John Leonard's 'A Man of Essay

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Blindy is more obviously worried about money; because he has so little of it and earns what he does basically by begging, is he holds on to each quarter he "earns" very carefully (65). Both men also have to deal with a diminished or even disappeared sex drive (65). This is brought up explicitly in "Clean," when the young waiter brags about a wife in bed, and derisively states that the old man wouldn't have any use for a wife now (65). The reference in "Man" I less explicit; Leonard assumes that the "stomping" Blindy receives from Willie Sawyer occurred on the genitalia: "Blindy could reconcile himself to being blinded by Willie Sawyer; being castrated by him, however, is horrible and morally reprehensible" (66). The assumed impotence of the two men reflects more than lack of sex; it is also lack of companionship, which ma have been all the two men needed (65-6). Their social isolation is nearly complete; both are described as physically and emotionally/psychically repugnant due to depression (66-8)..

Violence also crops up in both stories, with the recollection of Blindy's fight and the old man attempting to hang himself in "Clean" (68-9).

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Yet this is not the sole extent of their public interactions; the old waiter eels a sympathy for te old man in "Clean," as does Frank the bartender for Blindy in "Man" (70-1). Both of these secondary characters feel a kinship, perhaps born of their common ages and so understanding of the other's difficulties, and attempt in some way to take care of the less fortunate men they are presented with (71). Age, in these two stories, is not glorified or romanticized in any way. Yet despite the nastiness with which Hemingway views age, it can be faced with "exceptional dignity," if not true heroics (72). Blindy's past violence degrades his current state, so that despite his cheerfulness and acceptance of circumstances, he is repugnant; the old man, for all his thinking, keeps himself away from others (72). It is perhaps, then, not too surprising that Hemingway removed himself from this world before reaching the old age he regarded with such suspicion.

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