A strong proponent of the power of nature, Ernest
Hemingway sets his story, "Fathers and Sons," amid the beauty of cleared fields and
thickets. For Hemingway, there was a healing power to nature as well as the opportunity
for man to dominate it, which both serve to make one a better person. With a story
named after the book by Ivan Turngenev, a nihilist who wrote of the growing divide
between generations in Russia, Hemingway draws parallels in his narrative as Nick Adams
reflects upon his ambivalent relationship with his father. For, while his father has
imparted to Nick his great love of nature and the ability to conquer
it--
When you
have shot one bird flying you have shot all birds flying...and the last one is as good
as the first. He could thank his father for
that--
he has also left Nick
with resentful feelings: "He was always disappointed in the way I shot." Nevertheless,
Nick tries to conquer his sentimentality, a sentimentality he has inherited from his
father. Because he was sentimental, Nick's father was both cruel and abused, he
reflects. So, when Nick's own son awakens and asks him about hunting and visiting his
grandfather's grave, Nick stoically represses his sentimentality, agreeing: "I can see
we'll have to go." For, the relationship of father and son is one of paramount
importance; it constitutes much of what makes the man. As Nick feels gratitude for what
his father has taught him of hunting and fishing, he conquers his negative feelings,
finding strength in the power of nature and his stoic
masculinity, two prevalent theme in "Fathers and
Sons."
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