Islands in the Stream is a novel by American writer Ernest Hemingway. Published in 1970, it is one of Hemingway’s last works. It tells the story of painter Thomas’s rough experience of life. Painter Thomas went through ups and downs, had two marriage changes, the three children born after marriage were raised by his ex-wife. He loved his career and his children and often went fishing with them. There is a deep bond between father and son. Unfortunately, two of his sons were killed in a car accident, and the only remaining son was killed in World War II. In the end, Thomas decided to throw his personal sorrows and joys behind the tide of the anti-fascist war. In 1942, as the war in Europe raged, Hemingway commanded a submarine in Cuba to gather intelligence on the Nazis on the island, substituting espionage for writing and personal military adventures for brutal warfare. Although opinions vary on Hemingway’s adventures, this serious military action provided valuable material for his writing, based on which he wrote Islands in the Stream. In July 1944, Hemingway fought ground battles against allied troops in Normandy. For more than 20 days, he was in the midst of a bloody struggle.

The severity and danger of this war have never been greater. The terrible memory of the war pained him greatly. Hemingway, who experienced the cruelty of war, was awarded a medal. But the war made him more conscious. His experience of war was written into his series of war novels. In Islands in the Stream, Hemingway, by portraying the image of painter Thomas, once again emphasized the tough man spirit advocated by him, which is unyielding and indomitable. Thomas, the main character of the book, likes painting and fishing. He has been to the America, Europe, Asia, and Africa. But in middle age he chose to live in the Bahamas, rather than on the islands of Cuba which lies in the Gulf Stream. Through the crucible of his mind and body, Thomas persevered and dealt doggedly with his enemies. He embodies the characteristics of the tough guy that Hemingway often describes, and is a very successful artistic model.

-Coreen C.