Behind Those Green Hills of

AfricaErnest Hemingway Biographical Connection to

Green Hi!s of A"ica

General Information

The purpose of this ebook is to convey the important and significant influence an author’s life has on his/her writing. This eBook will begin by exploring the biography of Ernest Hemingway. From childhood to old age, you as a reader will understand the story of Hemingway. Your summer reading assignment is Green Hi!s of A"ica by Ernest Hemingway. In addition, you will be expected to read this eBook as well and formulate answers to the discussion questions. Be pre-pared to have an in-class discussion on the material during the first week of classes. As you read, take notes (these will be collected for credit). Understanding Hemingway’s back-ground will help you be a more perceptive reader when ana-lyzing his Green Hi!s of A"ica. The Green Hi!s of A"ica can be classified as a traveller’s tale- an adventure novel- a story of facing a new frontier. It falls into the non-fiction genre, for it is written by Hemingway about his encounters in Af-rica.

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Green Hills of Africa

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Discussion Questions...

As you read Green Hills of Africa, keep in mind the follow-ing questions:

1. Is it possible to have a piece of literature that is unbiased by the writer’s experiences or thoughts?

2. In the Green Hi!s of A"ica, who is P.O.M. now that you are aware of his biography? What does P.O.M. stand for? What do you think Hemingway’s view of women is?

3. Do you like Hemingway? Do you agree with his morals (not just women, but hunting, writing, living, etc.)? Could he be considered a man of his time?

4.What ideologies are uncovered when analyzing the text? What is the significance of hunting and adventure? Know-ing that the gun is a phallic symbol in literature, what is it saying about allowing P.O.M. to hunt? Does he always al-low her to come? What is Hemingway saying about mas-culinity? Do women define men? Are women needed to understand men? Are they complementing foils or one in the same?

5. Why is Pop such a significant character? What is P.O.M.’s opinion of Pop? Why is P.O.M.’s opinion of Pop so impor-tant to Hemingway? Do you find the ending interesting? Does Hemingway want to be Pop? Does he admire or de-spise him? Why does Hemingway leave the end of the story the way he does, does this influence perspective?

6.Finally, I want you to consider all the other things and overanalyze it in the most English worthy way possible: hunting, people, women, drinking, landscape, emotions, words, philosophies, writing, etc.? Why is this text still studied today

ReferenceRead these before and after reading The Green Hills of Africa. Sometimes it is helpful to compare your initial thoughts with post thoughts- it can give you a sense of if the reading was effective in broadening your personal perspective.Keep in mind that some of these questions will be harder to think about before reading the book, however they can scaffold you to be ready to toss these thoughts around as you are reading and reflecting in retrospect.

Green Hills of AfricaThis book was published in 1935. The President of the United States was FDR (Franklin D. Roosevelt). The book is written in the time that lapsed between WWI and WWII. Just something to keep in mind about the time aspect of the setting.

Author of EbookAs a teaching member of the English Department, I have created this eBook to be used as a guidance through the junior year summer reading assignment.-K. Fougerousse

Affluent Family

Ernest Miller Hemingway was born on July 21st of 1899. He was born into an affluent family. His father, Clarence Ed-monds Hemingway, was a physician. His mother, Grace Hall-Hemingway, was a musician. He had four sisters and a brother. He grew up in Oak Park, Illinois, a suburb of Chi-cago. He claimed that he did not like his mother, however they had similar personalities. She made him play cello which he despised at the time, yet later gave credit to for his understanding of writing.The family owned a summer-house in Michigan, where at the age of four, he developed his passion for being outdoors, hunting, and fishing.

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The Early Years

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Education

He attended Oak Park and River Forest High School from 1913 to 1917, where he played cello in the orchestra, participated in track and field, water polo, boxing, and football. He excelled in English and devel-oped a love for journalism. The school newspaper was The Trapeze. It was in his journalism class that he developed an inter-est that would lead to his future career.

First Job

Hemingway was a journalist before he be-came a writer. His first job as a journalist was working for The Kansas City Star.

