Code Hero free essay sample

Closely related to the concept of stoicism is the Code Hero, a phrase used to describe the main character in many of Hemingways novels. Some critics regard Santiago as the finest, most developed example of these code heroes. In this phrase, code means a set of rules or guidelines for conduct. In Hemingways code, the principal ideals are honor, courage, and endurance in a life of stress, misfortune, and pain. Often in Hemingways stories, the heros world is violent and disorderly; moreover, the violence and disorder seem to win. The code dictates that the hero act honorably in the midst of what will be a losing battle. In doing so he finds fulfillment: he becomes a man or proves his manhood and his worth. The phrase grace under pressure is often used to describe the conduct of the code hero. Hemingway defined the Code Hero as a man who lives correctly, following the ideals of honor, courage and endurance in a world that is sometimes chaotic, often stressful, and always painful. He measures himself by how well he handles the difficult situations that life throws at him. In the end the Code Hero will lose because we are all mortal, but the true measure is how a person faces death. He believes in Nada, a Spanish word meaning nothing. Along with this, there is no after life. The Code Hero is typically an individualist and free-willed. He never shows emotions; showing emotions and having a commitment to women shows weakness. Qualities such as bravery, adventuresome and travel also define the Code Hero. Ironically, the code hero can also be afraid of the dark in that it symbolizes the void, the abyss, the nothingness (nada) that comes with death. However, once he faces death bravely and becomes a man he must continue the struggle and constantly prove himself to retain his manhood. The code hero or heroine (like Catherine Barkley) must perform his or her work well to create a kind of personal meaning amidst the greater meaninglessness. Still, life is filled with misfortunes, and a code hero is known by how he endures those misfortunes. Ultimately, the code hero will lose in his conflict with life because he will die. But all that matters is how one faces death. In fact, one should court death, in the bull ring, on the battlefield, against big fish, because facing death teaches us how to live. Along with this, the code hero must create and follow certain rituals regarding death because those rituals help us. The bullfighter must have grace and must make his kills clean. He must face noble animals. He must put on his suit a certain way. Similarly, a fisherman shouldnt go out too far. He should respect the boundaries the fish have established for fishermen. Religion is helpful only in that it provides us with rituals. But religions are wrong when they promise life after death. If an individual faces death bravely, then he becomes a man, but he must repeat the process, constantly proving himself, until the ultimate defeat. The Hemingway man was a man’s man. He was a man involved in a great deal of drinking. He was a man who moved from one love affair to another, who participated in wild game hunting, who enjoyed bullfights, who was involved in all of the so-called manly activities, which the typical American male did not participate in. Throughout many of Hemingway’s novels the code hero acts in a manner which allowed the critic to formulate a particular code. He does not talk about what he believes in. †¢ He is man of action rather than a man of theory. Behind the formulation of this concept of the hero lies the basic disillusionment brought about by the First World War. The sensitive man came to the realization that the old concepts and the old values embedded in Christianity and other ethical systems of the western world had not served to save mankind from the catastrophe inherent in the World War. A basis for all of the actions of all Hemingway code heroes is the concept of death. The idea of death lies behind all of the character’s actions in Hemingway novels. HEMINGWAYS HERO The Hemingway Hero is defined by a static set of characteristics. These characteristics remain essentially the same throughout all of Hemingways works. The Hemingway Hero is always courageous, confident, and introspective. He does not let his fears get to him. The Hemingway Hero is expressed differently in each of his novels, though. Sometimes he is young, and sometimes old. In Hemingways novels â€Å"The Nick Adams Stories† and â€Å"Old Man and the Sea†, the Hero is introduced differently. In â€Å"The Nick Adams Stories†, Nick Adams begins as a naive, young boy then becomes the Hero within the view of the reader as his early life and the events that influenced his life most are the entirety of this memoir-style novel. In â€Å"Old Man and the Sea’, though, the old man does not develop into a hero. Santiago begins as an old man who has already attained the Heroic qualities that he will demonstrate intentionally throughout the rest of the story. This is a unique and remarkable approach, and after the failure of his previous book, certainly a risky one. The book is not a portrait; it is not static, despite that the main characters morals – his ideals- never really change. A reader of his previous works might feel that they have seen these characteristics in Hemingways works before. Nick, the main character in â€Å"The Nick Adams Stories†, is in many ways is like Hemingway himself. Setting up camp and fishing and cooking by himself, Nick lifts his spirits by creating his own personal utopia. He remains and is static, unchanging example of Hemingways idealistic of heroism. In fact, Nick Adams is probably the most autobiographical of Hemingway’s characters. Instead he relied, like Nick Adams, on finding his own escape from reality, making his own â€Å"good place†. Like Nick Adams, Hemingway found nature to be the best escape for him from his troubled world. The Hemingway Hero was not an original invention of his. The Hero, universally, expresses one key quality: Grace Under Pressure (GUP). Nick travels into the forests of northern Michigan to find a release from the agony and emotional wounds the war has left him. Iceberg Theory The Iceberg Theory (also known as the theory of omission) is the writing style of American writer Ernest Hemingway. Hemingway began his writing career as a reporter. Journalistic writing, particularly for newspapers, focuses only on events being reported, omitting superfluous and extraneous matter. When he became a writer of short stories, he retained this minimalistic style, focusing on surface elements without explicitly discussing the underlying themes. Hemingway believed the true meaning of a piece of writing should not be evident from the surface story, rather, the crux of the story lies below the surface and should be allowed to shine through.