A Thematic Study of A Farewell to Arms英语专业毕业论文.doc

A Thematic Study of A Farewell to Arms1 IntroductionHemingway is a representative writer of the Lost Generation in modern American literature. His influence has been more pronounced in the realm of prose style. In his first collection of stories and thereafter, he combined elements from Gertrude Stein, James Joyce, and journalism to create a radically modern approach to the writing of sentences and paragraphs, such as an emphasis on nouns and verbs, a limited word-palette, frequent repetition of the same words and phrases, short sentences and a lack of clarity in the relationship between one sentence and the next. Hemingways writings and his personal life exert a profound influence on American writers of his time. Many of his works are regarded as classical of American literature, and some have been made into motion pictures. The overriding theme of his stories and books is “grace under pressure”, especifically, the ability of “men without women” to remain calm and competent in the face of life-threatening violence. His saga novel A Farewell to Arms is the best one among literatures about Lost Generation. The novel describes the experience and the change of character of one typical American youth in the first person. This paper, based on an analysis of characters and symbols, approaches the thematic concerns of the novel and argues that war and love and their mutual relationship are the central idea that runs throughout the novel.2 Story of A Farewell to ArmsA Farewell to Arms is set against the historical and geographical background of World War I. Hemingway, like other famous authors, such as John Dos Passos, F.Scott Fitzerld, joined the army. Before the war, they were innocent, being full of emotions, but deluded by the grandiloquence from the politicians. During the war, they saw many tragedies, and their bodies and soul mostly suffered irreparable hurt. To the extent of Hemingways experience, A Farewell to Arms can be seen as his autobiography.Ernest Hemingway conveys this story chronologically, in a strictly linear fashion, with no flashback scenes whatsoever. In fact, the novel contains very little exposition at all. Lieutenant Frederic Henry was a young American attached to an Italian ambulance unit on the Italian front. An offensive soon began, and when Henry returned to the front from leave he learnt from his friend Lieutenant Rinaldi, that a group of British nurses had arrived in his absence to set up a British hospital unit. Rinaldi introduced him to nurse Catherine Barkley. The two soon fell in love with each other. Before Henry left for the front, Catherine gave him a St. Anthony medal. At the front, as Henry and some Italian ambulance drivers were eating in a dugout, an Austrian projectile explored over them. Henry, badly wounded in the legs, was taken to a field hospital. Later he was moved to a hospital in Milan. While he was in hospital, Catherine often came to his ward, which helped Henry get rid of his restlessness and loneliness. After his operation, Henry was staying in Milan for recovery with Catherine Barkley as his attendant. Together they dined in restaurants, and together they rode about the countryside in a carriage. Summer passed into autumn. Henrys wound had healed and he was due to leave in October. He and Catherine planned to spend the leave together, but he became ill before he could leave the hospital. Before he recovered and was ready to leave for the front, Henry and Catherine stayed together in the hotel room, and she told him that she was pregnant. When Henry returned the battlefield, the war was going badly in Italy. The German troops forced a full-scale retreat. Then Henry deserted the war in a daring escape. He met Catherine in Stresa. The two went over to Switzerland where they spent an idyllic time waiting for the birth of their baby, but their baby was delivered dead. Catherine died from too much loss of blood. After Catherines death, Henry left and walked back to his hotel. War and love are obviously two important themes explored in the book. In the first two parts, they are in the war and the war is overwhelming. In the last two parts, they are in love. And, just as the first two parts are prepared with love in the time of war, the last two parts are tinged with war in the time of love. The third part serves as a transition between the two stories and centers on the escape. It is during the escape that Henry realizes that he is through with the war and decides that all he wants is to be with Catherine. Hemingways declarative, terse prose serves him well in this novel. It enables the narrator to be detached from life, and also serves to paint a cruel picture of the war. Additionally, it is used to produce a realistic narrative from Henrys point of view, avoiding elaborate schemes and descriptions. Thus, nothing in the novel is romanticized. The love between Henry and Catherine becomes a way out for mutual existence. The reader also notices the humor, which Hemingway manages to provide despite the seriousness of his topic. The author is, indeed, finding something to laugh about in life, much as his characters are discovering meaning in an indifferent existence. 