Adam Salzwimmer

The Classic Disillusioned Hero

Thesis:  The Hemingway character is the classical tragic hero.

	I. The classical hero originated in the early Greek and Roman literature.
A.  The main theme of classical literature is the attempt to overcome fate. 

		B. In The Odyssey by Homer, Odysseus spends ten years battling fate (the 				gods), trying to return home to Ithaca.  
			i. Homer uses Odysseus to show how you can never over come 					fate but must battle your best to overcome it.
	
	II. The Hemingway classical hero, like Odysseus battles fate but in a modern 			setting.

		A. Robert Jordan in Hemingway’s For Whom the Bell Tolls is a great 				example of a character that struggles against fate but falls short.

		B.  Santiago in The Old Man and The Sea constantly struggles against the 				sea and fate.
	
		C. Hemingway uses Jake Barnes in The Sun Also Rises to show how 				powerless man is against fate.
			
			i. Hemingway shows Jake’s powerlessness with his 							unobtainable love of Lady Brett Ashley.
			ii. Jake’s life is completely changed by fate when he was 						rendered impotent by a war wound.