Ernest Hemingway

In 1899, Ernest Hemingway was born into a religious home. His parents were both avid, God-fearing Christians. They raised him with church and God being part of his early life. However, as Ernest grew into manhood, he departed from the path his parents had laid out for him.

He began his writing career in a newspaper office in Kansas City. After returning from his involvement in World War I, he wrote his first novel entitled, The Sun Also Rises (1926).

This, in part, had some reflection from Hemingway’s reading of the book of Ecclesiastes. After a while, he went headlong into an abandoned life.

Ernst’s life of debauchery led down the path of immorality, with both men and women. He went into deep depression. Oftentimes he could be found asleep in a drunken stupor in the gutters of the streets. He lived in Key West, Florida and then in Cuba.

It was while in Cuba that he wrote his famous work, The Old Man and the Sea (1952) and received the Nobel Prize. In this short novel, he wrote of a fisherman that had become old. The younger fishermen had taunted the old man that he had become a has-been. His days of usefulness were past.

Determined to put the words to silence, he went out fishing. To his fortune, he hooked the largest swordfish he had ever seen. Excited for the turn of events, he wrestled with the fish for hours. The hours turned into a few days.

The fish fought for his life; the fisherman fought for his hopefully restored dignity. The battle concluded with the man’s hands worn; his skin was sunburned, and he was almost at the peek of exhaustion; yet, he was satisfied in his winning. Since the fish was as big as the boat, he could not bring it aboard. So he tied it to the side of the boat and began to paddle back home.

While on his way, sharks appeared and began to tear away at the swordfish. Anxious over the awful turn of events, he took a knife and began knifing at the sharks. Thankfully, he was able to repulse the sharks for a time, but they returned.

So he took a wooden stick and began beating the sharks. Once more he succeeded in repelling the attackers breaking, but he broke his stick.

He continued his journey home when once again, the sharks returned. In desperation, he took his oars and began to beat the intruders, but to no avail.

As he neared the shore, he was greatly dismayed at the sight. All he had was a skeleton. Who would believe him? In his exhaustion, he collapsed onto the sand and slumped into deep depression over the victory that had ended in defeat.

This was Hemingway’s tragic life. He never returned to the faith of his parents. He was a backslider to the end. Though knowledgeable of the counsels in the Bible, he chose not to follow them.

His portrayals in his books of his fictitious characters were a reflection of the reality in his life. Vanity, vanity, all is vanity. In 1961, he took a rifle and shot himself, committing suicide.