3 The Theme: War and LoveA Farewell to Arms has an intense antiwar emotion. The novel is divided two parts. One is a farewell to war, the other a farewell to love. Hemingway condemns not the men who do not join the army, but the evil war and the hypocritical of imperialism.Hemingway points out that it is the war that destroys the happiness. Even in the first chapter, the author has already described two opposite world. The troops were muddy and wet in their capes; their rifles were wet, usually there was an officer on the seat with the striver and more officers in the back seat. (Ernest Hemingway 2004: 2) From the described details, we can find the disparity, which is caused by the imperialism. The soldiers endure the tribulations, which the ordinary person cannot bear, while the authorities ignore the awful situation, just enjoying their own happy time. The war, launched by the authorities, causes the whole society to relapse into the hell, including the soldiers. Moreover, at the same time, Hemingway joins the army, discerning all the seamy side. For the authorities, he expresses his anger through contrast that the troops walk in the rain and the officers sat in cars. At the end of the first chapter, he gives his voice to the authorities. At the start of the winter came the permanent rain and with the rain came the cholera. But it was checked and in the end only seven thousand died of it in the army (Ernest Hemingway 2004: 2). In this sentence, he uses “only seven thousand” to illustrate his view. He knows that the officers do not care about other peoples life, even so many like seven thousand, because they only want to live comfortable, having superiority complex by exploiting others. In this chapter, he only describes the real situation and uses a few comments, which have the function of matting, to express his anger. We can find the truculence of the war in many chapters, for example, his (Passini) legs were toward me and I saw in the dark and the light that they were both smashed above the knee. One leg was gone and the other was held by tendons and part of the trouser and the stump twitched and jerked as though it were not connected. (Ernest Hemingway 2004: 36)At last Passini died. Henry is hurt too. My knee wasnt there. My hand went in and my knee was down on my shin. “Oh, God” I said, “get me out of here.” (Ernest Hemingway 2004: 36). Henry undergoes miserable situation, seeing his accompanier dying near his body, and is injured by the explosive. It is the war that destroys their physical and mental status. Thus Henry has the thought of farewell to the war.Even he has already said good-bye to war, gotten renascence after death, gone into exile in Switzerland, enjoying their happiness like living in Xanadu, his wife still dies at last, because the author thinks that “ If people bring so mush courage to this world the world has to kill them to break them, so of course it kills them. The world breaks every one and afterward many are strong at the broken places. But those that will not break it kill. It kills the very good and the very gentle and the very brave impartially. If you are none of these you can be sure it will kill you too but there will be no special hurry.”(Ernest Hemingway 2004: 164) The tragedy shows that life is a dream, and negates the civilization of bourgeois society radically. Henry and Catherine are both good people, and they strive for their felicity. For this, Henry escapes from the army, being treated as a deserter. They try their best to reach Switzerland. However, they still have a tragic sequel. In one sentence, the western modern world described by Hemingway is filled with atrocity, desperation, failure and death, thus many people think that his works is mainly denial western civilization, and he is one nihilist denying all traditional value. However, in the exceeding sorrowful novel, he still has a positive answer. Though life is meaningless, aimless, no directional, the action should follow a certain rule. There should be a few people who are pure-hearted, brave and individual. He pays much attention to “the truth” found in a flash; especially threaten by death, no matter somatic or mental. According to Hemingways view, the biggest achievement is keeping his own style, facing the huge power. Even the result is failure, or they are defeated by the evil, they are still triumphal in spirit. We can find the triumph that exists not only in Spanish ordinary people in For Whom the Bell Tolls, but also in Cuban fisher fighting with big fish in The Old Man and the Sea.Yet, A Farewell to Arms is at the same time a tender love storyone of the tenderest and affecting ever written. In the novel, we can find many romantic scenes, which mainly exist in the Milan hospital where Henry recuperates and in Switzerland. “I only wanted to for you.”