Daniel Villines's Reviews > To Have and Have Not

Re-reading a book is its own unique experience. The plot and characters are already known, and the mind has the luxury to pay attention to details and ideas that tended to be overlooked on the initial journey. Re-reading is filled with information that is free to float into the reader’s view.

This is my second time reading To Have and Have Not and I would say that this time through was the more enjoyable of the two. My initial reading created the impression of a poorly assembled story that depicted the stereotypical Hemingway hero. Harry Morgan was created by Hemingway to suffer and to bear his burdens with dignity. Of all his novels, this one is probably the most simplistic when it comes to forcing a Hemingway hero to live by the “grace under pressure” code of conduct.

This time through, however, opened up the idea that To Have and Have Not was a dedication to the modern-day working poor, the “conches,” of Key West during the Great Depression. Based on my slowly acquired understanding of Hemingway, I believe that he had an affinity for these simple, hard-working people. Hemingway drank cheap rum with them in the clapboard bars of Kew West, and considered their hard work worthy of his respect.

The conches grubbed, fished, and smuggled in order to live, and they lived at the bottom of society. They were often times considered as outcasts by an absentee government. They were in the way of an outside desire to transform Key West into a luxury destination populated by the type of rich tourists depicted in Hemingway’s novel. The conches were also on the receiving end of fallout from the political turmoil and revolutionary fighting taking place in Cuba located just 90 miles away.

To Have and Have Not is still a poorly assembled novel, but it captures a people in their time. It’s a snapshot of them. Consequently, it captures a people that would have otherwise been forgotten.