THOREAU & HEMINGWAY

October 13, 2021


Thoreau and Hemingway

Henry David Thoreau (1817-62) is viewed as a philosopher, naturalist, and literary critic who represents the 19th century American Renaissance. Ernest Miller Hemingway (1899-1961), on the other hand, is considered a naturalist as well as a modernist writer who stands for the 20th century’s Lost Generation.


The connection between the two has been mentioned by several scholars, including Philip Young, who notes that Thoreau is “very likely the finest writer of American prose before Hemingway” (134). In Green Hills of Africa (1935), Hemingway mentioned the name of Thoreau and revealed his good impression of Thoreau’s work. As he claims,


“There is one [author] at that time [of the nineteenth century] that is supposed to be really good, Thoreau. I cannot tell you about it [Walden] because I have not yet been able to read it. But that means nothing because I cannot read other naturalists unless they are being extremely accurate and not literary…Maybe I’ll be able to [read it] later.” (21)


According to Carlos Barker, in the first draft of “The Snow of Kilimanjaro,” Hemingway called his protagonist “Henry Walden” (19-20). Later in his life, when he was asked a question as to his “literary forbears” in an interview with George Plimpton in 1958, the author mentioned Thoreau as the thirteenth on the list (27). These aspects indicate that the impact of Thoreau on Hemingway is more profound than we may think.


(1) Nature as a transcendental space for consolation and spiritual recovery

According to Robert L. Dorman, Thoreau was an individualist who cherished his solitude…in nature.” His “romantic conception of nature was complemented and buttressed by a strong belief in many of the myths and values of folklife, frontier culture, and agrarian republicanism” (qtd. in Thomas 1612).


In “Solitude” of Walden, Thoreau found a blessing in his life in the midst of the wilderness. As he notes,


This is a delicious evening, when the whole body is one sense and imbibes delight through every pore. I go and come with a strange liberty in Nature, a part of herself…As I walk along the stony shore of the pond in my shirt-sleeves, …all the elements are unusually congenial to me. (143)


From the description above, we understand that Thoreau felt as though he had been totally integrated with nature, that he was in a state of ecstasy whereby he experienced a mystical unity with nature.


This transcendental experience can also be found in Hemingway’s works. Like the author, Hemingway’s characters tend to find consolation and spiritual home in nature: Nick Adams in the forests and rivers in Michigan, Jake Barnes in the sea of San Sebastian, Robert Jordan in the pine forest of Spain, Santiago in the Mexican Gulf, to name a few.


In addition, Nick’s trip to the Michigan wood is equivalent to Thoreau’s journey to Walden. As Donald J. Greiner notes, “Thoreau’s trip to Walden is much the same as Nick’s trek to a good place: Both make the trip alone to a location away from society in order to discover something about themselves” (253).


(2) Humans are not superior to other life forms; anti-commodification of nature

In “Walking” of Walden, Thoreau notes, “I wish to speak a word for Nature, for absolute freedom and wildness, as contrasted with a freedom and culture merely civil, —to regard man as an inhabitant, or a part and parcel of Nature, rather than a member of society” (205). From his words, we understand that Thoreau viewed “absolute freedom” and “absolute wildness” as the essence of nature (Keiji 85). He thought that men were part and parcel of nature and were thus equal to all other living beings. Underlying his attitude toward nature is the concept of placing every living thing at its center, i.e., he did not view human beings as the center of nature. (Keiji 86)


This standpoint can be further found in The Maine Woods (1864), where Thoreau states, “A pine cut down, a dead pine, is no more a pine than a dead human carcass is a man” (112). In the same piece, Thoreau narrates the episode in which his cousin killed a moose just for fun. For Thoreau, killing a moose and chopping down trees is like murder.

Thoreau further deplored the commodification of nature and animals, as for him, nature is a sacred place. In The Maine Woods, Thoreau’s main concern in this piece is forest ecology, namely logging and its dangers for the ecological system. (Silva 5). He lamented to see that both the wood derived from the fallen trees and the leather from the deer’s hide would be turned into commodities (Silva 6).


(3) Kinship with animals and plants

In “Where I Lived and What I Lived For” of Walden, Thoreau calls a muskrat his “brother,” a skunk “a lowly human being,” a striped bream “my contemporary and my neighbor,” and plants of Concord his “co-inhabitants.” He also calls the stars his “companions.” (95; Keiji emphasis 87)


Similarly, the old man in The Old Man in the Sea calls out “friends” or “brothers” to the marlin and all other living beings around him.


The old man’s staying on the sea for three days further gives him a chance to muse upon the struggles for existence that take place in the sea; Small baitfish, such as shrimp, are eaten by larger fish, and jellyfish fall victims to turtles, although they have the ability to inflict acute pain to anyone that they touch. At long last, he comes to realize that these creatures are part of this endless chain. His thoughts then depart from the sea and further extend to the sky. As he ponders over the stars and the sun and then over the position of human beings in the order of space, he comes to learn how mysterious humans really are. (Keiji 82)


Hemingway thus recognizes the intrinsic value of every living being, regardless of its usefulness to mankind. (Keiji 87).


(4) Wilderness is essential for the survival of human civilization

Thoreau: “Life consists with wildness. The most alive is the wildest” (Walking 226).


Wilderness, for Thoreau, possesses vigor and energy for him. He insists that we should absorb natural energy to keep both us and our civilization alive: “In Wildness is the preservation of the World” (Walking 224).


For Hemingway, Africa had an abundance of nature and the natives there possessed a type of powerful energy (Keiji 88).


Hemingway as the modern transcendentalist

Thoreau was transcendental, and Hemingway developed his somewhat transcendental tendencies in his later works. (Keiji 91)


Camryn Scott proposes that Hemingway created a modern version of transcendentalism, at least in terms of his portrayal of wildness in his works, which pointed to nature as the only place where solace and the hope of rejuvenation could be found amidst the war, disillusionment, and depression of the early twentieth century. (76)


The difference between the two is that Hemingway does not hold a religious implication toward nature although he grew up in a “genteel, strait-laced, rigidly Protestant” suburb of Chicago, whereby the church was “the dominant influence” both “in the town and in the Hemingway household” (Meyers 4, 5).


Nevertheless, they both view nature in two contradictory ways, that is, as something intimate and beneficial for mankind (which brings about mental and physical cures) and as something that shuts its doors to people and makes them afraid.

Other common features include their ecological views regarding nature, particularly their attitude toward wild creatures, the disposition to attach importance to wildness, ambivalent and complicated feelings toward the Indians. (Keiji 91)


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