Early Family Portrait

Service

In World War I, Hemingway volunteered as an ambulance driver in Italy. He had to grow up fast. He recovered “shredded” bod-ies of female factory workers during a mis-sion. He himself was shot and though shot, rescued a fellow soldier, earning an Italian Medal of Bravery.

“Never think that war, no matter how necessary, nor how justified, is

not a crime.”

Hemingway

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Agnes von Kurowsky

Agnes von Kurowsky was a Red Cross nurse serving in World War I. She nursed Hemingway back to health after he was wounded. She was seven years older than him. How-ever, they fell in love. She promised to marry him. He left and went home to the States with the intentions of return-ing or bringing her to America to marry. While he returned home, she fell in love with another man and married him. Needless to say, this had a very significant impact on Hem-ingway’s life. It could be argued that Agnes ruined him and as a result in the future, he often left the woman before she had the chance to leave him.

Re-adjustment

After the the Agnes ordeal, he returned home and wrote “Big Two-Hearted River.” He went through a long re-adjustment period. He lived at home and tried to surround himself with old friends, but the war and Agnes had changed him and would influence him for the rest of his

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Love Interests Part One

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Ag-

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life. He moved to Toronto for a spell where he worked for the Toronto Star. Then, he accepted a job in Chicago where he worked for the Cooperative Commonwealth.

Excerpt from the Toronto Star by Hemingway

Toronto StarThe picture shows an Ernest Hemingway excerpt.

First Marriage

He worked as a freelance writer and associate editor before meeting his first wife Hadley Richardson in 1921. He said that he knew she was the one he was going to marry when he saw her.... which was true and seemed romantic... until the other three wives followed, but we shall get there in a bit. They lived in Paris and had a son named Jack. In Paris, Hemingway became acquainted with “the Lost Genera-tion,” individuals such as Gertrude Stein, James Joyce, and Ezra Pound. During his time with Hadley, he wrote Three Stories and Ten Poems, In Our Time, and The Sun Also Rises.

Hemingway became irritated with Hadley after she lost a suitcase with many of his works enclosed. He cheated on her in 1927 after which she filed for a divorce- she received profits form his book The Sun Also Rises.

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Love Interests Part Two

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The Good Times

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While in Paris, Hemingway befriended Gertrude Stein, James Joyce, John Dos Passos, and Ezra Pound. He took an interest in modernism. The Lost Generation were a new wave of writers. Many people found their work to modern and were skeptical of change, as all movements start. Hem-ingway stated about The Sun Also Rises, that the "point of the book" was not so much about a generation being lost, but that "the earth abideth forever.” He believed the charac-ters in The Sun Also Rises may have been "battered" but were not lost.

Lost GenerationNoun1. the generation of men and women who came of age during or immediately following World War I: viewed, as a result of their war experiences and the social upheaval of the time, as cynical, disillusioned, and without cultural or emotional stability.

Lost Generation

Pauline Pfeiffer

Hemingway had an affair with Pauline Pfeiffer, leaving Had-ley to marry her. They married in 1927. Pauline Pfeiffer worked for Vogue. Hemingway converted to Catholicism when they married. Their honeymoon was not so pleasant, he contracted Anthrax. He recovered of course. Then, Pau-line and Hemingway had two sons together, traveled often, and had houses in Key West (winter house) and Wyoming (summer house). Hemingway loved cats and had several on his land. During his time with Pauline, he wrote Men With-out Women, A Farewe! to Arms, Death in the A&ernoon, Green Hills of Africa, To Have and to Have Not, “The Snows of Kilimanjaro,” and “The Short Happy Life Of Francis Ma-comber.” Around the time he wrote A Farewell to Arms, Pauline had a very troubled pregnancy before their son Pat-rick was born in 1928. Their second son, Gregory, was born in 1931. Sometime after that, closer to 1940, Hemingway had an affair and ended the marriage.

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Love Interests

Part Three

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Be sure to note that P.O.M. in Green Hi!s of A"ica is Pauline!

