The parallels between Hemingway and
McCarthy never occurred to me but after reading the short story “The Big
Two-Hearted River.” I can see how closely both authors seek answers in
nature. Nick’s spirit is nurturing in watch
the trout and how they keep steady in the face of a current. The analogy of the
current could be the adversity of life. McCarthy’ father figure reminisces
about the pre-destruction of earth.
Hemingway has always been influenced by naturalism. Hemingway accepts that the forces of nature
rule the world. In the “Road” nature as
we know it is destroyed but it still rules the world in the Darwinian way of
survival of the fittest. The strong survive and sometimes it isn’t pretty but
necessary. The man tells his son the way of survival too but in the terms of
good and evil. The boy will never see
nature as it once was but only can rely on his father’s memory. The boy’s natural
world is evolving, changing and survivors must redefine their roles in the new
natural world of ash and destruction. In
Buddhism there is a Goddess named Kali and she is Goddess of Time, Change, and
Destruction. Kali destroys but she also brings about rebirth like the phoenix rising
out of the ashes.
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