“She was a Christian Scientist. Her Bible, her copy of Science and Health and her Quarterly were on a table beside her bed in the darkened room. ” In all Ernest Hemingway’s writing you can read into much more than what appears on the surface because of what English experts call the iceberg principal. In his writing Hemingway only reveals very minimal details to the reader unless they are able to read deeper into his stories. Also in Hemingway’s writing there is a code hero.
A code hero is “a man who lives correctly, following the ideals of honor, courage and endurance in a world that is sometimes chaotic, often stressful, and always painful,” as described by Hemingway himself. The code hero is to be often seen having grace under pressure. In the short story “The Doctor and the Doctor’s Wife” you can see a code hero in the Character of Dick Boulton and you can see Hemingway taint the image of marriage through the iceberg principal. Hemingway was a man who did not believe in traditions like marriage. He thought it was a bad thing and that women were the cause of ruining good men.
You can see that he believes in the way that he writes about the doctor’s wife in the story. The doctor’s wife is described as a Christian Scientist. Christian Scientists do not believe in the use of medicine therefore you can infer that the relationship between the doctor and his wife was not a good one because she did not agree with what he did for a living. “In the cottage the doctor, sitting on the bed in his room, saw a pile of medical journals on the floor by the bureau. They were still in their wrappers unopened. It irritated him. This quote shows how the doctor was mad about the fact that his wife did not believe in what he did and how she did not support him. Also in the novel the wife can be portrayed as speaking condescendingly to her husband. “Oh,” said his wife. “I hope you didn’t lose your temper, Henry. That he who ruleth his spirit is greater than taketh, a city. ” In these quotes you can see the doctor’s wife preaching to him and how that could irritate him and cause their relationship to fail. This story is just another example of how Hemingway thought women ruined good men.
The code hero in this short story is the character Dick Boulton. Dick is the Indian man who calls the doctor out for stealing the wood in the beginning of the story. Throughout the story Dick shows courage and no fear of the Doctor. When the doctor tells Dick to stop he keeps on going and find out who the wood actually belongs to. ‘“If you call me Doc once again, I’ll knock your eye teeth down your throat. ” “Oh, no, you won’t, Doc. ” Dick Boulton looked at the doctor. Dick was a big man. He knew how big a man he was. He liked to get into fights. He was happy. This quote shows how Dick remained calm in the face of a threat and showed grace under pressure. It also shows he was a man’s man and love to fight and be tough. Throughout the story you can see a lot of other evidence of how Dick is the code hero of the story. In all of Hemingway’s writing you can see these themes appear over and over again. Throughout the short story of “The Doctor and the Doctor’s Wife” the iceberg principal and the usage of a code hero is made obvious for the readers. In the story you can see how Hemingway bashes marriage by using the iceberg principal and how a code hero is shown through the character of Dick.