“There isnt any me. Im you. Dont make up a separate me.”“I thought girls always wanted to be married.”“They do. But, daring, I am married. Im married to you. Dont I make you a good wife?”“Youre a lovely wife.”(Ernest Hemingway 2004: 74)If we read those sentences, we must think this novel describes a romantic love story. Henry and Catherine talk about their feelings and the future, loving each other thoroughly, ignoring the changing society. What a romantic scene! Therefore, we can treat this depiction as a foil to the absurd war. Henry and Catherine love begins in battlefield, developing in the field hospital, but dying because of it. We can say that if there were no war, it is impossible for two exotic strangers to love, while incontestable, their fate is not hard as the present life. Though when they escape to Switzerland, the war does not let them pass.Actually, it is the very combination of love and war that makes this book so potent and memorable. Regarding the woman he loves, the hero of Hemingways novel For Whom the Bell Tolls tells himself: “You had better love her very hard, and make up in intensity what the relation will lack in duration and continuity.” Frederic Henry of A Farewell to Arms could say the same thing of his affair with Catherine Barkley. Because they meet in a time and place in which every day could be their last together, Henry and Catherine must wring every drop of intimacy and passion from their relationship. From the book, we can find many details to illustrate my view. Thinking about how soon Catherine begins to speak of love, and how soon they sleep together, especially considering the conservative mores of the time in which the book is set, we can get one conclusion that the result of this situation is unbearable because of its intensity at that time.4 Thematic Development through CharacterizationGood writers use all techniques of characterization needed to convey the theme and engage the reader, and Hemingway is not an exception. The following part will focus on main characters in the novel to explore its thematic meaning.4.1 Frederic Henry To some extent, thinking about characters and characterization, A Farewell to Arms is the story of Lieutenant Frederic Henry and the way he grows and changes, lives and learns, in order to catch up with the Nurse Catherine Barkley with respect to experience and the wisdom that it brings. We all know that Ernest Hemingway has been accused of misogyny; we could get a conclusion that Catherine is more mature when they meet, so from that time on Henry struggles to match her level of maturity.At the first few chapters, we find that Henry spends time on bars and whorehouses in the cities of the lowlands. He is spiritually lost at first and Henry treats war or the world as one obligation, which he achieves through alcohol and sex. A Farewell to Arms traces his movement towards an understanding of the world and of himself. It is obvious Catherine catches Henry heart as soon as they meet because Catherine is different, more mature, in a word, the characters contrasting levels of maturity are demonstrated by their different attitudes towards the war. Henry suggests, “Lets drop the war.” With her characteristic mixed of wisdom and humor, Catherine replies, “Its very hard. Theres no place to drop it.”(Ernest Hemingway 2004: 8) permanently scarred by the loss of her fiancé, she already realizes it is impossible to “dropped” the war easily. Additionally, when Henry tells us that his declaration of love for Catherine is a lie, it exposures he is boyish, and does not understand the meaning of love.Before receiving his war wound, Henry is still talking abstractly about bravery. And there is one point to be cried up that Henry admits he is scared after the first shelling. In a bit of foreshadowing that will prove ironic, he argues against giving up: “It would only be worse if we stopped fighting.” He says that defeat is worse than war itself. Because of his own intense pain, however, and the trauma of witnessing of the death of a comrade, Henry will no longer be able to deny his involvement in this war or its potential to affect him. He has therefore grown closer to Catherine.When Henry and Catherine meet again in Milan, he declares his love for her, only this time he understands the meaning of love. For Henry, he doesnt only treat his affair with Catherine a game, and it is significant that this transformation follows his wounding in battle. The experience has matured Henry, elevating him to a level of wisdom closer to that of Catherine. Yet the contrast of Henrys naiveté and Catherines experience and maturity is reiterated as Henry tries to make a date for the night after the operation.At last， during the course of the summer he spends with Catherine, Henrys character changes fund