How Poverty And Depression Affected Hemingway's Way Of Writing

A Moveable Feast Name: Institution: A Moveable Feast is Ernest Hemingway's memoir about his life in Paris in the 1920s. It is important to note that the author wrote this book when he was already successful, he wrote about his experiences as a young and unsuccessful man who writing and happy in love with his wife. It is a short and perfect book. This memoir is written in an astonishing and absolutely deceptive simplicity. Hemingway describes the weather, the boulevards and the about the various places where he lived. Additionally, he also explains the things he ate and the different people that he met. This paper will critically examine how poverty and depression effected Hemingway's way of writing. First, Ernest Hemingway began by describing his personal view of Paris. He explained the negative things about the city and also described how untidy it was. At the beginning of the book, the winter rains are experienced and suddenly autumn is also gone. This leaves Paris sinking into a distressing soaked mass. This represented Hemingway’s blurred side of the city from the Café des Amateurs. Additionally, poverty pushed Hemingway to rent a room near the hotel so that he could carry on with his writing. He explained that this area is particularly occupied by the lowest citizens of the city who included the drunkards, he stipulated that the alcoholics were miserable people and consumed alcohol as a result of their hopelessness and distress. Ordinarily, living in such a place would definitely effect his work, he would write addressing the issues that these people faced. Additionally, it is, as a result, a result of his poverty that Hemingway prefers writing from other places rather than from his place. We see him move to a much better café which is located on the Place St.-Michel. In this part of the city, he can get absolute comfort and pleasantness. Here he settles down for a day writing. I believe that it was moving from one location to another that Hemingway was able to gain ideas about what to write about and this distinguished him from the rest of writers. Additionally, poverty has also played a major role in the development of Hemingway’s career, this is evident in chapter two of the book. Since Hemingway cannot afford to by art and keep it in his house, he would walk down by different stress and go to various museums where he would see great paintings. He explained that he would go museums such as Louvre where most of the great works had been transferred to. It was during these visits that he would go to a studio apartment which hosted Gertrude Stein’s house. It was here that he met Stein who would later play an unconventional role in his life. Stein acted as a mentor when he advised him about writing. For example, Stein said to Hemingway “But you don’t get the point at all,” she said. “You mustn’t write anything that is inaccrochable. There is no point in it. It’s wrong and it’s silly.” This was in reference to one of Hemingway’s stories “Up in Michigan.” This advice was essential in his career, being a young writer, Hemingway would now understand that controversial stories would add no value because they would not be pu...