Have you ever wondered how Ernest Hemingway or F. Scott Fitzgerald portrays their male characters in their novels and short stories? Ernest Hemingway and F. Scott Fitzgerald portray their males in quite different ways. The authors use various aspects to make their characters very distinguishable by such characteristics as: lack of compassion, narrative point of view, and their overall person as a whole.

             Ernest Hemingway portrays his male characters to be very caring and thoughtful people. In the novel The Old Man and the Sea, there are two main male characters, Santiago and a boy with whom he fishes. Santiago is very mild mannered and very considerate man. He portrayed this when the boy couldn't fish with Santiago because he had no luck in catching fish. He did not get mad at the boy, but felt that the boy should be with a crew that is catching fish. This showed that he wanted the best for the boy no matter what. Santiago said, "You're with a lucky boat. Stay with them."(Old Man, 10) Secondly Santiago felt a lot of remorse for catching such a majestic animal for such a futile end. He felt very proud that he broke his streak of not catching fish, but now that the sharks had ripped apart the marlin he felt very sorry, "I shouldn't have gone out so far, fish, Neither for you nor for me I 'm sorry, fish." (Old Man, 110) This showed the great compassion that Santiago had for the animal.

             Also the short story, "A Clean Well-Lighted Place" by Ernest Hemingway, the older waiter was a very thoughtful and considerate person. He felt that, "I am one of those who like to stay late at the cafe, with all those who do not want to go to bed."(Well-Lighted, 32) This showed his compassionate side, because the younger waiter didn't want to stay because it was disrupting his life too much and the waiter was only thinking of himself. In contrast the older waiter felt that he should be there if anybody needed a good relaxed atmosphere to grab a drink.