Loveless Intercourse / Ernest Hemingway

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His rage began to thin as he exaggerated more and more and spread his scorn and contempt so widely and unjustly that he could no longer believe in it himself. If that were true what are you here for? It’s not true and you know it. Look at all the good ones. Look at all the fine ones. He could not bear to be unjust. He hated injustice as he hated cruelty and he lay in his rage that blinded his mind until gradually the anger died down and the red, black, blinding, killing anger was all gone and his mind now as quiet, empty-calm and sharp, cold-seeing as a man is after he has had sexual intercourse with a woman that he does not love.

 

 

From “For Whom the Bell Tolls” by Ernest Hemingway

 

 

This is another snippet by my favorite writer, Ernest Hemingway.   He reveals the battles, the emotions, the pain, and the relief unfolding inside a character’s mind better than any other author.  Hemingway uses a few descriptive words— simple and concise.  He does it as if he were witnessing the events from inside the brain, watching the sea of nervous activity spiral out of control into tempests or dwindle down into rippling waters: “He lay in his rage that blinded his mind until gradually the anger died down and the red, black, blinding, killing anger was all gone and his mind now as quiet, empty-calm and sharp, cold-seeing as a man is after he has had sexual intercourse with a woman that he does not love. “

So that is the way it feels when one makes love to someone one does not love. I would not know.