Hemmingway 2 Essay, Research Paper

The themes of alienation and isolation go hand in hand with the role nature plays in Ernest Hemmingway s short story The Big Two-Hearted River. Nick Adams, whose life and personality parallels that of Hemmingway, constantly retreats to nature to find a quiet place of reflection and self-examination. These moments of isolation are those in which Hemmingway goes into immense detail to describe every action of Nick and the rare occasion of whoever may be with him.

In The Big Two Hearted River, nature plays a pivotal role in Nick s life as an escape from the everyday conflicts he experiences. One of the few times in the story where Nick is happy and at peace with himself is when he is by the river, Nick walked back up the ties to where his pack lay in the cinders beside the rail-way track. He was happy. (134) Nick comes to terms with things while he is in nature and is able to think. He contemplates the separation of he and his friend Hopkins and after thinking it through, feels settled about it. It made a good ending to the story. (142)

In fact, Nick doesn t necessarily have to analyze his problems for his life to suddenly simplify, just being in nature and by the River calms him down. From the time he had down off the train and the baggage man had thrown his pack out of the open car door, things had been different. (134) Hemmingway uses the trout as symbolism for Nick, his constant struggle to make it up stream compares to Nick s constant struggle with the strong currents of his life. Nick checks on the trout when he stops, He s all right Nick thought. He s only tired. He s just resting. This is considerably like how Nick is resting during his vacations by the River.