Ernest Miller Hemingway was an American novelest and
short-story writer whose writings and personal life exerted a
profound influence on American writers of his time and
thereafter. Many of his works are regarded as American classics,
and some have subsequently been made into motion pictures. A
review of Hemingway reveals many interesting points about his
life, about the influences upon his works, and of the the themes
and styles of his writings.
An examination of Hemingway's past brings to light many
interesting points and helps to create a better understanding of
how he came to be the master of the understated prose style. The
second of six children born to Clarence and Grace Hemingway,
Ernest was born July 21, 1899 in Oak Park, Illinois. The society
he grew up in was one of strict disciplinarians. His parents
were no exception. In fact he spent much of his life trying to
escape the 'repressive code of behavior' (CLC, 177) that was
pushed upon him as a child.
After graduating high school in 1977
he chose not to go to college and instead became a reporter for
the Kansas City Star, where he remained for seven months. His
oppurtunity to break away came when he volunteered as a Red
Cross ambulance driver in Italy. In July of 1918 while serving
along the Piave River, he was severely wounded by shrapnel and
forced to return home after recuperation in January 1919. The
war had left him emotionally and physically shaken, and
according to some critics he began as a result 'a quest for
psychological and artistic freedom that was to lead him first to
the secluded woods of Northern Michigan, where he had spent his
most pleasant childhood moments, and then to Europe, where his
literary talents began to take shape.' (CLC, 177)...