What happens when a creator himself degrades his own creation; a painter calls his own painting rubbish or an author names his novel a trash of papers. Well, that’s exactly what happened with ‘To Have and Have Not’ (THAHN) when Hemingway mentioned this book as Garbage that he wrote for the paycheck. Its good thing that books are non-living things, otherwise THAHN would have been living the most tragic life. You might be wondering by now, is THAHN really that bad to deserve such mortification from his own creator. Let’s find out.
THAHN has three long short stories covering the life of Harry Morgan, as it turns from good to bad and from bad to worst. Harry owns a fishing boat and earns his living by chartering it to vacationers for fishing and all, between Cuba and Florida.
In 1st short story ‘Harry Morgan : Spring’, that goes for the length of 50 pages, reader finds Harry’s life getting harder, when Mr. Johnson tricks Harry and flee the place without paying for a weeklong trip. In desperate need of money, to take care of family and all, Harry is forced to take up the assignment of smuggling some Chinese immigrants into Florida. This part is interesting from start to finish and climax is inconceivable.
In 2nd short story ‘Harry Morgan : Summer’, 20 pages long, reader finds Harry and his helper, a Negro man, injured in his boat with Harry’s arm and Negro’s leg badly hurt but they have to wait till they manage to escape as they are carrying crates of rums and coastguards are after them. It’s a short one, narrative keeps the interest intact but the problem is: it begins in hurry and it ends that way as well without properly covering the background behind the situation they are in.
In 3rd short story ‘Harry Morgan : Winter’, 130 pages long, reader finds Harry in the worst circumstances of his life, having lost his boat and an arm. He takes up a dangerous assignment of man-running few men to Cuba from Florida. They are Cuban revels and plan to rob a bank for helping the moment. These Cuban kills Harry’s helper but leaves Harry as he’s the only one who knows the navigation. Harry knows very well that the moment they reach Cuba they are going to kill him as well, as they do to the others involved. But Harry has a plan of his own. Will he be able to execute it successfully and get hold of the robbed money, enough to help him get rid of all his worries? Read ‘To Have and Have Not’ to know?
First published in 1937 THAHN is close to 175 pages long. Language is simple and descriptive. There are lots of good dialogues and its through dialogues only that Hemingway creates his scenes. The Narrative moves back and forth and is told from multitude of viewpoints from the perspective of its different characters, but most of the times it sticks to 3rd person’s angle. One of the things that really impresses is the way Hemingway develops his characters and let you get into their minds, mostly its Harry Morgan, but towards the end, the way Hemingway covers the thought process going on in the desperate and helpless mind of Marie (Harry’s wife) is worth mentioning.
Theirs is lot of action and violence in THAHN. It opens with a fusillade of bullets and reaches its high point with another one when Harry Morgan fights the 4 Cubans, single-handedly on the boat. That scene forms the acme of the book, both in terms of excitement as well as narrative, and what follows afterwards drives the book towards despair. Till this point the book succeeds in acquiring a tight grip on the readers, but afterwards readers find the narrative wandering here and there. Lots of unnecessary characters are introduced having nothing to do with the main plot and also their sub-plots are neither connected to main plot nor are they provided with some concrete wrap-up towards the end. Esp the episode of Richard Gordon and his estranged wife should have been provided with proper ending. If only Hemingway has discarded those characters and sub-plots and have finished the book within 150 pages, sticking to the plot of Harry Morgan; THAHN could have a lot better book.
The character of Harry Morgan is the mainstay of the book. His presence alone is enough to keep a reader glued; his mean and rough behavior, frank and bold dailogues, straight approach to life, impresses a lot. Hemingway has created quite a character in the form of Harry Morgan and if there is one thing for which I will remember THAHN, it will be the character of Harry Morgan.
THAHN is not Hemingway’s best work, he himself called it garbage. Still I feel that THAHN is perfect example to support the saying: “Nothing from the hands of a Master can ever be blunder, even if he himself considers it so.” Yes, there is lot of crazily written stuff but there are some moments in THAHN that provides a reader with an excellent read and those few pages can easily raise THAHN at par with the best of Hemingway’s works and make it earn a respectful status among the works of Hemingway.
So, if you are to read Hemingway first time, don’t ever start with THAHN, ’The Old Man and The Sea’ is the best candidate for it. But if you have already read Hemingway and know well his way of writing, then THAHN is another good read. I will recommend ’To Have and Have Not’ accordingly.
Ending the review with oneof the dailogues that remained with me long after I finished the book, and few more are there in thecomments section.
You win; somebody’s got to lose, and only sucker’s worry..
P.S : 21st July(Today) marks the 113th Birth Anniversary of Ernest Hemingway. This review is my tribute to the prodigy of descriptive writing on his special day.
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PYAR HUMEIN PHIR MILAAEGA