--- title: "Meaning & Key Takeaway of: He was completely detached from every…" description: "\"“He was completely detached from every thing except the story he was writing and he was living in it as he built it. The difficult parts he had dreaded..." image: "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/b2f/ernest-hemingway-83_mind_he-was-completely-detached-from-every-th_237586.jpg" --- # He was completely detached from every thing except the… ![“He was completely detached from every thing except the story he was writing and he was living in it as he built it. The difficult parts he had dreaded he now faced one after another and as he did the people, the country, the days and the nights, and the weather were all there as he wrote. He went…” quote by Ernest Hemingway](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/b2f/ernest-hemingway-83_mind_he-was-completely-detached-from-every-th_237586.jpg) [Download](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/b2f/ernest-hemingway-83_mind_he-was-completely-detached-from-every-th_237586.jpg) [Open image](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/b2f/ernest-hemingway-83_mind_he-was-completely-detached-from-every-th_237586.jpg) > ““He was completely detached from every thing except the story he was writing and he was living in it as he built it. The difficult parts he had dreaded he now faced one after another and as he did the people, the country, the days and the nights, and the weather were all there as he wrote. He went on working and he felt as tired as if he had spent the night crossing the broken volcanic desert and the sun had caught him and the others with the dry gray lakes still ahead. He could feel the weight of the heavy double-barreled rifle carried over his shoulder, his hand on the muzzle, and he tasted the pebble in his mouth. Across the shimmer of the dry lakes he could see the distant blue of the escarpment. Ahead of him there was no one, and behind was the long line of porters who knew that they had reached this point three hours too late. It was not him, of course, who had stood there that morning, nor had he even worn the patched corduroy jacket faded almost white now, the armpits rotted through by sweat, that he took off then and handed to his Kamba servant and brother who shared with him the guilt and knowledge of the delay, watching him smell the sour, vinegary smell and shake his head in disgust and then grin as he swung the jacket over his black shoulder holding it by the sleeves as they started off across the dry-baked gray, the gun muzzles in their right hands, the barrels balanced on their shoulders, the heavy stocks pointing back toward the line of porters. It was not him, but as he wrote it was and when someone read it, finally, it would be whoever read it and what they found when they should reach the escarpment, if they reached it, and he would make them reach its base by noon of that day; then whoever read it would find what there was there and have it always.”” [Ernest Hemingway](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/ernest-hemingway/) ## About This Quote This interpretation was drafted with AI assistance. It is one reading of the quote, not the author's own explanation. The writer becomes so immersed in his story that the fictional world feels physically real, blurring the line between imagination and experience. **In simple terms:** He lives the story as if it were real. Key Takeaway Let your work fully engage your senses. Themes immersion creativity reality fiction Mood intense reflective Type literary descriptive When to use this quote - writing - travel - adventure - combat - physical exhaustion Key Concepts Narrative immersion embodied cognition Questions to Reflect On - How does deep immersion affect your perception of reality? - What safeguards can you set while staying fully engaged? A Different Perspective The intensity may cause burnout if boundaries aren't set. ★ ★ ★ ★ ★ No ratings yet [Mind](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/mind/) [Story](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/story/) [Too late](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/too-late/) ## Related quotes > [“I knelt and started to pray and prayed for everybody I thought of, Brett and Mike and Bill and Robert Cohn and myself, and…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/ernest-hemingway/i-knelt-and-started-to-pray-and-prayed-for-everybody-i-thought-of/) [Ernest Hemingway](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/ernest-hemingway/) > [If he wrote it, he could get rid of it. He had gotten rid of many things by writing them.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/ernest-hemingway/if-he-wrote-it-he-could-get-rid-of-it-he-had-gotten-rid-of-many/) [Ernest Hemingway](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/ernest-hemingway/) > [ “Stay on Course Let your eyes look right on \[with fixed purpose\], and let your gaze be straight before you. 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He could feel the weight of the heavy double-barreled rifle carried over his shoulder, his hand on the muzzle, and he tasted the pebble in his mouth. Across the shimmer of the dry lakes he could see the distant blue of the escarpment. Ahead of him there was no one, and behind was the long line of porters who knew that they had reached this point three hours too late. It was not him, of course, who had stood there that morning, nor had he even worn the patched corduroy jacket faded almost white now, the armpits rotted through by sweat, that he took off then and handed to his Kamba servant and brother who shared with him the guilt and knowledge of the delay, watching him smell the sour, vinegary smell and shake his head in disgust and then grin as he swung the jacket over his black shoulder holding it by the sleeves as they started off across the dry-baked gray, the gun muzzles in their right hands, the barrels balanced on their shoulders, the heavy stocks pointing back toward the line of porters. It was not him, but as he wrote it was and when someone read it, finally, it would be whoever read it and what they found when they should reach the escarpment, if they reached it, and he would make them reach its base by noon of that day; then whoever read it would find what there was there and have it always.”", "creator": { "@type": "Person", "name": "Ernest Hemingway" }, "isPartOf": { "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/#website" }, "url": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/ernest-hemingway/he-was-completely-detached-from-every-thing-except-the-story-he-was/", "about": { "@type": "Thing", "name": "Mind" }, "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/ernest-hemingway/he-was-completely-detached-from-every-thing-except-the-story-he-was/#quotation", "image": { "@type": "ImageObject", "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/b2f/ernest-hemingway-83_mind_he-was-completely-detached-from-every-th_237586.jpg", "contentUrl": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/b2f/ernest-hemingway-83_mind_he-was-completely-detached-from-every-th_237586.jpg", "url": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/b2f/ernest-hemingway-83_mind_he-was-completely-detached-from-every-th_237586.jpg", "width": 1080, "height": 1080, "caption": "“He was completely detached from every thing except the story he was writing and he was living in it as he…” — Ernest Hemingway", "creditText": "SMS4Smile Quotes", "creator": { "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/#organization" } } }, { "@type": "BreadcrumbList", "itemListElement": [ { "@type": "ListItem", "position": 1, "name": "Home", "item": "https://sms4smile.com/" }, { "@type": "ListItem", "position": 2, "name": "Quotes", "item": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/" }, { "@type": "ListItem", "position": 3, "name": "Ernest Hemingway", "item": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/ernest-hemingway/" }, { "@type": "ListItem", "position": 4, "name": "“He was completely detached from every...", "item": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/ernest-hemingway/he-was-completely-detached-from-every-thing-except-the-story-he-was/" } ], "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/ernest-hemingway/he-was-completely-detached-from-every-thing-except-the-story-he-was/#breadcrumb" }, { "@type": "WebSite", "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/#website", "name": "SMS4Smile Quotes", "url": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/", "publisher": { "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/#organization" } }, { "@type": "Organization", "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/#organization", "name": "SMS4Smile Quotes", "url": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/", "logo": { "@type": "ImageObject", "url": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/wp-content/themes/sq/assets/icons/icon-512.png", "width": 512, "height": 512 } } ] } ```