Ernest Hemingway :: essays research papers

Ernest Miller Hemingway was born at eight oclock in the morning on July 21, 1899 in Oak Park, Illinois. In the nearly sixty two years of his life that followed he forged a literary reputation unsurpassed in the twentieth century and created a mythological hero in himself that captivated (and at times confounded) not only serious literary critics but the fairish man as well...in a word, he was a star. Born in the family home at 439 North Oak Park Avenue, a house make by his widowed grandfather Ernest vestibule, Hemingway was the second of Dr. Clarence and Grace Hall Hemingways six children he had four sisters and one brother. He was named after his maternal grandfather Ernest Hall and his great uncle Miller Hall.Oak Park was a mainly Protestant, upper middle-class suburb of Chicago that Hemingway would later refer to as a township of "wide lawns and narrow minds." Only ten miles from the big city, Oak Park was really much farther away philosophically. It was basically a conservative town that tried to isolate itself from Chicagos liberal seediness. Hemingway was raised with the conservative Midwestern values of strong religion, hard work, physical fitness and self determination if one adhered to these parameters, he was taught, he would be ensured of success in whatever field he chose.As a boy he was taught by his father to hunt and tilt along the shores and in the forests surrounding Lake Michigan. The Hemingways had a summer house called Windemere on Walloon Lake in northern Michigan, and the family would spend the summer months there trying to stay cool. Hemingway would both fish the different streams that ran into the lake, or would take the row boat out to do some fishing there. He would also go squirrel hunting in the woods near the summer house, discovering early in life the serenity to be found while alone in the forest or walk a stream. It was something he could always go back to throughout his life, wherever he was. Nature would be the touchstone of Hemingways life and work, and though he lots found himself living in major cities like Chicago, Toronto and Paris early in his career, once he became successful he chose somewhat isolated places to cognize like Key West, or San Francisco de Paula, Cuba, or Ketchum, Idaho. All were convenient locales for hunting and fishing.