How to Ruin a Good Friendship
Story★★★★Ernest Heming way had an extraordinary talent for making friends. Gerald Murphy, an American he met in Paris, recalled his “enveloping personality, so physically huge and forceful. He overstated everything and talked so rapidly and so graphically that you found yourself agreeing with him.” He was by no means easy to get along with, and another friend and helper, Robert McAlmon, described him as “the hurt, sensitive boy, deliberately young and naive, wanting to be brave and somehow on the defensive.”
His flair for making friends was coupled with a tendency to fall out with them. He was jealous of other men’s success and often abused and betrayed other writers, like Ford Madox Ford and John Dos Passos, who had been generous and welcoming to him. The force of his personality was such that, despite his ingratitude and his mean streak, he never lacked company. Even his malice had a certain charm.
His obsession with courage drove him to prove himself by humiliating others. He one by one knocked off the best friendships he ever had.
The point
Ernest Hemingway's charm never made up for his jealousy and betrayal of friends, showing how personal flaws erode even the strongest relationships.