“When writing a novel a writer should create living people; people not characters. A character is a caricature.”
- July 21, 1899 – July 2, 1961
- American
- Novelist, poet, journalist
- Wrote masterpieces such as “The Old Man and the Sea,” “A Farewell to Arms,” and “For Whom the Bell Tolls,” and won the Nobel Prize in Literature in 1954
Quote
“When writing a novel a writer should create living people; people not characters. A character is a caricature.”
Explanation
In this quote, Hemingway emphasizes the importance of authenticity in writing, suggesting that a writer’s goal should be to create “living people”—individuals who feel complex, real, and fully formed, rather than flat “characters” who are mere stereotypes or exaggerated representations. By calling a character a “caricature,” Hemingway is critiquing the tendency to reduce people to simple, one-dimensional roles, often based on clichés or superficial traits. For him, the essence of great writing lies in the ability to depict characters who breathe with life, who have depth, contradictions, and humanity, rather than existing as mere tools in the plot or symbols of a particular theme.
Hemingway himself was known for his mastery in creating characters that seemed to transcend fiction. His protagonists, like Jake Barnes in The Sun Also Rises or Frederic Henry in A Farewell to Arms, are not just types of people; they are deeply felt and complex individuals with whom readers can identify. The use of “living people” reflects Hemingway’s desire for realism in literature, and his belief that the best novels are those where the characters are so well-drawn that they seem to have an independent existence beyond the pages. This was part of Hemingway’s larger mission to break away from traditional, more stylized forms of writing and instead focus on a simpler, yet more truthful representation of life.
In the context of modern literature, this approach to writing has had a lasting influence, especially in the genre of literary fiction, where the portrayal of complex, multifaceted characters is highly valued. For instance, contemporary writers like Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie or Jonathan Franzen follow a similar principle in their novels, crafting characters who embody the contradictions and uncertainties of real life. Hemingway’s insistence on creating “living people” serves as a reminder to modern writers to resist the temptation to resort to easy tropes and instead strive to present their characters in a way that captures the richness of human experience.
