Ernest Hemingway Ernest Miller Heminway, the second of six children, was born on July 21, 1899 at his grandfather's house in Oak Park, Chicago. His family then moved to Bear Lake, where he spent his first years. It was here that he caught his first fish at the age of three. At the age of six, his granfather died, leaving the family the large home where Ernest was born. It was here, in Oak Park, that Ernest grew up. His father taught him all about nature and the out doors, some of his teachings included; how to build fires, how to cook in the open, how to use an axe, and how to make bullets. Physical endurance and courage were also highly valued characteristics. This kind of up-brining is likely where Hemingway got the charateristics for the famed "Hemingway Hero." The so called "Hemingway Hero" is the foundation for the main charater in all of Hemingway's stories. The "Hemingway Hero" is always a man, more so, he is a rough, woodsy type; a real man's-man. He drinks, he hunts, and he acts first then asks questions later. He goes from one woman to another, and women are good for little more than reproduction. (Shoemaker) He has hopes, dreams, convictions and beliefes which he strictly follows, but he does not talk about them. This is one great example of the "Hemingway Hero" being a man: "How much did you suffer?" "Plenty," replied the old man." (Ernest Hemingway, "Old Man and The Sea" 126.) This conversation took place after the old man had been fighting a twelve hundred pound marlin for three days with little drink and only raw fish to eat. This pattern of the "Hemingway Hero" is consistent in all of Hemingway's writings. Santiago, from "The Old Man and the Sea," has a striking similarity to each of the injured soldiers in "In Another Country." All of these men are proud and it is shown in the soldiers thoughts about his medals (Adventures in American Literature 649) and in Santiago's belief that a man can be destroyed, but not defeated; which is also major theme in many of Hemingway's writings.
