Final Paper Mata Kuliah Introduction to Prose

Dina Juwita

180410140036

7/1/2015

Individualism and Loss in Three Stories of Ernest Hemingway

Loss was presented in several stories by Ernest Hemingway as the real problem of the story. He present it through theme like war, love, and friendship which is the cause of loss itself. “Old Man at The Bridge”, “In Another Country”, “The Three-Day Blow” have different kind of loss and Hemingway maybe trying to show the reader how bad the war is and how he hates it but it was a thing that makes him write. Hemingway said “They wrote in the old days that it is sweet and fitting to die for one's country. But in modern war there is nothing sweet nor fitting in your dying. You will die like a dog for no good reason." in “Notes on The Next War : The Serious Topical Letter” to show what he used to think and what he thinks about war. It is like he try to tell and remind us about the doctrine that the government do. That to dead in war is the best way to death with honored. But for now, it’s not an honor anymore because people who get into war just be the device for government to get their purpose and if we died in the middle of the war, we are nothing. And most of losses is caused by individualism.

In Ernest Hemingway’s The Three-Day Blow, individualism appears in a closest figure of a son, a father. When Nick nailed Bill to get drunk and he answered “My old man won’t care,” (114) It shows the individualism of Bill’s father which have concequences of Bill who feel he didn’t get love and attention from his father. When Bill said “He’s out with the gun.” (111) It indicates the individualism of his father. He’d prefer to go hunting when the weather is bad instead of wasting time at home with Bill.

In another works of Hemingway, “In Another Country” and “Old Man at The Bridge” individualism appears in a form of war which is the most obvious thing as a representative of government’s individualism. And in both of them, the individualism make the character lose what they have and even their desire of life. When the doctor responses “an industrial accident” (244) for describe a wound, it indicates what war in Hemingway’s eyes. An industrial accident, a form of individualism of government. An industry, as we know, have a purpose to get profit as much as they can and use their workers to reach their goal. A country, like an industry, have a purpose to expand their territory and their influence. And the citizen is their device to get them. Their individualism make the old man in “Old Man at The Bridge” thought about death. The old man decide to stay at the bridge which being advanced by the Fascist in the end of the story instead of going to Barcelona. When he said “It’s better not to think about the others” (84), he show his disappointment to government through the narrator. Reverse with the  old man, the narrator in “In Another Country” whom is the narrator of the story, afraid to die. When he said “I knew that I would never have done so much things, and I was very much to die, and often lay in bed at night by myself, afraid to die.” (246) it shows that he sees life as a long way ahead since he out of the war because of get injury in his knee. The other character in Hemingway’s “In Another Country”, the major, get the effect of government’s individualism. He get the sadness of losing his wife and he didn’t get the chance to meet his wife in her last days because he was in war. When the major said “A man must not marry” (247) because “He should not place himself in a position to lose. He should find things he cannot lose.” (247), he is in the way to express his disappointment of his life and the government, just like what old man did in “Old Man at The Bridge”.

Beside the individualism, Hemingway shows several symbols which is represent other meaning and also the cause of loss in “Old Man at The Bridge” and “The Three-Day Blow”. The wind in “The Three-Day Blow”,and the bridge and animals in “Old Man at The Bridge”. Each symbols show the true problem of the story. In Ernest Hemingway’s “The Three-Day Blow”, the wind which is blow is a symbol of Bill’s problems and a part of Nick’s loss. Nick as the narrator, said that “Just like when the three-day blows come now and rip all the leaves off the trees.” (118) It indicates that problems come to life and everything is not in the same place again. Everything is change and often end up by loss. Nick lose Marjorie and the worst part: himself. Number of the blow is the number of Bill’s problem; first, the individualism of his father and then his family problem which explicitly show when he said “Once a man’s married he’s absolutely bitched. […..] He hasn’t got anything more. Nothing. Not a damn thing. He’s done for. You’ve seen the guys that get married.” (117), and the last is his love-problem that we can see when he said “But you always fall for somebody else and then it’s all right. Fall for them and don’t  let them ruin you.”(117) And In “Old Man at The Bridge”, there are two symbols: bridge and animals. The bridge where the old man sit is a representation of his perplexity. It is a symbol of something which connect the beginning and the end, past and future, or life and death. The old man is in the situation when he is tired to life but uncertain to go to death. Animals can be a sign of human. He said he “was only taking care of animals” (86) and he “was the last one to leave the town in San Carlos” (84) It can show how he try to say that war, a form of individualism, is horrible. The certain thing in war is death and there are many people who can’t do anything but died, just like animals.

In “The Three-Day Blow” and “In Another Country”, Hemingway tells the story in narrative way for there were  incident and events before the character end up by losing and before their real problem was discovered. Narrative technique makes Nick as a narrator in “The Three-Day Blow” can tell the reader about the kind of loss that happen to Bill and Nick himself through narration of what they did at Bill’s home while the weather was bad. And as we know, the kind of Nick’s losses and Bill’s can happen for there’s something happen in their life before. Nick lose Marjorie after an incident of “[Love] isn’t fun anymore” (108) in another Ernest Hemingway’s work,  “The End of Something” And Bill knew he loss so many things during his life. Similar in “The Three-Day Blow”, Hemingway tells the story in narrative way in his work, “In Another Country” He tells the reader about what the real problem through narrative text about someone who had to go to the hospital to mend his injury and met few people who had  many kinds of loss. ‘I’ who narrates the story tell what happen to him and his friends, full with the cause. In narrative way, the story presents the loss which is the effect of what had happened in the past.

Different with “The Three-Day Blow” and “In Another Country”, in “Old Man at The Bridge”, Hemingway tells the strory in descriptive way. ‘I’ as the narrator describe the situation at Ebro Delta and the condition of old man first to show his confusion of why the old man just sit at the bridge. That confusion can tell what the problem is. In “Old Man at The Bridge”, the problem, the loss is present at that time, when old man is at the bridge, when life goes on.

In conclusion, individualism as one of plenteous principle that selected by various people, can’t always bring all of the favor to their life. That principle frequently heading several characters in Ernest Hemingway’s works and probably people in reality to lose something and someone that they have.

Works Cited

Hemingway, Ernest. The First Forty-Nine Stories. London : Jonathan Cape Thirty Bedford Square, 1939.