Hemingway on Vacation

While I have not read the majority of Ernest Hemingway's work I would like to address a recurrent theme of his that offers some sound advice to the romantic traveler. Namely, that unless you are deeply in love with a significant other, going on vacation will result in the death of your relationship. In "The Short Happy Life of Francis Macomber", this occurs quite literally as the reader is left to guess whether or not Francis' wife meant to shoot him dead. However, the stories "Hills Like White Elephants", "Cat in the Rain" and the novel The Sun Also Rises offer models of experience that serve to inform the reader of best practices for travelling.

It is well known that travelling outside one's own comfort zone enriches both knowledge and imagination. In the world of academics this is an excellent way to interrogate instinctual responses through the process of being othered by a foreign place. This also produces a reflection on what constitutes one's own comfort levels back home, for better or worse. Many great writers have sought exactly this experience through international travel in order to strengthen their understanding of themselves and their perspective on the human condition. For immigrants especially, this process is of crucial importance to successful translation of their former identities in a new setting. However, Hemingway shows that international travel results in a status quo, at best, for individuals whose reason for travelling is simple or ambiguous.

For the couples in "Hills Like White Elephants" and "Cat in the Rain", leisurely vacations in Spain and Italy serve to highlight the lack of true love in their relationships. As the female protagonist in "Hills Like White Elephants" complains, all the couple does is travel around and "try new drinks". With the question of abortion hanging over their conversation, it becomes clear to the reader that the woman in this story has felt alienated from her husband long before they disagreed about giving up the baby. After all, what better place for the conception of a child than a romantic getaway in Spain. Likewise, in "Cat in the Rain", the wife steers clear of the bed where her husband lies comfortably reading, only looking up and paying attention to his wife to leer at her.

The deterioration of the women's mental states in these stories is indicative of a selfishness on the part of the men, based directly on their ambiguous intentions in taking the trip. While it may be true the men are unaware of their crimes, both are clearly more concerned with sex than establishing a close emotional relationship with their significant others. If they did have a relationship based on true love, their wives would have voiced their discomfort and the critical thoughts that are inherent to travelling internationally. Experiencing this process together, as it occurred, would make a couple closer. As it is, the men in these stories desire only to consume women and places without question, reflecting a lack of intention to better themselves or their relationship with others. Without these goals, the shallow depth of their relationships comes to the surface. Really, if you ever have to ask the question, "what the hell am I doing here?" while on vacation, something is wrong.

In contrast, The Sun Also Rises offers a more ideal example of the right way to take a vacation. Although suffering from a loss of direction in life, Jake travels to Spain with the purpose of finding himself through attending something he is truly passionate about; the yearly bull festival in Pamplona. In the same way, Bret knew exactly what she was doing while eloping with Robert Cohn for a few weeks of casual pleasure at the beach. Expecting no emotional attachment, she easily moves onto Michael while Robert is left with the embarrassment of not being able to posses her. In the end it is only Robert, who has no real reason to join the group on vacation, that causes conflict and his eventual alienation from the group. Although the novel does not have a happy ending, Jake, Bret and Michael confront their problems intentionally, even if this often involves heavy drinking. In this way they are honest, likable characters who care about one another and form a friendship.

So, Hemingway offers some advice that ought to be obvious, but is too often ignored: If it ain't the real thing, don't pretend like it is. And surely, don't go spending gobs of money on extravagant vacations that will only serve to isolate you and your date so that you can reflect on how far apart you really are. Palabra.