Uncle Ernie Hemingway
March 4, 2008
Ernie is a messed up dude. Unfair to women, because he didn’t know what to do with them, a raging alcoholic, an insane moustache, he obviously must have some psychologically unfit characters right? Of course! And Nick is a perfect example in his poem “The End of Something.” Nick is a very confused character, he intends on breaking up with his girlfriend Marjorie for an absurd reason. He knows she is equal to him, he taught her everything he knew, and he, like our Uncle Ernie would be, was jealous that she was equal to him. He was psychologically unfit and too stubborn to accept the fact that she was equal to him. Thinking that he was psychologically fit to survive without his beloved Marjorie, he was wrong. She left him on the island they were at and he sat there and wept until the poem was over. Ernie is big into open endings, sad endings, and emotionally unstable characters, probably similar to his past experiences.
Jcroteau's Weblog 
March 17, 2008 at 12:20 am
This is exactly what I was thinking, jeff. Ernie is almost as much of a mess as Blanche haha. But then again, so is every other modernist writer. I think there is an alcoholic requirement to being a modernist writer. I also think that this insanity contributes to the messed up characters that he creates.
March 17, 2008 at 12:23 am
DEFINITELY! He’s just like you described him to be. Throw some quotes in there and you’ll be Baz’s favorite. Great description. I agree with you with the part from “The End of Something.” It does sound like she left him and now doesn’t know what to do with himself.