THE ETHICAL BOUNDARIES OF THE RELATION BETWEEN HUNTER AND PREY IN THE PROSE OF ERNEST HEMINGWAY

Abstract

The article analyses the ethical boundaries of the relation between hunter and prey in the prose of Ernest Hemingway. The boundaries are defined through four questions: the purpose of killing, its measure, the attitude towards the suffering of the creature and the self-assessment of the one who kills. Each question is illustrated by passages drawn from the original text. The analysis substantiates that in the writer’s text the act of killing is neither justified nor condemned; rather, the right to evaluate it is left to the protagonist himself.