Content Category
Literary Criticism
Abstract/Description
Many critics do not esteem Hemingway’s novel To Have and Have Not as one of his better novels. J. Donald Adams specifically stated that the novel fails to invoke any mental growth or understanding of life and, therefore, is an empty book. This paper challenges this claim by taking a closer look at Harry Morgan’s revelation, in which he discovers that no man can make it alone, and examines how it resonates throughout many Hemingway works. The paper focuses on the themes presented in Harry’s revelation specifically in To Have and Have Not, The Sun Also Rises, For Whom the Bell Tolls, The Old Man and the Sea, and in Hemingway’s Nobel Prize speech. Harry’s revelation thus redeems To Have and Have Not as a novel that merits greater critical respect.
Copyright and Licensing of My Content
This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-Noncommercial-No Derivative Works 4.0 License.
Origin of Submission
as part of a class
Faculty Involvement
Dennis Cutchins
Undergraduate
Many critics do not esteem Hemingway’s novel To Have and Have Not as one of his better novels. J. Donald Adams specifically stated that the novel fails to invoke any mental growth or understanding of life and, therefore, is an empty book. This paper challenges this claim by taking a closer look at Harry Morgan’s revelation, in which he discovers that no man can make it alone, and examines how it resonates throughout many Hemingway works. The paper focuses on the themes presented in Harry’s revelation specifically in To Have and Have Not, The Sun Also Rises, For Whom the Bell Tolls, The Old Man and the Sea, and in Hemingway’s Nobel Prize speech. Harry’s revelation thus redeems To Have and Have Not as a novel that merits greater critical respect.