Fitzgerald and Hemingway: Imagination vs Experience
"Fitzgerald's hero puts everything to a test of an overactive imagination, while Hemingway's hero puts it to the test of experience" The most notable Hemingway hero to put everything as a test to his knowledge and experience is Santiago from "The Old Man and The Sea." Santiago is a prime example of how Old age is a richness of experience and wisdom. Santiago, has fished his whole life and knows from experience almost everything there is to know about fishing. This gives him a sense of self superiority and much heroism, evidenced when he is sitting on the terrace and "fishermenn made fun of him", he was undisturbed by this and was "not angry"(11). At the beginning of the story, he has "gone eighty-four days ... without taking a fish"(9). Yet, He is still "cheerful and undefeated" because in the past he has gone "eighty-seven days without a fish and then caught big ones every day for three weeks". (10) Everything Santiago does in the story is almost ritualistic of his past experience. There is no experience that he enters into that he is not fully aware of the situation, even if it dangerous or risky. Santiago's over confidence in his experience is seen when he takes his boat "further out" then he is supposed to, testing h
The scene, in which Gatsby describes his first kiss with Daisy, is the ultimate example of his romantic imagination. As Joe matures, he knows that his father partakes in gambling and other illegal activity, but he blocks it out. Bernice's primary focus is to be popular with boys like her cousin Marjorie. It has also taught him to be stoic, a trait that to Hemingway represents strength. If you are none of these you can be sure it will kill you too but there will be no special hurry. "(129) With age, Joe has become stronger and learned the necessary lessons to survive in a Hemingway world. "(31) To him it "was a game, like bridge, in which you said things instead of playing cards. They will go to any extreme, even kill, to protect their wealth and lifestyle. "(32) On his return to the front, his outlook changes, "Abstract words such as glory, honor, courage, or hallow were obscene beside the concrete names of villages, the numbers of roads, the names or rivers, the numbers of regiments and dates. "Five Years Later"(138) Gatsby still has a "extraordinary gift for hope"(6), so much that he believes that he can "repeat the past"(116) so that "it's all wiped out forever"(139) and so that he can "fix everything just the way it was before. Bernice is very kind, gentle and sensitive, an absolute contrast to her cousin Marjorie, who is vindictive, conceited, and lacks all sensitivity. She sacrificed her "long voluptuous"(43) hair, which she dearly loved. When Frederic is transferred to a hospital in Milan, he finds himself under the care of Catherine. Marjorie dares Bernice to keep the promise of bobbing her hair, rather then have Warren think badly of her and face the pain of being outcast by the social group. "( 25) As Amory ages he develops a constant fear of being viewed other then as a pillar of perfection.
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