The Hemingway Hero

The Hemingway hero is not a Godlike figure, but an ordinary, often flawed mortal who must look to himself for strength. As in The Old Man and the Sea and A Farewell To Arms, Hemingway has the protagonist prove his strength by putting him in a crisis situation, usually involving a life-and-death predicament.

The Hemingway hero is actually a mirror image of the author himself. As A. E. Hotchner's novel Papa Hemingway illustrates, Hemingway had a penchant for putting himself in life threatening situations. When the two writers met, Hemingway told Hotchner about how he loved to work with cotsies--large, wild cats. When Hotchner said that he thought "lion-baiting was a rather dangerous pursuit for a writer who wanted to continue practicing his trade" (15), Hemingway replied that he did not "know [any] other place as good to lay it as on the line" (16).

In the Old Man and the Sea the protagonist, Santiago, also has no qualms about flirting with death. Santiago nearly loses his life while,struggling to reel in a fish, yet refuses to let

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nd of strong will. Even Santiago's dreams have a heroic theme. While struggling with the marlin and experiencing great physical pain, Santiago dreams of Joe DiMaggio, the greatest ballplayer of his generation, and of lions playing on the beaches in Africa. This association with the king of ballplayers and the king of beasts adds to Santiago's heroic proportions. Santiago's heroism is also personified by the fact that he is alone when the great trial comes--his battle with the marlin. Although he repeatedly wishes the boy were there to help him, it is integral to his heroic character that he is not. Like all great heroes, he endures his struggle alone and relies on his own resources. Santiago is also similar to other Hemingway heroes in his alienation from society. He lives a solitary life, fishing by himself during the day and sleeping alone at night. He has succeeded in disengaging himself from society, preferring instead to align himself with nature. Just as Frederick Henry of A Farewell To Arms is happiest in the remote countryside, Santiago is happy at sea. Both Santiago and Henry are trying to escape life's horrors. For, even though the Hemingway hero is a big, tough, outdoor man, he is also a wounded man. Li
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Approximate Word count = 1240
Approximate Pages = 5 (250 words per page)