This semester, in my Spanish 003 class, I learned that Ernest Hemingway spent 28 years of his life living, writing, drinking, eating, fishing and sailing in Havana, Cuba. He was enamored with Cuba's customs and culture. The United States may be his native country, but for 28 years, Cuba was his home. Hemingway was upset that he could not be in Cuba during the Cold War conflicts in 1959, and he never returned to Cuba before his tragic suicide in 1961. Hemingway was highly influenced by other cultures, particularly the Latinos and Hispanics. One of his novels, The Old Man and the Sea, which is based on actual voyages in Cuba on his boat, Pilar, won a Pulitzer Prize in 1953 and a Nobel Prize for Literature in 1954. Hemingway's critically acclaimed literary works are considered national treasures, or tesoros nacionales, in both the United States and Cuba.
             As a journalism student, I thought that maybe I could learn some new writing techniques from Hemingway's novel The Sun Also Rises. The novel begins in post-World War I Paris, France, with a "lost generation" of souls who are trying to figure each other out and find their own niches in life as well. Jake Barnes is the struggling war veteran who suffers from problems with his job as a writer and his personal and life. Lady Brett Ashley is the woman who brings on Barnes' romantic struggles with her insatiability and lackadaisical attitude towards relationships and commitment. Mike Campbell is an alcoholic, bankrupt veteran and Brett's fiancée, who doesn't deal well with Brett's promiscuity. Count Mippipopolous is one of Brett's many partying partners. The Count, a veteran of many wars and revolutions, becomes infatuated with Brett, but he doesn't pursue her affections with controlling behavior. Robert Cohn is Jake's friend, also a struggling writer, is a former college box!
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