The main point of this book was to show that bullfighting was not merely a sport, but a carefully planned tragedy where every detail was determined in advance. He has said that "Accidents, deaths, exaggerated foolhardiness or visible fear and cowardice hold no place in the arena. It is predetermined incorrect for the bullfighter to die instead of the beast itself". With this it seems as though Hemingway is personifying Death, saying that Death itself chooses to take the life from the bull and not the matador. It seems as though Hemingway has found in Bullfighting a symbolic place that drives his violent nature. In Bullfighting death is normal, and to Hemingway, in his own life, death was also a very common topic. Besides the suicide of his father Ernest Hemingway was depressed and suicidal himself. He struggled to find a point or a meaning to life except that in the end everyone dies. This is why Death is a focus, or at least plays a part in most of his work. The reason that this becomes symbolic is because with bullfighting death is predetermined and according to Hemingway death was also predetermined for any individual in the real world. He struggled so hard to find a meaning for life, but the only answer he could come up with was death.
Hemingway seemed fascinated with the concepts of Life & Death. Many people view the two as complete opposites but Hemingway looked at death as part of life. Hemingway felt that since life ends with death, death was merely a part of life. This view probably comes from a need to reassure himself that it would be alright to die and to not be scared because it was inevitable anyway. In most of his stories the focus is on a man, like himself, who has to try and overcome some sort of dread that life has brought. This was the case in "Indian Camp". As the young Indian woman lay screaming in agony trying to deliver her baby, the father was in an upper bunk listening to his wife's terrifying screams.
