To help give a good analysis of the book I want to use a strategy called SOAPSTone, what this means is you analyze the speaker, occasion, audience, purpose, style, and tone of a piece of literature.
Speaker- As I said the book is written by the son of the writer Ernest Hemingway, Gregory. Gregory is the youngest child and his mother is Ernest Hemingway's second wife. Most of the book is written when Gregory was a child describing the time he loved the most, the summers he spent with his dad.
His childhood is clearly abnormal and every summer him and his dad spend together gives you more and more insight into who Ernest Hemingway really was. Gregory spent many summers in Cuba on his dad's estate with his dad's countless lovers. Gregory went to strange Chinese restaurants with prostitues and opium bars, searched remote caves for signs of Nazis and searched the ocean for Nazi submarines with a yacht full armed with 50 caliber machine guns. He spent summers getting drunk with his when he was as young as nine, he spent summers lusting after his dad's mistresses, and he spent every summer and the rest of his life trying to please his father, the lengend Ernest Hemingway. It is clear Gregory as a child only wanted to make his dad happy, he imitated his dad in every way possible. Gregory would go on fishing trips with his dad all the time, despite his crippling sea sickness, he would go hunting with his dad as much as he could even though he loved ducks as much as anything and described them as his only friend. This imitation of his father continues until the very last page, "I confess I felt profound relief when they lowered my father's body into the ground and I realized he was really dead, that I couldn't disappoint him, couldn't hurt him anymore."
Occasion- The book takes place over the array of an entire life which makes the occasion hard to define, however, one thing about the time period I thought was consistant and very notable. Throughout the entire book Ernest Hemingway is always trying to be something that he isn't. This book took place in the 1930's-1950's mostly, a time when gender roles were extremely defined, this is clearly apparent in Papa. Ernest Hemingway worked as hard as he could to be a womanizer, he would drink like crazy, challenge anyone to a boxing match despite his impotence as a boxer, and distance himself from the world of writing, the world of the intellectuals. The book takes place mostly in Cuba and Sun Valley, Idaho with Gregory, his dad, and two brothers.
Audience- Since the book is a biography of a famous writer it is safe to assume the writer knew you liked who he was writing about. This is evident in Papa by Gregory Hemingway's usage of referencing work by Ernest Hemingway without out explaining it. An example of this is when he begins talking about For Whom the Bell Tolls then transitions directly into talking about his dad's philosophy on death and his attitude towards it while never explaining that For Whom the Bell Tolls is about a near death experience. Papa is intended for a mature and educated audience, this is apparent by the adult themes which appear in this novel and the usage of college level vocabulary.
Purpose- I believe this book was written because Gregory Hemingway wished to provide unique insight into the life of his dad. In the introduction to the book he talks about all of the different memoirs and biographies about Ernest Hemingway and why his is different. Gregory Hemingway saw sides of his dad that he never would have shown around interviewers, the real side. Gregory saw the most tender, most vicious, most modest, and most megalomanic sides of his father, Gregory wanted to show the people who he really was.
Style- Much of the style that made this book unique and much of the style that made this book enjoyable was the blunt tone used, as if to make the reader feel if they are looking onto Ernest Hemingway through a child's eyes, but this is discussed in more detail in the next section. Another writing aspect which I found stylistically interesting was the point of view. Gregory Hemingway truly was the perfect person to write a memoir about Ernest Hemingway, he idolized his father in way fans of Ernest Hemingway only wished they could understand. And while the book focuses on his father you can't help but constantly relate your father and your relationship with the Hemingway's. Accompanying the appropriately blunt tone used is Gregory's very precise sense of diction. Even though his words don't always spin elaborate pictures the message he is trying to get across is always well received. Whether he is talking about the complexities behind the father-son relation or the simple cool summers in Sun Valley Gregory's message is always crisp.
Tone- The tone throughout Papa is most often blunt but always eloquent, Gregory describes events using few but very descriptive words. He speaks very matter-of-fact-ly about his father, everything said seems calm and natural because there is no mystery as to who Ernest Hemingway was in his eyes, he spent his entire life trying to be like him. An example of this appears in the first line of the book, "I will never get over the sense of responsibility for my father's death". The bluntness of the tone allows for you to see Ernest Hemingway through a child's eyes and become immersed in the profoundness that was Ernest Hemingway.
Ultimately I enjoyed reading this book quite more than I expected, when I started reading this book I had very low expectations because I have had very little exposure to Ernest Hemingway as a writer. However because the book so accurately described the ever-changing but always familiar relationship between a father and son I enjoyed reading it a lot. On a scale of zero to five little monkeys I would rate it four. I would recommend this book for anyone who wants a fast but enjoyable read.
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