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Camping
Out
With
Ernest
Hemingway
By: Chris Carlson
Spring 2009 Semester
HNR 312: Hemingway in Michigan
Professor: Dr. Swartzlander |
Introduction
When
most
people
think
of
Ernest
Hemingway
and
the
outdoors
they
often
think
about
his
fishing
and
hunting
experiences
as
he
travelled
all
over
the
world.
However,
if
it
had
not
been
for
his
education
about
natural
history
and
outdoor
survival
at
a
very
young
age
many
of
these
later
experiences
would
have
never
happened.
From
his
teachings
in
his
hometown
of
Oak
Park,
Illinois
to
his
summer
vacations
to
Northern
Michigan,
Hemingway
spent
much
of
his
childhood
learning
about
nature,
how
to
interact
with
it,
and
how
to
survive.
When
looking
at
Hemingway
as
a
naturalist
we
must
study
his
childhood
because
this
is
when
he
learned
the
most
important
lessons
about
living
in
the
wilderness.
It
is
important
that
we
know
about
Hemingway’s
knowledge
of
nature
and
wilderness
survival
because
he
used
his
knowledge
and
real
life
experiences
to
accurately
detail
his
characters
actions
in
his
short
stories
such
as,
“Big
Two-Hearted
River.”
Michigan
continued
to
inspire
Hemingway
throughout
his
writing
career
because
nature
continued
to
be
a
major
theme
in
many
of
his
works
such
as,
“Green
Hills
of
Africa”.
However,
the
most
information
we
have
about
Hemingway’s
personal
camping
knowledge
and
experiences
are
best
summarized
in
the
1920
essay,
“Camping
Out”,
which
Ernest
Hemingway
wrote
while
working
for
the
Toronto
Star.
This
essay
was
basically
a
miniature
survival
guide
for
those
with
little
camping
experience
and
details
the
most
important
parts
to
surviving
in
the
wilderness.
My
goal
here
is
to
study
what
Hemingway
learned
about
the
outdoors
and
where
he
learned
it
and
combine
it
with
research
about
available
camping
equipment
available
during
the
first
20
years
of
the
twentieth
century
to
expand
on
Hemingway’s
original
survival
guide.
Learning
about
Hemingway’s
camping
knowledge
that
he
gained
early
in
his
life
is
the
key
to
understanding
his
descriptions
and
use
of
nature
in
his
writings.
Young
Hemingway
and
the
Outdoors
As
a
young
boy
Ernest
Hemingway
learned
a
lot
about
nature
from
his
time
spent
up
in
Michigan
during
the
summers.
However
there
were
also
many
other
influences
on
Hemingway
the
most
important
of
which
were
people
he
knew
or
books
written
by
famous
naturalists.
His
earliest
encounters
with
learning
about
nature
began
at
a
vey
young
age
when
he
was
taught
by
his
father
about
birds
and
fish.
In, My
Brother,
Ernest
Hemingway,
Leicester
writes
about
when
Ernest
was
only
two
years
old
his
father
took
him
fishing
with
him
and
taught
him
to
catch
small
fish
and
identify
catches.
Leicester
also
talks
about
how
their
father
used
books
to
teach
Ernest
to
teach
him
about
bird
species
saying,
“He
had
learned
more
than
two
hundred
and
fifty
of
the
Latin
names”
(24).
Even
at
an
early
age
Ernest
Hemingway
had
knowledge
and
abilities
far
beyond
his
years.
It
seems
like
that,
even
as
a
child,
he
was
always
destined
to
be
successful
which
enthralled
his
mother
who
was
known
to
brag
about
her
son’s
accomplishments
as
a
young
scientist.
“When
Ernest
was
nearly
four
years
old,
she
would
write,
‘He
is
a
natural
scientist
loving
everything
in
the
way
of
bugs,
stones,
shells,
birds,
animals,
insects,
and
blossoms’
(Eye
and
Heart
61).
From
his
mother’s
description
we
conclude
that
even
at
an
early
age
Ernest
was
heavily
infatuated
with
the
outdoors,
long
before
he
began
his
attempts
at
serious
writing.
Hemingway and the Agassiz Association
The
importance
of
learning
about
nature
was
obviously
very
important
to
the
Hemingway
family.
According
to
Reynolds,
it
all
began
with
Hemingway’s
grandmother,
Adelaide,
who
taught
Ernest’s
father
Clarence
about
flowers
and
their
Latin
names
and
even
the
stars
(Reynolds
30).
This
was
quite
similar
to
how
Hemingway’s
parents
taught
Ernest
as
a
young
child.