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Patrick Gregory

The Years ofHemingway and Pauline

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“His second major venture into nonfiction, Green Hills of Africa is Ernest Heming-way’s lyrical journal of a month on safari in the great game country of East Africa, where he and his wife Pauline journeyed in December of 1933. Hemingway’s well-known interest in- and fascination with- big game hunting is magnificently cap-tured in this evocative account of his trip. In examining the poetic grace of the chase, and the ferocity of the kill, Hemingway also looks inward, seeking to explain the lure of the hunt and the primal undercur-rent that comes alive on the plains of Af-rica. Yet, Green Hills of Africa is also an impassioned portrait of the glory of the Af-rican landscape, and the beauty of a wilder-ness that was, even then, being threatened by the incursions of man. Hemingway’s rich description of the beauty and strange-ness of the land and his passion for the sport of hunting combine to give Green

Hills of Africa the freshness and immedi-acy of a deeply felt personal experience that is the hallmark of the greatest travel writing.” (back cover of the book)

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Green Hills of Africa

Martha and the Wars

While Hemingway was working during the Spanish Civil War and serving in WWII, he met Martha Gellhorn. He di-vorced Pauline. Martha and Hemingway married in 1940- she was the best of both world’s St. Louis Native like Had-ley and worked for Vogue like Pauline. They lived in Cuba (home called “Finca Vigia”) and had another home in Sun Valley, Idaho. He kept many of his works in the bank in Ha-vana, Cuba. During his time with her, he wrote The Fi&h Col-umn (play) and For Whom the Be! To!s. He received the Pulit-zer Prize in 1953 for his piece, For Whom the Be! To!s.

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Love Interests Part Four

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With Martha

Hemingway worked for the North American Newspaper Alliance. He was kept from enter-ing the beaches on D-Day, because he was considered precious cargo. He was in the 22nd Infantry Regiment. He had became a de facto leader of village militia in Rambouillet out-side of Paris. He was there when Paris was liberated. At the Geneva Convention: charges that had been pressed against him were dropped. He received a Bronze Star for Bravery 1947.

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Spanish Civil War and

World War 2

Mary Welsh

In 1946, Hemingway left Martha for Mary Welsh, whom he asked to marry him after only three meetings. Hemingway had his share of bad luck during their marriage. He survived two bad plane crashes and two bad car accidents. Most of his friends died within a ten year span. He became an alco-holic. He wrote The Garden of Eden and The Old Man and the Sea. He received the Nobel Peace Prize in 1954 for The Old Man and the Sea. Hemingway had a brief affair with 19-year-old Adriana Ivanich, but he remained married to Mary.

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Love Interests Part Five

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With Mary

Bad Luck

Hemingway had his share of bad luck through out his life. From losing friends, to accidents, to relationships that did not last. He endured lots of pain. His father committed sui-cide. He had witnessed bad things in the wars. He had un-dergone tremendous ridicule from critics in regards to his simplistic style. He suffered from a severe drinking problem as well. Needless to say, bad luck seemed to shadow him throughout his life.

To elaborate on a few:

- Contracted anthrax on honeymoon with Pauline in the Caribbean

- Pulled a skylight down on his head= scar

- 1930 broke his arm in a car accident (fun fact: healed with kangaroo tendon)

- Ectopic pregnancy with wife Mary (5 months)

- Yeats and Ford Madox Ford died in 193916

Tragic End8

- F. Scott Fitzgerald died in 1940

- 1945 car accident smashed his knee and acquired another deep wound on fore-head

- Sherwood Anderson and James Joyce died in 1941

- Gertrude Stein died in 1946

- 1947 car accident injured son Patrick: head wound

-Max Perkins (his editor) died in 1947

- Depression: excessive drinking problem led to high blood pressure- overweight- and eventually diabetes, liver disease, and arteriosclerosis

- 1954- survived two successive plane crashes: head wound- loss of cerebral fluid and second degree burns- two cracked discs- ruptured kidney and liver- broken skull- dislocated shoulder

