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Ernest HemingwayA modern alternative to SparkNotes and CliffsNotes, SuperSummary offers high-quality Study Guides with detailed chapter summaries and analysis of major themes, characters, and more.
Regardless of social class, many of the novel’s characters find some maladaptive coping strategy to escape the wretchedness of their lives. The two main deckhands on Harry’s boat, Eddy and Albert, use alcohol to avoid the harsh realities of their world: Eddy’s alcohol use keeps him in a permanent state of happiness where he does not have to face his destitution, and Albert’s keeps him away from home so he does not have to face the disappointment in his family’s eyes. In addition, the group of war veterans prefer the liquid solace to facing a government that has abandoned them.
On the other end of the social spectrum, many of the “Haves,” with all their decadence and glamour, live in quiet desperation. Richard and Helen Gordon operate under a pretense of happiness while both pursue extramarital affairs—she with Professor MacWalsey, he with Helene Bradley. When Helen denounces her husband and reflects on their unhappy marriage, her observations apply just as well to the spiritually bankrupt world the characters would like to escape: To Helen, their marital conflicts symbolize amorality, sterility, and deception. The relationship leaves her broken and hopeless. She calls love a “just another dirty lie” (185).
By Ernest Hemingway
A Clean, Well-Lighted Place
A Clean, Well-Lighted Place
Ernest Hemingway
Across the River and into the Trees
Across the River and into the Trees
Ernest Hemingway
A Day's Wait
A Day's Wait
Ernest Hemingway
A Farewell to Arms
A Farewell to Arms
Ernest Hemingway
A Moveable Feast
A Moveable Feast
Ernest Hemingway
A Very Short Story
A Very Short Story
Ernest Hemingway
Big Two-Hearted River
Big Two-Hearted River
Ernest Hemingway
Cat in the Rain
Cat in the Rain
Ernest Hemingway
For Whom the Bell Tolls
For Whom the Bell Tolls
Ernest Hemingway
Green Hills of Africa
Green Hills of Africa
Ernest Hemingway
Hills Like White Elephants
Hills Like White Elephants
Ernest Hemingway
In Another Country
In Another Country
Ernest Hemingway
Indian Camp
Indian Camp
Ernest Hemingway
In Our Time
In Our Time
Ernest Hemingway
Old Man at the Bridge
Old Man at the Bridge
Ernest Hemingway
Soldier's Home
Soldier's Home
Ernest Hemingway
Solider's Home
Solider's Home
Ernest Hemingway
Ten Indians
Ten Indians
Ernest Hemingway
The Garden of Eden
The Garden of Eden
Ernest Hemingway
The Killers
The Killers
Ernest Hemingway