Not buying twigs
Hemingway begins with novel by telling the reader that the apartment in which he was staying was extremely cold. Despite this, he refused to buy twigs or wood to burn to warm himself. He thus decided to face the cold rather than do anything to change his situation. This is presented as being ironical considering the situation in which he found himself in.
Drinking is the thing to do
Hemingway expresses his feelings of disgust towards the people in coffee who just sit around all day, drinking and wasting their lives. Despite his feelings of disgust towards them, the first thing he does when he enters the bar is to order himself a drink and notice how much better he felt after drinking it.
More creative when in pain
An ironical idea that appears in the novel is the fact that Hemingway appears to be more creative while he is suffering. When he lacks the basic things he needs such as a warm place to stay, food and clothes, the words seem to flow out of him effortlessly. When he does have everything he needs to live a comfortable life, everything changes and he suddenly finds himself unable to write and having a writer’s block. Thus, this proves that pain and suffering are useful in this case as it makes a person be more inspired.
Not so good as a writer
Stein is Hemingway’s mentor and she often criticizes his work and tries to give him advice on how to better his writing. Hemingway, while accepting her criticism and her ideas, also points out that Stein is far from being the perfect writer. In his opinion, Stein’s books are too long and too hard to follow and while they start good, they lose their essence as they progress. However, despite his opinion, Hemingway still accepts Stein’s criticism. This is ironical considering the fact that Stein was not a better writer than Hemingway.
Giving up something he liked
The thing that helped Hemingway and his wife when they were having money problems was the horse races. Hemingway admitted that the winnings he procured at the horse races helped him out of some tense situations and that he even reached the point where he liked betting on horses. Ironically however, when he realized that he had become too involved in the races, he gave it up even if that meant going back to a life less stable from a financial point of view.
