of existencialism. The life and death of Hemingway. Life and death in the works of hemingway. “The Old Man and the Sea”. “A Farewell to Arms”. “A Clean, Well-Lighted Place”. Conclusions. References.

Life and death are two equally important objects, that fulfill each other, especially in literature. There are many authors and their writings, which convey the connection between life and death. These words „life“ and „death“ arouse different emotions in our heads – happiness, faith, calmness, love, fear, loss, pain, torture and vice versa. Some state that death is only a beginning of a new, eternal life, which is not possible without death. Moreover, many authors create their works based on their own lives, which are called autobiographies. Very many of them write about other people‘s lives – parents‘, siblings‘, relatives‘, friends‘, acquaintances‘, strangers‘. In addition, there are such authors, who write about life and death of others while their own lives and deaths are worth to be written down.

One of these authors was Ernest Hemingway. His life was colourful, but the colours weren‘t very bright and vivid. Complicated relationship with his parents, war, alcohol, marriages, works, suicide – everything fitted in a single person. In the early childhood, Hemingway lived his life wearing dresses and having long hair – his mother always wanted twin girls. He hated his mother very badly for doing harm to him in his childhood. Later on E. Hemingway worked as a journalist before becoming a writer – he attendet the lessons of journalism at school together with his sister. The first break in his life happened when he attended World War I. Working as an ambulance driver, he saw very many deaths as well as was injured himself. It was the paradox of life, because his mother raised him as a girl, although he appeared to be a young, strong, brave and tough man. E. Hemingway was married four times, although all of his relationships were kind of complicated – while being in a union with his first wife, the writer got into an affair, which later on became his second marriage. The third marriage was also because of an affair, also unsuccessful, because the third wife left him. He lived in the fourth marriage until his death. Ernest Hemingway‘s life was followed not only by women, works, but also by the alcohol. He started drinking in the morning and finished at night – all day and every day. Despite his dependency on alcohol, he managed to write the most important works in the history of American literature. Even though Hemingway was able to control his alcoholism and to cope with depression, it was very difficult for him. His depression and paranoia were treated with electroshock therapy, but it didn‘t give any expected results. Surviving two plane crashes, Hemingway decided to end his life in 1961. He shot himself in the head, ending his impressive and unusual life.