Tomorrow for Humans
A Way You'll Never be, Big Two-Hearted River
The war destructed Nick Adams from the
inside, and the story does not end in mental breakdown or a huge blow. Rather,
he goes back to nature, catches fish and cries for Jesus in delight when he
could have a nice meal. He loses the big fish, but is satisfied after he caught
two medium-sized ones, and the story ends with him resolving from fishing in
the swamp.
These parts are some examples from Big Two-Hearted River that show how Hemingway believed humans as noble; "Nick laughed. He would finish the cigarette." After Nick loses the big trout, he feels a little disappointed, and this is when he smokes the cigarette right after he lost it. His disappointment does not take long: "He sat on the logs smoking, drying in the sun, the sun warm on his back, the river shallow ahead entering the woods... the logs warm in the sun, smooth to sit on, without bark, gray to the touch, slowly the feeling of disappointment left him. ... Nick tied a new hook on the leader, puling the gut tight until it grimped into itself in a hard knot." He then moves away from the deep water and catches two trouts, satisfied: "They were fine trout."
Before cleaning the two trouts, Nick ponders about fishing at the deep water again. But he decides not to, and goes back to camp at the end of the story, because "in the fast deep water in the half light the fishing would be tragic." It would be tragic not only because of the half light but because "He did not want to hook big trout in places impossible to land them." At last, when he goes back to the camp, he looks back to see the river and the story ends with him thinking of another day to come back: "There were plenty of days coming when he could fish the swamp."
In the story, Nick is not arrogant or stupid enough to go fishing in the deep water, not taking care of the situations. He knew there were things that he had to consider of nature. It can be contrasted to the man in To Build a Fire, who was too arrogant to ignore the temperature; fifty degrees below zero. Humans in Hemingway's stories were not arrogant like him, but rather contemplating, and trying not to bring himself into destruction. Humans know they are not perfect, or the strongest creature on Earth.
Also, his disappointment after losing the big trout does not take long, and he does not despair or get obsessed with the deep water's fish. He knew himself so he didn't start a meaningless challenge, and soon after his failure he overcame with it-he tried again, and he succeeded to satisfy himself.
These parts are some examples from Big Two-Hearted River that show how Hemingway believed humans as noble; "Nick laughed. He would finish the cigarette." After Nick loses the big trout, he feels a little disappointed, and this is when he smokes the cigarette right after he lost it. His disappointment does not take long: "He sat on the logs smoking, drying in the sun, the sun warm on his back, the river shallow ahead entering the woods... the logs warm in the sun, smooth to sit on, without bark, gray to the touch, slowly the feeling of disappointment left him. ... Nick tied a new hook on the leader, puling the gut tight until it grimped into itself in a hard knot." He then moves away from the deep water and catches two trouts, satisfied: "They were fine trout."
Before cleaning the two trouts, Nick ponders about fishing at the deep water again. But he decides not to, and goes back to camp at the end of the story, because "in the fast deep water in the half light the fishing would be tragic." It would be tragic not only because of the half light but because "He did not want to hook big trout in places impossible to land them." At last, when he goes back to the camp, he looks back to see the river and the story ends with him thinking of another day to come back: "There were plenty of days coming when he could fish the swamp."
In the story, Nick is not arrogant or stupid enough to go fishing in the deep water, not taking care of the situations. He knew there were things that he had to consider of nature. It can be contrasted to the man in To Build a Fire, who was too arrogant to ignore the temperature; fifty degrees below zero. Humans in Hemingway's stories were not arrogant like him, but rather contemplating, and trying not to bring himself into destruction. Humans know they are not perfect, or the strongest creature on Earth.
Also, his disappointment after losing the big trout does not take long, and he does not despair or get obsessed with the deep water's fish. He knew himself so he didn't start a meaningless challenge, and soon after his failure he overcame with it-he tried again, and he succeeded to satisfy himself.
Not only in these Nick Adams stories had
Hemingway showed his noble view on humans. Against the irrationality, Hemingway
believed humans fight against them; one does not give up. Nick, for instance, he did not end in a huge blow or a strong mental breakdown from the irrational war but rather recovered himself slowly. He thought it was part
of a human nature that humans always continue in an absurd world by doing
something they think that is not absurd. The world was absurd with the terrible debris of war, but Nick could recover himself. But not all humans believed this way;
if William Golding was given to write about the same situation, the story might
have been written Nick Adams struggling to live between the dead bodies. Nick
might have committed suicide at the end of the story, because Golding believed
humans as “savages” whose civilizations or Reason are nothing in front of
extreme situations.
My idea rests heavily on Hemingway’s side,
and on others who all insisted the idea of resistance, heading for something
better than the present. Not only Hemingway, but many writers including Camus,
believed that humans can get through the absurd reality by trying to change it;
resisting. Golding’s idea may seem convincing, but the problem of his idea is
that if humans are really like what Golding described, then there is no tomorrow
among humans. Throughout the history there have been numerous people who tried
to resist upon irrationality, who tried to bring back the big fish against
sharks, and who tried to cure themselves from destruction.
Comments
Soho
Shim:
Wow… I see another big fan of HemingwayJ. As I’m also a supporter of
Hemingway, I generally agree with your idea. I think it’d have been better if
you linked your idea with the story more. Well… I hope to see a more developed
writing of yours (on the blog)!
Yeji: I don’t have enough
time (two minute left) to read your writing carefully and think about specific
ways to improve your writing, but I think your attempt of comparing Hemingway
and Golding is terrific. The bell rangL. I’ll add comments on
your blog. Sorry!
