How does Hemingway use nature in his work?
Answer In Hemingway’s work, nature often exists solely to illuminate man’s struggle with himself. His characters are often placed into naturalistic settings where they confront an idea, a feeling, a struggle and they must respond accordingly. Typically, they respond with Hemingway’s code of “grace under pressure.” Hemingway has a great deal of respect for nature and its role in shaping events, but he also has a clear respect for man in nature shaping his own events. Hemingway uses nature as a foreshadowing of things to come. Rain in A Farewell to Arms is a good example of this. For Hemingway, rain is often indicative of rebirth or death, occasionally a mixture of both. It could also be representative of transition and change. It can bring replenishment and nurture life, but in large amounts, in over excess, it can bring suffocation and death. Stylistically, Hemingway’s descriptions of the natural world are some of the most visually compelling in all of literature. His ability to accura