Clarence
sought
to
pass
on
the
knowledge
he
learned,
not
just
to
his
son,
but
to
as
many
people
as
possible
and
while
attending
Oberlin
College
started
up
a
new
chapter
of
the
Agassiz
Association,
a
group
dedicated
to
the
teachings
about
naturalism
(Reynolds
30).
Even
as
Ernest
entered
school
and
began
to
pursue
knowledge
in
new
subjects,
he
continued
to
study
nature
as
a
member
of
the
local
chapter
for
the
Agassiz
Association
his
father
had
created.
For
Hemingway
and
his
father,
the
whole
idea
of
the
Agassiz
Association
was
to
go
out
and
find
nature
and
learn
about
it
through
the
experience
rather
than
sticking
to
learning
about
books.
Ernest
and
his
father
must
have
believed
that
the
pursuit
of
knowledge
served
no
purpose
if
it
could
not
be
used
to
become
a
more
resourceful
camper.
According
to
Beegel,
“Photos
of
the
Agassiz
Club
in
the
field
show
children
with
their
hands
full
of
leaves
and
wildflowers,
abandoned
bird
nests,
collecting
baskets,
jars
of
insects
and
pond
scum,
and
notebooks.
Ernest
glows
with
enjoyment”
(69).
Once
again
it
is
clear
that
Ernest
found
great
pride
and
enjoyment
being
outdoors
becoming
a
man
capable
of
surviving
and
interacting
outdoors
later
in
life.
According
to
Reynolds,
Hemingway
was
a
successful
member
of
the
association
and
while
serving
as
assistant
curator
learned
another
valuable
lesson
from
his
father.
According
to
the
account,
Hemingway
asked
his
father
if
it
was
wise
to
spend
money
on
an
albatross
foot
for
the
club,
which
his
father
replied
by
saying
that
it
was
only
worthwhile
if
he
bought
something
he
had
no
doubt
was
authentic.
Hemingway
instead
chose
to
buy
a
swordfish
bill
because
it
was
a
better
way
to
spend
money
(Reynolds
30-31).
Hemingway
learned
from
these
club
experiences
that
the
key
to
a
happy
and
successful
life
is
going
out
and
living
life
to
the
fullest
and
finding
pleasure
in
the
experiences
themselves
and
making
sure
that
the
experiences
he
does
have
are
authentic
so
that
he
could
achieve
as
much
as
possible
in
life.
Hemingway
and
Theodore
Roosevelt
While
Hemingway
learned
much
from
his
father
about
nature
as
well
as
morals,
there
is
little
doubt
that
it
was
Theodore
Roosevelt
who
held
responsibility
for
inspiring
Ernest
to
seek
a
strenuous
life
filled
with
adventure.
During
this
time
period
people
chose
to
follow
the
example
of
Theodore
Roosevelt
who
embraced
natural
history,
physical
fitness,
the
importance
of
hard
work
and
pushed
for
exploration
of
new
frontiers
and
the
pursuit
of
knowledge.
According
to
Michael
Reynolds,
Hemingway
was
immediately
influenced
by
Roosevelt
after
seeing
his
movie
about
his
African
Safari
and
reading
about
his
exploits.
“In
National
Geographic,
he
devoured
Roosevelt’s
account
of
the
hunt,
complete
with
pictures
of
dead
animals
and
half-naked
women”
(Reynolds
28).
These
exotic
tales
filled
Ernest
Hemingway
with
excitement
and
it
soon
became
his
dream
to
travel
to
these
new
frontiers.
To
explore
these
new
frontiers
and
areas
of
wilderness
Hemingway
knew
that
physical
strength
and
endurance
would
be
key
if
he
wished
to
explore
these
frontiers.
Hemingway
and
Roosevelt
were
very
similar
in
regards
that
they
were
both
very
out
of
shape
as
children.
However,
this
did
not
stop
Ernest
from
competing
in
a
wide
array
of
high
school
sports
including
cross
county,
football,
swimming,
track,
and
even
boxing
for
a
time
(Reynolds
26-27).
The
reason
Ernest
insisted
on
participating
in
athletics,
despite
his
lack
of
size,
was
because
he
wished
to
become
a
man
capable
of
surviving
and
overcoming
any
challenge
by
oneself.
However
Ernest
did
manage
to
continue
to
find
success
in
academics
as
he
had
in
his
early
childhood.
This
was
something
that
the
very
competitive
and
hard-working
Ernest
Hemingway
was
all
too
willing
to
reach
for
and
even
pledged:
I
desire
to
do
pioneering
or
exploring
work
in
the
3
last
great
frontiers
Africa, central
South
America
or
the
country
around
and
north
of
Hudson
Bay.
I
believe that
science,
English,
and
to
a
certain
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