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Declan Braun

AP Literature

Mr. Newvine

June 13, 2019

The Analytical Paper

Toady’s America is a nation full of polarized groups of people: Democrats and

Republicans, Pro-life versus Pro-choice, Blue Lives Matter versus Black Lives Matter. Boiling

these groups down the fundamental debate is whether the United States should have more or less

government control and power. A large part of that fundamental debate is whether the people

involved are more socialist or more capitalist. Ernest Hemingway wrote his novel​ To Have and

Have Not ​with this debate in mind. Hemingway was essentially a register socialist as he was

allegedly in contact with the KGB (the Soviet equivalent of the CIA) and donated to rising

communist party in Cuba (Kershaw 10; ​Papa Was a Communist Sympathizer​). Hemingway’s

political views are demonstrated in his novel ​To Have and Have Not ​(and in the first episode of

Breaking Bad)​ through the specific allotment of the novel/episode, meaningful power imbalances

and a hopeless mood.

The most interesting method Hemingway using to demonstrate his political views is

through his specific allotment of the novel. Through the course of the novel Hemingway almost

exclusively talks about Harry Morgan and the other poor characters in the novel. Hemingway

only mentions the wealthy people in one chapter. He walks the reader through a yacht basin with

yachts filled with rich Americans sitting “in big leather chairs along side a long table on which

magazines were spread” (Hemingway 228). This section doesn’t have any literary device that
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proves his purpose, but simply the length of this chapter does. This chapter is a total of 20 pages

in length, while the entire book is 262 pages it length. That means that Hemingway wrote about

the lower class people for 93 percent of the novel, while only reserving a measly 7 percent for

the upper class people. This drastic difference in pages allocated to the different classes is meant

to represent Hemingway’s ideal world. He was demonstrating how a better functioning world

would take into account the needs and desires of the lower class people much more than that of

the rich. Parallel to this is the allotment of time used to show upper class people compared to that

given to lower class people in ​Breaking Bad.​ The first episode consists totally of the problems

and lives of lower class people. This is more extreme than Hemingway’s ninety-three percent.

Nevertheless, it provides the same message: a better functioning world would be more concerned

with the lower classes than the richest class. These are perfect examples of socialist ideology.

This ideology is further demonstrated through Hemingway’s novel by his use of

meaningful power imbalances demonstrated through dialogue and imagery throughout the plot.

This same idea is also represented in ​Breaking Bad​ through the use of multiple high angle shots.

In ​To Have and Have Not o​ ne such example occurs when the Richard and Helen Gordon walked

into Freddy’s bar. Upon arriving Richard cheerfully greeted the others in the bar while Helen

“sat in a high stool with her legs tucked under her and looked out at the street” (Hemingway

138). In this situation Helen and Gordon’s relationship represents something larger than an

unhappy couple. Gordon represents the well off members of society, and Helen represents the

oppressed and less wealthy members of society. In this situation Helen sits in a defensive

position protecting her body, and she is looking out the door which signifies she wants to leave.

This body language, or unspoken dialogue combined with imagery, tells the reader that Helen is
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uncomfortable, troubled, and that she wants to leave. Taking into account the symbolic nature of

each of these characters Hemingway is demonstrating to the reader how downtrodden the lower

classes are becoming in a society and system that only benefits the wealth members. This idea is

​ hen Walter and Jesse are shown in high angle shots. In the
visually portrayed in ​Breaking Bad w

first episode those two characters are almost exclusively shown as weaker than another character

who has more money. Examples include when a wealth student found Walter cleaning his dads

car, and when Emilio and his cousin held Jesse at gun point. These obviously shown power

imbalances demonstrated to the reader how the poorer members of society are oppressed by the

richest members. Hemingway used this idea to promote the idea that socialism is more effective

than capitalism.

Hemingway’s stance is developed further by the defeated mood he creates in the ending

of his novel. This same mood is also present in the first episode of ​Breaking Bad c​ reating a

parallel effect. This mood is best portrayed in the scene after Harry has the gun fight with the

bank robbers aboard the boat. After Harry kills the Cuban men that boarded his ship he is left

below decks with a severe gun shot wound, and “at first [Harry] to brace himself against the role

with his good hand. Then he lay quietly and took it” (Hemingway 175). Here the rocking of the

boat is a metaphor for life, as often times life can be rough, especially during the 1930’s.

Considering this metaphor this section is especially meaningful, as Harry gives up and lets the

rocking of the boat take him. Also, given that Harry was a lower to middle class person he is

demonstrative of his socioeconomic class as a whole in this section. Therefore, Harry not only

gave up holding himself steady on the boat, but the lower and middle class Americans gave up

holding themselves afloat in the American capitalistic system. Additionally, ​Breaking Bad
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conjures a similar mood during the first episode. Within the first twenty minutes of the episode

Walter is characterized as a man with economic struggles and terminal and untreatable lung

cancer. This beginning mood of hopelessness concerning Walter contrasted with that of the

wealthy student(s) he teaches demonstrates to the viewer the stark difference if realities between

the high and low classes under a capitalistic system. The poorer people are hopeless and on the

brink of giving up, while the upper class have little to no real concerns. These similar moods aim

to demonstrate to the reader how capitalism fails the common man and therefore is a failed

system.

In ​To Have and Have Not ​and ​Breaking Bad ​the reader is shown how capitalism is a

flawed system and that socialism would be a better substitute through the specific allotment of

the novel/episode, meaningful power imbalances and a hopeless mood. All of those factors either

demonstrate to the reader how the world should operate or how the lower classes are oppressed

by the wealthiest class. Taking into account Hemingway’s alleged association with socialist

parties and how he demonstrates the short comings of capitalism, one can see that this novel is

promoting that political ideology. Unfortunately for the world, this fundamental debate that was

going on almost one-hundred years ago is still going on and most likely will never. Should

governments have more power or should the people? The world may never know.
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Works Cited

Hemingway, Ernest. ​To Have and Have Not​. New York, Scribner, 2003.

Kershaw, Tom. “Ernest Hemingway's Religion and Political Views.” ​The Hollowverse​, 20 Aug.

2012, hollowverse.com/ernest-hemingway/. Accessed 16 June 2019.

“Papa Was a Communist Sympathizer.” ​Newswise, ​13 July 1999,

www.newswise.com/articles/papa-was-a-communist-sympathizer. Accessed 16 June 2019.

“Pilot.” ​Breaking Bad​. AMC. New York. 20 Jan. 2008. Television.