Was Hemingway a racist?

[chequita guevara]

Originally posted by Adam Smith
If Hemingway is racist, what do you make of his attitues toward the Spanish or Hispanics in The Sun Also Rises, For Whom the Bell Tolls, and The Old Man and the Sea?

One can have different attitudes about different "races." I'm not condemning the man, btw.

[Imran Siddiqui]

Originally posted by Ben Kenobi
It's the same question for Joseph Conrad who also uses the word in Heart of darkness.

Which is total nonsense, IMO. The whole point of the story was to show how horribly white Europe treated blacks in Africa! To ban Conrad for being rascist is just incredibly stupid and just not thinking.

[chequita guevara]

Did anyone say "ban?"

[Imran Siddiqui]

I did .

I'm sure you know that many school districts ban the 'Heart of Darkness' for racism.

[Ben Kenobi]

I'm not saying Conrad is a racist. I'm saying many ask the same question asked here of Hemingway. To say that one is a racist, while the other is not requires a different standard than simply the use of pejorative words.

I agree, Conrad highlights the brutal treatment of blacks, but he also denigrates the Europeans, arguing that there is really no difference between the Europeans and the Africans.

[Imran Siddiqui]

I'm not saying Conrad is a racist. I'm saying many ask the same question asked here of Hemingway.

Oh, I know. I was agreeing with you .

[Bereta_Eder]

Originally posted by Ben Kenobi
I agree, Conrad highlights the brutal treatment of blacks, but he also denigrates the Europeans, arguing that there is really no difference between the Europeans and the Africans.

How's that denigrating the Europeans?!

[Ben Kenobi]

Read the book.

You'll find your answer.

Start with the statement 'white sepulchres.'

[Imran Siddiqui]

How's that denigrating the Europeans?!

Showing people are utter *******s is a great way to denigrate them, IMO .

[Dis]

hey if black people can use the n word and not be deemed racist, I think white people should be able to use the n word and not be deemed racist

[Rufus T. Firefly]

Forget the "n" word. Read Hemingways opinions about other races, as expressed directly in his work and/or derived from his depictions of non-white characters.

He was a racist -- and a misogynist, xenophobe, homophobe, and anti-Semite. He was also one hell of a writer. These things are not mutually exclusive.

[LoneWolf]

Well said, Rufus. The world is complicated.
Although I think it is unlikely he was a homophobe. He was gay, or at least bi, after all.

[MRT144]

thats the problem today. too many people are concerned about what people are rather than what they do. sure hemmingway was racist but he could write.

p.s. hunting black people for sport. what a mental image japher.

[Brundlefly]

Originally posted by LoneWolf
Well said, Rufus. The world is complicated.
Although I think it is unlikely he was a homophobe. He was gay, or at least bi, after all.

There has never been any proof that Hem was gay. Some critics have supposed a latent homosexuality because of the flamboyantly macho characters in his stories, but never any concrete proof that he was gay...

[chequita guevara]

Originally posted by MRT144
hunting black people for sport. what a mental image japher.

It happens even today.