As America’s population continues to rise, due to the steady birth rate and longer life expectancy, cities and suburbs are steadily becoming areas of no vacancy. As neighborhoods and schools fill up, the need for more space becomes apparent. This is where the initial debate of land preservation begins. On one hand, you have those that believe we must take all necessary actions to create more space for the people. By doing this, you would be spreading out the cluttering population, while also creating many more jobs. On the other hand, there are those who believe that this is ruining the beautiful, nature-based, America that the country was founded on. Furthermore, you would see an increase in pollution and toxins in the air, two issues that, according to some people, are directly linked to global warming.
Ernest Hemingway, a well-known “man of the land”, in my opinion, would have been passionately in favor of preserving the lands of this country. Not only did he reference nature on several occasions in his writings, but also he had a great interest in travel, visiting and working in several different countries throughout his lifetime. He owned boats and cabins and thoroughly enjoyed spending his time with nature, as he believed all men should do. Like several generations of his family tree, Ernest Hemingway suffered from clinical depression and other possible mental instabilities, and it is possible that his time with nature provided a brief relief from his growing fame, relationships problems, and money issues.
His literary collection contains many direct references to nature and the land. As I referenced in my last blog post, one of his most popular pieces of writing, “The Snows of Kilimanjaro”, both of the main characters explain their love for nature and how they tie in to each character’s life, and for the man, eventual death. Their love of the land is what sparked the idea to go on the trip to Africa. While wounded on the mountain, the husband continuously responds to the scenery and animals that are around him, even comparing himself to some of the animals.
As most people know, Ernest Hemingway was a simple man with simple thoughts, even if some of his writing’s suggested otherwise. He believed that a man should not linger on the issues that he has no control over, and instead, focus on taking care of the issues that he can control. Perhaps these simplistic ideas are why he compared man to different animals and part of nature. He wanted to show that we should respect the nature that surrounds us, instead of spending all of our time trying to better our lives and the lives of others by digging up the land for our own selfish purposes. Hemingway was a both a genius in literary work and in life.
