Chintan Patel Mrs.

Sanders March 5, 2011 Life has Two Sides Ernest Hemingway once wrote, There is nothing to writing. All you do is sit down at a typewriter and bleed. Life is filled with happiness and sadness, it can have dramatic change. Suffering is what makes us human. Ernest Hemingways life was filled with suffering, which is reflected in his writings. He wrote books from his own experiences. Old Man and the Sea, like Farewell to Arms, shows people have to suffer in order to gain happiness, but one cant expect happy endings always. Old Man and the Sea and A Farewell to Arms both show that love makes life meaningful, but isolation leads to suffering. Love is the harmony. In both of Hemingways books, he describes love as happiness. Without love there is no life. In A Farewell to Arms, Henry relies on Catherine as his life. Now if you arent with me, I havent a thing in the world (257). Without her, Henrys life is depressing. Eventually Henrys life revolves around Catherine: All I wanted to see was Catherine, The rest of the time I was glad to kill (117). In the beginning, he thought love was a game. But toward the end of the book, in Frederics conversation with Count Greffi, the count says that what he values most in the world is the one he loved. Fred does not fully understand the Counts advice, but he will near the end of the book when Catherine has to deliver her baby, the doctor suddenly discovers that her pelvis is too narrow to deliver the baby. He tries to do the Cesarean section, but his attempt is unsuccessful. Catherine dies with her child. To Frederick her dead body is like a statue, and he walks back to his hotel without finding a way to say goodbye, seemingly lost forever

and it is raining. This is exactly what happened in Hemingways real life when Agnes leaves him, he was lost forever. In Old Man and the Sea, the old mans relationship with Manolin is characterized as love. Even though Santiago did not catch any fish for a long time, Manolin admired him for his abilities. Manolin takes good care of old man. He makes sure the Santiago eats and remains in good health. He tries to give the old man positive encouragement and makes sure his ego is never wounded. Old Man also liked Manolin. I wish I had the boy (51). Santiago also has the relationship with the fish too. When he says, Fish, I love you and respect you very much. But I will kill you dead before this day ends. Loving somebody too much can be dangerous because it will be disaster when he/she is isolated from him/her. Catherine and Henry are always isolated from reality, whether they are in hospital or dreaming of a perfect life together. In fact, they prefer to be isolated so that other doesnt see the fallacies of their relationship because they were not married. Ferguson says, Youll die then. Fight or die. Thats what people do. They dont marry (108). And also they always meet at night in He1nrys room at the hospital when Henry was injured. They remained isolated so they can sustain a semblance of compatibility. But Ferguson tries to separate them when she says, It would be better if you let her stay off nights a little while (109). But she fails; Catherine and Henry choose to be constantly together and prefer to be alone so the illusion of their relationship can be maintained, meaning they tried to build relationship without anyone knowing it. But they suffer from Isolation. When Henry is at the front, He is always thinking about Catherine. Whereas in Old Man and the Sea, old man is the one who is isolated from people when he is at the sea. And that isolation defines the character. He suffers from loneliness because there was no one to help me. But still he battle against marlin and shows his capabilities. Old Man has ability to fight Marlin

when he says a man can be destroyed but not defeated (103). Even though he is isolated from others and there is no one to help him, he does not give up. But he suffers a lot. Being isolated leads to depression and could force someone to commit suicide. This was the recurring theme in most of Ernest Hemingways books because this is exactly what he felt when he was isolated from Agnes in reality. As a result, isolation leads to suffering and even to death. The actress Angelina Jolie wrote that without pain, there would be no suffering, without suffering we would never learn from our mistake. To make it right, pain and suffering is the key to all windows, without it; there is no way of life. In A Farewell to Arms, Henry suffers from love when Catherine dies. He had nothing to do except leave and go back to hotel and cry his heart. But he shows courage in the face of suffering. War, in other words, has made many suffer. War is the symbol of disaster and suffering in this novel. When the character suffers, alcohol is the one thing he can do to escape reality in this novel. And thats what Henry will do after Catherine dies. Thats exactly what Hemingway did when Agnes left him; he relied on alcohol to escape from suffering or reality. And also during the long suffering of Catherine in the hospital leading to the death of a dead baby and finally to her own death, even the doctor and the hero are shown taking meals. In this book no one cared about someone elses suffering. People can only realize how suffering is when they themselves suffer. This is what Hemingway wanted to show that how he felt when he was suffered and when Agnes left him. In Old Man and the Sea the ability to withstand physical pain is one of Santiagos characteristics. He was comfortable but suffering, although he did not admit the suffering at all (89). Suffering is necessary to fight battle with the Marlin. Even though Santiago suffers a lot he does not admit that. In his incredible battle with the noble fish and the hunger and thirst and horrible sunburn and pain that he feel during his fight, he demonstrates his

nobility. And he does not give up. Hemingway was trying to prove that suffering is disaster; it makes life miserable. A Farewell to Arms and The Old Man and the Sea are similar in that they contain three common themes of love, isolation and suffering. These three themes describes Hemingways life. In reality, Hemingway loved Agnes so much that he wouldnt live without her. So, when he was isolated from her, he couldnt bear it, so he had to suffer. In Old Man and the Sea and A Farewell to Arms both shows Hemingways own experiences and how life can have happiness and sadness. Ernest Hemingway thought that the world breaks everyone and afterward many are strong at the broken place (249). Even though Hemingway suffered, he still survived, but eventually committed suicide. He believed in heroism. The writer Allen says that the only way to be happy is to love to suffer.