Ernest Hemingway

Ernest Miller Hemingway was born in Illinois on July 21st, 1899. He was a writer and during the 20th century he created a mythological hero of himself that captivated and confounded not only serious literary critics, but also the whole world. He was a star for the people. Hemingway was the second son of Dr. Clarence and Grace Hall Hemingway. He had four sisters and one brother. He was named after his father Ernest Hall and his uncle Miller Hall.
Illinois was a mainly Protestant suburb of Chicago. It was located only ten geographic miles from the city, but in reality it was much further away. It was a conservative town that tried to isolate itself from Chicago. Hemingway grew up under the influence of the conservative values of strong religion, hard work, and physical fitness.
When he was a boy, his father taught him to hunt and fish near the Lake Michigan. He learned how to survive in the open nature. Nature was the touchstone of Hemingway's life and work. Though he often found himself living in major cities like Chicago, Toronto and Paris early in his career, once he became successful, he chose isolated places to live like Key West, San Francisco or Cuba. All of them were convenient places for hunting and fishing.
When he wasn't hunting or fishing by himself or with his father, his mother taught him the basics of music. Grace was a singer. Hemingway never had a knack for music and suffered through choir practices and cello lessons. However, the musical knowledge he acquired helped him in the relationship with his first wife Hadley. She played the piano.
Hemingway received basic education in the Oak Park public school. He was good in sports. He enjoyed working on the High School newspaper called The Trapeze, where he wrote his first articles, usually humorous ones where he imitated the popular satirist of the time, Ring Lardner. Hemingway graduated from school in the spring of 1917 and he took a job as a cub reporter for the Kansas City Star; his Uncle Tyler who was a close friend of the chief of the paper found the job for him.
At the time of Hemingway's graduation from High School, the United States joined the Allies in the fight against Germany and Austria in April 1917 (The First World War). When Hemingway turned eighteen he tried to enlist in the army, but was turned down because of poor sight; his left eye was bad. When he was informed that the Red Cross was taking volunteers as ambulance drivers he quickly signed up and he was accepted. He read the newspapers there and tried to learn something new.
He started in France and then was transferred to Italy. During his work as an ambulance driver he saw a lot of horrible injuries and affliction and it was later the most important inspiration for his war literature. He was also wounded in the war, but he recovered very well. After the end of the war he started to write books. The well-known books are The Old Man and the Sea, Short Stories, and From Whom the Bell Tolls.
Now I would like to speak about his the most known book, The Old Man and the Sea. The main hero is an old fisherman called Santiago. He and his young friend have to live from fishing but they have not been able to catch any fish for a long time. After 84 days of failure Santiago decides to go further away from the shore onto the open sea. His friend prepares the bait[1] for him and Santiago starts his voyage. When he finally catches a fish he finds out that he is too weak to drag the fish out of water. He tries to tire the fish. After two days and two nights the fish is finally tired. Santiago harpoons the fish and gets it to the side of the boat. However the sharks come and they eat the fish up. Santiago returns to the village tired to death and only with the skeleton of the fish.
I have chosen this book because Hemingway uses his typical features there. His heroes are usually loners or normal people. He describes the reality of life, which is sometimes very difficult and brings disappointment[2].
[1] návnada
[2] zklamání