Introduction
“But man is not made for defeat… A man can be destroyed but not defeated.” The Old Man and The Sea, 1952. Ernest Hemingway is arguably the most influential writer to come from the 20th century. From his award winning stories, to his succinct and distinct writing style, Hemingway pioneered a new method of storytelling. His famous "Iceberg" writing style, with a simple story built on dialogue and character interactions, hiding a double deeper meaning under the surface. To best understand his writings you have to understand Hemingway, through this web quest you will truly understand Hemingway's inspirations and books.
Task
Your task is to see the world through Ernest Hemingway's eyes, research key moments in his life and relate them to different books and make a connections between different stories and Hemingway's real life experience. You will make a spider map with four different stories and one key event that may have influenced the stories chosen. Using this mind map you will write an analysis essay relating how his life influenced his writings as well as his writing style.
Process
The steps to truly understand Hemingway's view when he was writing, making connections between life and fiction is vital. The steps are follows:
- Create a spider map and set it up with one center bubble for the name of the author, four bubbles attached to the first bubble for the "Life Events", and one more bubble attached to each of the four bubbles for the "connected stories". In total it should have 9 bubbles.
- Research various events in Hemingway's life, identifying key moments and summarizing them briefly in each of the four Life event spaces.
- Research different stories by Ernest Hemingway and take note of any books that correspond with the key life events you picked and summarize the plot briefly in the bubble.
- Using this information, write an analysis essay in MLA format relating the importance of different events in Hemingway's life to various stories. It’s important to point out parallels in the story and the events and to look deeper than the surface of the stories chosen. The essay must be minimum 350 words and a max of 500.
Evaluation
Both the Mind Map and the Essay will be totaled up to 100 points.
- The mind map will be worth 60 pts
- The essay will be worth 40 pts
The point breakdown on the mind map will be as followed
- 5 points for every key life event written
- 10 points for every story that you summarize and connect
The point breakdown for the essay will be as followed
- 30 points for content, connecting the life events to the stories and explaining
- 5 points for formatting and citations
- 5 points for grammar and spelling
Throughout this assignment you should show a deep and rich understanding of Ernest Hemingway's life, as well as show knowledge about the plot of his stories. Through your research you should begin to see how and why he wrote what he wrote, and begin to see the world through his literary lens.
Conclusion
Throughout this assignment you should show a deep and rich understanding of Ernest Hemingway's life, as well as show knowledge about the plot of his stories. Through your research you should begin to see how and why he wrote what he wrote, and begin to see the world through his literary lens.
Congratulations, you have successfully learned and understood one the greatest writers from the 20th century. You can now advance forth knowing you have the skills and knowledge to learn about any author in the future. Feel free to share your results with your classmates and gain insight to how other people see his work.
Credits
For the Spider man you can use
Canva: https://www.canva.com/graphs/spider-diagrams/
For research on Ernest Hemingway's life
Britannica: https://www.britannica.com/biography/Ernest-Hemingway
For a list of books written by him:
ThriftBooks: https://www.thriftbooks.com/a/ernest-hemingway/196569/