Youth In His Lament Over Failure example essay topic

... once, with its many insights and subtleties, has the wisdom of one who has experienced the loss of hope. In Our Time does offer some pieces that afford a view of the lament of failure and of the inability to fulfill potential. In the vignette that precedes Chapter XI, Hemingway describes a youth in his lament over failure as a bullfighter. The young age of the torero is implied, since bullfighters rarely fought into middle-age, and it serves as an interesting bridge to Hemingway's later stories which involve potential.

The young torero loses his colet a, his pigtail, marking his disgrace in the ring that day. Strangely, though, his nonchalance concerning the event reveals a certain resilience: 'He was very short with a brown face and quite drunk and he said after all it has happened before like that. I am not really a good bull fighter'; (Hemingway 171). Perhaps the torero's youth allows him the resilience to move past the failure, much like Nick Adams easily puts Marge out of his mind, after a few drinks. The resilience in these two situations, however, occurs at either end of the spectrum of despair over unfulfilled potential. This young bullfighter knows his failure in that he cannot fight well, while Nick fears the uncertainty of a future relationship.

A few drinks and a little youth allow them the resilience to move on. In Hemingway's more mature works, the resilience will have worn down, allowing the onset of lament. In turning to the later stories, it seems that weariness replaces the resilience of youth, and lament replaces trepidation. 'The Short Happy Life of Francis Macomber'; opens with a drink.

From the outset of the story, Macomber seems rattled, and not until later does the text reveal his cowardice. In running from the lion, Macomber disgraces himself in the hunt. According to his recollections, this failure represents his first in a long list of previous adventures. His reaction to the failure: desperation and alcohol. The night he loses face, he loses his wife to Wilson, the successful hunter-guide. At this point, Wilson would say that the safari had gone bad, but that he was still 'drinking their whiskey'; (Hemingway 7): despite the failure of the hunt, Wilson would still receive his clients' money.

Ironically, for Wilson, 'drinking their whiskey'; serves as a response to a failed hunt, just as alcohol often serves as a response to failure in general, and as a sign of desperation. The disaster of this safari and the infidelity of his wife should only compound Macomber's feeling of failure and inadequacy, and further drive him into desperation over his inability to fulfill expectations as a hunter or a husband. As a testament to the maturity present in these later Hemingway stories, however, Macomber does not wallow in his despair, but rather, he slowly emerges from his travails during the next day's successful hunt. In Macomber's success, Hemingway presents one of the first examples of how desperation over the inability to fulfill potential can be overcome. In the case of 'Macomber,' ; performance the next day during the buffalo hunt signals a triumph over Macomber's fears: he can hunt successfully, fulfilling his own expectations, as well as the expectations of those around him.

Interestingly, alcohol now becomes a celebratory device in the text: 'Let's get the drink,' said Macomber. In his life he had never felt so good'; (Hemingway 28). Desperation gives way to celebration as fear and lament are overcome. Adding to the argument that his later stories represent a more sophisticated view of the issues involved in fulfilling potential, Hemingway presents a case in which fear and desperation are not overcome in 'A Clean Well-Lighted Place. ' ; Even though the loss of hope is not overcome, however, the story does depict a means of living that maintains dignity and self-respect. 'Last week he tried to commit suicide,' one waiter said...

'He was in despair'; (Hemingway 379). While the reader never discovers the details of the old man's past, it quickly becomes clear that his life did not turn out according to plan. The loneliness that the suicide attempt illustrates also indicates a loss of hope. Despite the loss of hope, lament does not seem to be present in the old man's life.

At least, it does not manifest itself to the waiters who see a man who drinks neatly and who carries himself down the street with a quiet dignity, despite his intoxication. Lament and self-pity are not congruent emotions to fit with these behaviors. The alcohol the old man imbibes seems to be more indicative of habit, perhaps even a support which allows him to continue living his life from day to day. It does not seem to serve as a means of wallowing in desperation and self-pity.

In 'A Clean Well-Lighted Place,' ; Hemingway delineates an alternate mode of existence for those who cannot triumph over their despair, but who instead must learn to live with it. ' The Snows of Kilimanjaro'; ties the trepidation of Hemingway's earlier works to the lament of his later works in a manner that again displays the level of maturity in his later writing. Awaiting his death, Harry remembers his youth and comments on his current relationship with the woman that accompanies him now in Africa. Like Nick Adams, in his recollections, Harry describes scenes that indicate the difficulty of relationships for him: he could never give himself wholly to his lover - at least not wholly and truthfully. In his thoughts of the past, he also recalls how he had stalled and postponed his writing, always assuring himself that he would start when he had enough information to write all his stories, and to write them all well.

Essentially, he remembers the fear of and trepidation over the expectations he had for his potential as a young writer. His promises to write when he is ready seem to echo Nick Adams's desire to shirk responsibility, to avoid fulfilling potential, in 'The Cross-County Snow. ' ; In 'The Snows of Kilimanjaro,' ; alcohol serves to dull Harry's physical as well as emotional pain over never having written. It had also been the cause of his inability to fulfill his potential as a writer: 'He had traded it [his talent] away for security, for comfort too, there was no denying that, ... '; (Hemingway 62).

In his lament, Harry admits that he had sold his talent piece by piece to become wealthy with women and comfortable in alcohol. Now, alcohol would only serve him as a diversion, as he saw drinking as the only thing left to do: 'I'm getting bored with dying as with everything else, he thought'; (Hemingway 73). Hemingway masterfully combines the lament over lost opportunity and unfulfilled potential with the trepidation of youth looking toward a daunting future by writing a story from the perspective of a dying man who simultaneously experiences both perspectives through vivid memories and an acute awareness of his present state. Harry remembers his potential and knows now that it will never be fulfilled.

In moving from the perspective of his early stories to that of his later stories, it becomes clear that Hemingway's deft ability to illuminate the nature of people's attitude toward potential is well complemented by the presence of alcohol. Trepidation and lament are marked by the presence of drink and its quieting effects. On the few occasions where triumph over fear manifests itself, Hemingway seems to imply that a the failure to fulfill one's potential is not inevitable, and that even if it does occur, it can be dealt with. Alcohol then becomes a sign of either celebration or at the very least endurance. Regardless of the individual case and outcome, Hemingway's use of alcohol is inextricably tied to despair and varied perspectives on the loss of hope.

Bibliography

Hemingway, Ernest. The Short Stories. New York: Simon & Schuster, Inc., 1995.