If I had to pinpoint a theme in this book, I would say it has to do with this quote above. Throughout the entire novel, I have gotten the impression that these men are going through something similar to a mid-life crisis. With that being said, I do feel like I need to give them the benefit of the doubt by saying the time period of the novel is right after WWI, and these men rather have the right to be going through this mental state due to what they encountered during the war. Even if they did not directly fight in the armed forces, everyone was impacted by the war in some way or another. However, at this point in the novel I am hoping that this mentality comes to an end and the men realize that there are consequences to their actions and it is time to stop living life like it is one big party!
I like the way these fellows think. Honestly, who cares if they go drinking every night and sleep with many men and punch out their friends? And by all of that I mean that Hemingway either has a messed up vision of what society should think like or he lives in a very depressed area of town. Either way I don't think Hemingway was playing with a full deck.
ReplyDeletemaybe a quarter-life crisis
ReplyDelete