Shortly thereafter, his health began to deteriorate and he became mentally depressed. In 1961, Hemingway committed suicide at his home in Ketchum, Idaho (Desnoyers, 2002). .
Throughout many of his works, Hemingway wrote of a character, often in an image of himself, commonly referred to as the Hemingway man or code hero. The Hemingway man is dedicated to experiencing physical pleasures, the real rewards of life. He enjoys hunting, fishing and bullfighting, and he communicates with animals at an intuitive and spiritual level. Confrontations with animals are ritual and religious experiences. The Hemingway man believes that life is everything and death is nothing. He chooses to confront death while demonstrating grace under pressure. The Hemingway man does not want to die, but he is not afraid of dying. This is why Hemingway frequently places his characters in war, bullfighting rings, or on the African plains. "It is only by testing, by coming into confrontation with danger that man lives with intensity. In the presence of death, man can discover his own sense of being- (Baker 153). Man can only achieve authenticity by embracing the awareness that someday he will die. The man who never faces danger never has his courage tested (Baker, 1963).
Hemingway had a deep appreciation for nature. His obsession with the outdoors took him from the rivers of the Midwest to the plains of Africa to the waters of the Gulf of Mexico. The simple thrills of hunting and fishing made Hemingway feel connected with something pure that was uncorrupted by humanity (Donaldson, 1977). Hemingway believed that long after people and nations fade away, nature will exist as the one, single, lasting thing. "Nature,"" Hemingway said, "is good, man is a mess, but nature will prevail- (Donaldson 74). .
Hemingway loved fishing more than anything in the world. Whether in the little lakes of Michigan or the mile deep Gulf Stream, the joy of the struggle with a fish was one of Hemingway's favorite rituals.
