Ernest Hemingway infuses his novels with life experiences, creating characters and plots based on his romantic encounters. Agnes von Kurowsky was Hemingway's first love, determining how he would continue to behave in his romantic relationships with his four subsequent wives. Hemingway's taste for ambitious, strong-minded women shaped the characters in some of his most important works, from For Whom the Bell Tolls, A Farewell to Arms and The Sun Also Rises. Hemingway's conflict and desire for countless women caused many of his marriages to end in divorce. These incidents in Hemingway's love life left a deep mark on his heart and his literary works. Hemingway's first romantic encounter formed the basis for how he would view his relationships later in life and helped influence one of his most successful novels, A Farewell to Arms. Agnes von Kurowsky was born in Germantown, Pennsylvania, on January 5, 1892. Kurowsky and Hemingway met while she was working as a nurse for the Red Cross and he was recovering from a mortar wound during World War I. Soon after meeting, the two began a relationship, shown through a collection of letters from both Hemingway and Kurowsky. However, their relationship did not come without complications. Hemingway was a simple boy of 18 and Kurowsky, 25. Hemingway and Kurowsky tell their numbers in drastically different lights, as they also saw their relationship. Hemingway recognized its importance in differentiating age, but was able to quickly look beyond numerical values. “As I fell asleep, I kept thinking about how nice and adorable she was, doubly attractive so far from home. Okay, he was a few years older than me, but then girls are very likely to like young me... mid-paper... a few years after his divorce with Gellhorn. Monks of Minnesota, was a journalist like many of Hemingway's previous wives. Monks and Hemingway met while in London, and while Hemingway was still married to Gellhorn. Monks and Hemingway married in 1946 and lived in San Francisco de Paula, Cuba, for the next fourteen years. At this time in Hemingway's life, his drinking worsened, until he committed suicide in 1961. Hemingway's encounters with women helped shape not only his novels, but also his life. Through his first love with Agnes von Kurowsky, he shaped how his other relationships would follow; broken and complex. His marriages subsequently ended in bitter divorce and jealousy, which he illustrates through his novels such as For Whom the Bell Tolls and A Farewell to Arms. Hemingway's life experiences instilled the plot and characters of his novels.