Now Oak Park is home to many famous sites, which i had no clue about before now. But we stopped at the Miller house which has its own sculpture garden.
And when we were walking around the park, I got distracted by a little library . . .
So we went on past Frank Lloyd Wright's house, and on over to the birthplace.
Most of these pieces are replica, but by the hearth, there is a photo of the original room setting. Most of the pieces match exactly. I always find it so interesting to see the colors of antique settings so vibrantly portrayed. It's ironic to see the color version of a black and white. When I try to imagine the past, it's so hard to imagine it in the clarity of color.
The family had a very strong Christian influence, which you can clearly see from Hemingway's short story Soldier's Home. After learning about his life, that story sounded almost too true. The family had such a moral code, that there was only one room in the house were they could drink, smoke, or play cards. Such a strange difference from the portrayal of him in later years, post-war.
I wonder if Hemingway ever thought people would walk through his childhood home. I mean, if I ever make it as a prestigious writer (probably not likely, but hey I can dream) I wouldn't want people walking through my house. Also, I think my house is too casual for anyone to find anything of use to tie into one of my stories. The most would be the art pieces i have in my room. So, there I was in Hemingway's house looking at his sister's hope chest with her initial nailed into it and the pictures on the wall of his family. But my favorite place was kind of the kitchen.
I didn't get a good picture of the kitchen, but there is where I could see Hemingway the best. Every where else was just another room with a crib in it showing off the house's purpose, but the kitchen came with a story. Hemingway's father used to hunt and fish and bring in game. They had a bunch of pictures of him fishing, and hey he wrote a whole book about fishing. But it was the place the mother spent the least time, but the father and Ernest spent time there preparing the fish that they caught. I could hear the laughter and disgust as the kids first saw fish being gutted and served. It was the most innocent of moments, but a crucial one as this bonding over fish lasted into manhood and bled not just one the kitchen table while being prepared, but also onto the pages of his stories.
- He actually fought a bull as a matador in Spain.
- He was present at D-Day but didn't get to go ashore because he was writing a report on the attack.
- Farewell to Arms seems very congruent with his love affair with Aggie, a nurse who took care of him when he was injured.
- He smiled a lot more than I realized. I guess I had this brooding sense of the man because everyone talks about his drinking and shows his picture without a smile but with a beard.
- He had four wives.
- His goal in life was to write and travel, and he did that.
- I think they said he was charismatic, not an adjective I'd normally hear him defined as, but this helped him get away with things in the war and when traveling. Apparently, he and his friends jumped into a place where some generals of war were going to be and the people thought they were them so they praised and paraded around this car Hemingway was driving, and Hemingway and his friends went along with it, letting them kiss his hand.
- When asked who Hemingway looked to for inspiration he listed impressionist painters, classical musicians, and writers which goes to show even for straightforward dialogue driven stories you still have to be aware of the greats cross-culture, not just in one genre.