- 1960 The Hemingway's left Cuba for the last time- leaving behind the immense col-lection of his books in Havana

Suicide

In the fall of 1928, Ernest received news that his father committed suicide before the letter Ernest had sent him, explaining not to worry about the finances had ar-rived. Ernest said he thought he would die the same way. After his bad luck during the time he was married to Mary, he became paranoid and Mary sent him to a mental institute where they drugged him and used electric shock therapy. He committed sui-cide by shooting himself in the mouth with his shotgun. His brother and sister also committed suicide. Some experts in-vestigated the case and claim their suicides were the result of a genetic disorder called hemochromatosis. Hemingway’s death was a tragic end to the life of a man whose work would be studied and admired for years to come. He died on July 2nd of 1961.

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Remembering Hemingway

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Review: Ernest Hemingway Mini Biographyhttp://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0JQDe0GCNHg

The above video recaps the biography of Ernest Hemingway. Use this information to reinforce an-swers to the questions in the beginning of this eBook and the questions you are about to look at in the next section.

Now as you begin reading Green Hi!s of A"ica, I want you to be conscientious of when Hemingway’s implicit and explicit thoughts seep through his text. For example, on pages 70-72, we as readers are given a glimpse into Hemingway’s past. Is this a negative reflection? While many claim it was not Hemingway’s style to be overly emotionally complicated is this an area where he ties his personal emotions into his writing? Where else does this occur- where do we see Hem-ingway’s personal life seeping through the narrative? These are the kind of things I want you as a discerning reader to recognize.

In addition to better prepare yourself for the in-class discus-sions, please consider and begin to shape your answers to the following questions...

1. Hemingway states on page 109, “A country finally, erodes and the dust blows away, the people all die and none of them were of any importance permanently, except those who practised the arts, and these now wish to cease their work because it is too lonely, too hard to do, and is not fash-

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Closing Thoughts

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Food For Thought

ionable.” How do you interpret this? Is this what is important to the world? Do you feel that Hemingway is lashing out against critics or do you believe this is a foundational thought, or both?

2. In a semi-philosophical rant, Hemingway mentions, “The palm fronds of our victories, the worn lightbulbs of our discoveries and the empty condoms of our great loves float with no significance against one, single-lasting thing- the stream” (150). What do you make of this? Metaphorically? Symbolically? What is the stream? Applying this to the ideology of a “new frontier” or the land unknown, what can this mean?

3. Hemingway talking about Africa says, “I love this country and I felt at home and where a man feels at home, outside of where he’s born, is where he’s meant to go.” Hemingway lived in the United States, Cuba, Europe (Paris), and some other places for some time, why do you think he feels that Africa is his home? “All I wanted to do now was get back to Africa. We had not left it, yet, but when I would wake in the night I would lie, listen-ing, homesick for it already.” He mentions missing it before he has even left? Can you re-late this statement to your life?

4.Final thoughts? Favorite quotes? Dislike or like?

5. Why is Hemingway’s writing style so unique?

Hope this helps, enjoy the reading, and have a wonderful summer! Cannot wait to meet each of you!

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“Live the full life of the mind, exhil-erated by new ideas, intoxicated by

the romance of the unusual”-Ernest Hemingway

Works Cited

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http://www.credoreference.com/topic/hemingway_ernest_1899_1961

http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/e/e1/Ernest_Hemingway_1923_passport_photo.TIF.jpg

http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/9/9b/Ernest_Hemingway_with_Family,_1905.png

http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/f/fe/Ernest_Hemingway's_Baby_Picture_-_NARA_-_192665.jpg

http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/6/62/Agnes_von_Kurowsky_in_Milan.jpg

http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/0/07/HemingwayLoeb.jpg

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http://www.xtimeline.com/__UserPic_Large/1311/ELT200711090010234839958.JPG

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http://www.j'library.org/~/media/assets/Audiovisual/Still%20Photographs/Ernest%20Hemingway%20Photograph%20Collection/EH07241G.jpg

http://www.flickr.com/photos/65270245@N08/7976920961/

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