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Ernest HemingwayA modern alternative to SparkNotes and CliffsNotes, SuperSummary offers high-quality Study Guides with detailed chapter summaries and analysis of major themes, characters, and more.
Heroic fatalism, also called fatalistic heroism, is a common theme in Hemingway’s works. Fatalism is the idea that all things, particularly death, are up to fate and therefore predestined and unavoidable. Heroic fatalism posits that because death and other circumstances are unavoidable, they should be met with grace and dignity. There’s no crying about one’s fate in heroic fatalism.
Schatz, in “A Day’s Wait,” embodies heroic fatalism. Even before he assumes that he’s dying, Schatz accepts his illness as part of life and merely goes about his day. He doesn’t wake his parents to ask them to close the windows; he does it himself. When his father points out that Schatz is sick and should go back to bed, Schatz insists that he’s fine. He then gets dressed and goes downstairs, despite “shivering” and walking “slowly, as though it ached to move” (Lines 2-3). Schatz is visibly struggling yet simply accepts it and moves on with his day without complaint.
By Ernest Hemingway
A Clean, Well-Lighted Place
Ernest Hemingway
Across the River and into the Trees
Ernest Hemingway
A Farewell to Arms
Ernest Hemingway
A Moveable Feast
Ernest Hemingway
A Very Short Story
Ernest Hemingway
Big Two-Hearted River
Ernest Hemingway
Cat in the Rain
Ernest Hemingway
For Whom the Bell Tolls
Ernest Hemingway
Green Hills of Africa
Ernest Hemingway
Hills Like White Elephants
Ernest Hemingway
In Another Country
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Indian Camp
Ernest Hemingway
In Our Time
Ernest Hemingway
Old Man at the Bridge
Ernest Hemingway
Soldier's Home
Ernest Hemingway
Solider's Home
Ernest Hemingway
Ten Indians
Ernest Hemingway
The Garden of Eden
Ernest Hemingway
The Killers
Ernest Hemingway
The Nick Adams Stories
Ernest Hemingway