Ernest Hemingway's Inspiration

Ernest Miller Hemingway was born on July 21, 1899, in Oak Park, Illinois at his family’s Victorian home. He is known as one of the greatest writers of American literature in the twentieth century. Even today, Hemingway’s mythological character fascinates and at times bewilders literary critics and readers. Frequently, his writings recreated the events of his life, some of which caused him much distress. He was married four times during his sixty-one years, but the first two marriages appear to have had the greatest fundamental impact on his life. In “Hills Like White Elephants,” Hemingway re-evaluates his own experiences in terms of relationships and his decision to father children.

Hemingway married Hadley Richardson in 1921. They moved to Paris where he worked as a reporter and began his career as a fiction writer. Just as he was beginning to make a name for himself, Hadley announced she was pregnant. On October 10, 1923, John Hadley Nicanor Hemingway was born. Many issues had placed a strain on their marriage, including the fact that Hadley had lost some of Hemingway’s original manuscripts while they were traveling to Switzerland. The birth of their son only made matters worse. Hemingway’s career continued to thrive; however, his personal life kept disintegrating. He loved his son, but he wanted his freedom more. In 1927, he and Hadley divorced.

Later in 1927, shortly after his divorce from Hadley, Hemingway married his second wife, Pauline Pfeiffer, a part-time fashion magazine reporter.