Many writers, like most painters, develop a specific style that is often related to their own personality and experiences. Born on July 21, 1899, Ernest Hemingway grasped his love of literature from his mother's influence of music composition and his father's teachings of outdoor life and survival (Hemingway-DLB 130-31). In his narrations Hemingway almost always entailed elements of conflict between either man and nature or man and himself. Most of Hemmingway's literature also includes an unignorable element of masculinity such as hunting or war, and many of those themes can be linked to some of his own traits and beliefs such as racism, womanizing, and alcoholism (Hemingway-DLB 129-135). Ernest Hemingway's stories of man's conflicts against other men, nature, animals, and himself greatly appealed to his audiences due to his ability to portray a common man's soul through narration. Through the image of life in the tranquility of nature, seasoned with his own life experiences, Hemingway depicts the inner most struggles of man by revealing the individual conflicts of his characters in his stories (Allen 155). In the short story: "Big Two-Hearted River" Hemingway creates internal conflict in the main character's situations in order to show the aspects of the struggle for success in life through experiences in nature.
"Big Two-Hearted River," written in 1925, appears to be a quiet, slow paced narrative of a young man and his adventures on a fishing trip (Allen 155). Nick Adams, one of Hemingway's most popular heroes, embarks on a classic journey into nature.
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After setting up camp and sleeping over night Nick begins his quest and fishes for the majority of the day. Through the process of his journey the audience becomes familiar with minor struggles Nick faces as he prepares for his day of fishing. For example, Nick's process of pitching his tent and catching fish bait reveal his insecurity with himself and nature because his actions are so concerned with small details.
