Hemingway+In+Africa

Ernest Hemingway once said that “Good eating, good drinking, good sport, good intercourse, good landscapes…” are what lead to a happy experience of life (McCaffery 116). Hemingway was an avid traveler. In December of 1933, Hemingway found these elements of an enjoyable life during a safari in [|east Africa]. “This was the kind of hunting that I liked. No riding in cars, the country broken up instead of the plains, and I was completely happy.... The only person I really cared about, except the children, was with me and I had no wish to share this life with any one who was not there, only to live it, being completely happy....” (Jungman 2). During his three month safari, Hemingway was able to enjoy his time and spend all of it outdoors. He killed lions and other big game animals, and was able to track his game through the bush, and really become one with nature. Another key to happiness that Hemingway thought was the ability to write. In a conversation with Kandisky, an Austrian man who joined him on the safari, Hemingway replied, “I am interested in other things. I have a good life but I must write because if I do not write a certain amount I do not enjoy the rest of my life.” “And what do you want?” “To write as well as I can and learn as I go along. At the same time I have my life which I enjoy and which is a damned good life” (Jungman 2). Lucky for Hemingway, in Africa he not only found the key to a happy life, but he found inspiration to write, “I would come back to Africa but not to make a living from it. I could do that with two pencils and a few hundred sheets of the cheapest paper. But I would come back to where it pleased me to live, to really live. Not just let my life pass” (Jungman 2). After his experience in Africa, Hemingway wrote a book about his time that he spent there.The book “Green Hills of Africa” emphasized “living life” to the fullest (Jungman 3).However this book did not sell very well and that depressed Hemingway (Crawfurd 1).He also wrote two short stories, “The Short Happy Life of Francis Macomber” and “The Snows of Kilimanjaro”; both of these stories we later recognized as highlights of his writing career. Later on in Hemingway’s writing career he wrote one of his biggest novels, “The Old Man and the Sea”.In that story, the old man, Santiago, reminisces about his past. A memorable experience for Santiago was seeing the lions on the coast of Africa. He dreams about them throughout the story (Hemingway). This could be directly related to Hemingway’s own experience in Africa, because both of them enjoyed their time there very much.

By Jake Leiby

Works Cited