Crossing the Wilderness: The Meaning of Toil in Hemingway's “Big Two Hearted River” and McCarthy's All the Pretty Horses

Abstract

Although Hemingway's short story “Big Two Hearted River” was not popular during that period, it has literary themes that are central to Hemingway and has a strong sense of his typical writing style, the iceberg technique. Therefore, his seemingly simple and short story of Nick Adams should not be underestimated as an account of a peaceful journey toward nature. On the contrary, it is a story of an inwardly and outwardly wounded soldier from the First World War. Hemingway himself also took part in the same war and was traumatized by the event. Cormac McCarthy also examines the anxieties of modern people in his writing by using similar iceberg technique. For this reason, his novel All the Pretty Horses should not be considered as another old-fashioned Western adventure story. As Nick Adams in “Big Two Hearted River”, John Grady Cole is a victim of the World War. John Grady Cole's father participated the Second World War and he lost his Wille zum Leben. Ultimately, his father's participation leads John's entire family to be torn apart. After the death of John Grady Cole's maternal grandfather, he leaves United States for Mexico in order to keep his cowboy lifestyle and spirit. This paper aims to compare two stories, “Big Two Hearted River” and All the Pretty Horses, so as to show personal journey and toil in the wilderness as a means of self-redemption and regaining one's authentic identity in a disoriented modern world. To examine the meaning of journey toward the wilderness, it is important to remember that there are two different aspects in American Wilderness. First, it has the qualities of solitude and hardship. Second, it is an attractive place to city dwellers who want to escape from too much civilization. In this perspective, I will explore the possibility of the two protagonists' endeavors at healing their damaged identities in the wilderness. This paper will be divided into three main parts. First, I will examine the departures of the two protagonists toward the wilderness. Second, I will discuss the effects of their endeavors in the wilderness. Lastly, I will explore their gradual realization of the reality and constant exertions to regain control over their authentic identities and values. This comparison process will give the readers the idea that the protagonists' patient labors and toils in crossing the wilderness can be read as efforts to restore their impaired subjecthood in a post-war world. Even though the two protagonists' endeavors to heal their identities in it are not successfully fulfilled, it would be worthwhile to analyze some positive aspects of their attempts as our contemporaries' heroic challenge.