This thesis will show that Ernest Hemingways fictional portrayal of fathers and sons is complex and multi-layered. It is an argument against a critical tradition that has largely misread Hemingways writing about the paternal role. In the course of my essay, I provide close readings of seven short stories, Indian Camp, Ten Indians, The Doctor and the Doctors Wife, Cross-Country Snow, Fathers and Sons, Great News from the Mainland, I Guess Everything Reminds You of Something, and one novel, Islands in the Stream.