Where Do We Go From Here?

There are a plethora of sources highlighting and exploring Ernest Hemingway’s career as a brilliant writer and a man with a larger-than-life personality. However, there are very few sources that call attention to the true nature of Hemingway and Hadley’s relationship. Being that Hemingway is less familiar as a man in love, and more often known for his hard-drinking, excellent writing, and as a lover of bull-fighting, his romance and marriage with Hadley seems to get lost when it comes to Hemingway’s fame. 

In 1926, the same year that Hemingway and Hadley Richardson were divorced, Hemingway contemplated suicide, drafted a last will, and wrote to F. Scott Fitzgerald, “[I’ve] been in hell now since Christmas.” Due to the fact that Hemingway portrayed Paris to be his favorite city, as well as a city he spent most of his time living and writing in alongside Hadley, critics have a hard time accepting the fact that, while there were many high points, there were also many low points. Jeffrey Herlihy-Mera writes in his article, “When Hemingway Hated Paris: Divorce Proceedings, Contemplations of Suicide, and the Deleted Chapters of “The Sun Also Rises,’” of the long-term cultural emersion that Hemingway was made susceptible to moving to Paris at such a young age, whether intentionally or unintentionally while residing in Paris, which resulted in much more than shocks and readjustments. This claim ultimately suggests that since these aspects of Hemingway’s foreign life are normally overlooked, this dimension of Hemingway’s life in Paris is often neglected, putting other things at the forefront to blame for his suicide attempts, alcoholism, etc. 

Another writer, Scott Donaldson, wrote of Hemingway’s fascination with suicide in his article, “Hemingway and Suicide.” Of Hemingway’s seven completed novels, five end in the death of the male protagonist of the story, and one with the death of a heroine. However, Hemingway’s fascination went beyond the novels he wrote about “other people, real or imagined” (291). While Hemingway’s novels all seem to account some sort of “self-destruction,” his life did not seem to fall short of this as well. The subject of suicide to Hemingway became much more than something to write about or talk about. He talked about and wrote about the prospect of taking his own life, one time specifically was the night before his wedding with Hadley, however, after his father committed suicide in December 1928, Hemingway believed that the suicide was not caused by his fathers unhappiness, his diabetes, or the like– Hemingway believes that the main reason for his father’s suicide was his father’s “emasculation by his wife” (292). Donaldson brings in Freud, writing that the death of a father is “the most important event in a man’s life” (292). This claim establishes a dangerous precedent for Hemingway. While Hemingway did end up ending his own life, he wrote to Hadley in 1939: “the important thing was not to let discouragement tempt you into taking the easy way out” (293), a quote that emphasizes Hemingway’s ongoing attempt to save his own life.

While there is a lack of research dedicated to specifically exploring Hemingway and Hadley’s relationship, the research that has been conducted and continues to be conducted regarding Hemingway’s relationship with himself gives reader’s insight into his mind, and a possible explanation as to why he was unstable not only regarding his own mental health but also within his romantic relationships.

For further information regarding the above-mentioned sources, please see:

DONALDSON, SCOTT. “HEMINGWAY AND SUICIDE.” The Sewanee Review, vol. 103, no.. 2, 1995, pp. 287–295. JSTOR, JSTOR, www.jstor.org/stable/27547014.

HERLIHY-MERA, JEFFREY. “WHEN HEMINGWAY HATED PARIS: DIVORCE PROCEEDINGS, CONTEMPLATIONS OF SUICIDE, AND THE DELETED CHAPTERS OF ‘THE SUN ALSO RISES.’” Studies in the Novel, vol. 44, no. 1, 2012, pp. 49–61. JSTOR, JSTOR, www.jstor.org/stable/23406558.