Ernest Hemingway: Life and Works

This activity can be used to examine the connections between the life and fictional works of Ernest Hemingway. For grades 6-12. Approximate time needed is 20-30 minutes.

Explain to students that, though not a memoirist, the life experience of Ernest Hemingway informed the works of fiction he created throughout his life.

Ask students to begin and complete the activity on their own or in small groups, performing similar analysis with each photograph that they click on. The activity will instruct students to match the photograph with the correct work of fiction’s title. Direct students to note the setting of the photographs (both time and place), and the activities and events in Ernest Hemingway’s life that are being shown, to be able to effectively match them with the related fictional work.

If necessary, students can reference the article “Hemingway on War and Its Aftermath,” published in the National Archives’ Prologue magazine, or the biographical note on Hemingway in the National Archives Catalog to provide additional context to his life.

After students make all of the matches, they will see a photograph of Ernest Hemingway receiving the Nobel Prize in Literature in 1954. In the “When You’re Done” section, students will learn that this was given to him “for his mastery of the art of narrative, most recently demonstrated in The Old Man and the Sea, and for the influence that he has exerted on contemporary style.”

Direct students to the conclusion question:

• Based on the photographs and what you know about Ernest Hemingway’s life and fiction, which work do you think was the most autobiographical? Why?