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by analyze this, the readers can understand the hidden connotation. Lu Xun pointed out that the beauty of tragedy lies in destroying the valuable thing.
When the hero Henry is injured at the Italy battlefield, he transforms from a silly youth to a mature victim of war. Not until he jumps into the river to escape does he discover the essence of war. His soul is shocked. War is becoming so crazy. In order to escape from the evil, he quit war with Catherine. When Catherine dies, he transforms from a participation of war to a survivor of war. He is scarred by war. This is what Hemingway intends to show “This book is a tragedy. This reality does not make me upset. Because I believe life is a tragedy and life only has one ending.”5
The heroine Catherine does not quit war after her fiancé’s death. She stays in the hospital to take care of the injured. She transforms from a common people to a victim of war. When she decides to quit war with war and pursue freedom, she dies of dystocia. It is war that deprives a safe childbed. She does not die of arms. But the shadow of war leads to her death. Her death lets the reader understand the war as a disaster to human.
The novel ends in Catherine’s death and Henry’s suffering. Their tragedy is not a shaking and lethal death of hero. Their tragic ending is because of the evil society. However, this common tragic spirit arose people’s sympathy and fear. It inspires people to find the truth of life. Only by comprehending life can people understand death. This is the core of tragedy encourages people from generation to generation.
B. Hemingway’s View on Love and War
A Farewell to Arms is a war novel with a compliment love story in it. Through the writing techniques drawing by Hemingway, war and love mixes naturally. Two themes and two lines make a same ending. At the same time, A Farewell to Arms is a real tragedy which moves many generations. In Hemingway’s opinion, “……this book is a tragedy. This fact does not upset me. Because I believe, human’s life only
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has one ending and that is a tragedy.”6 This novel is a real portrait of Hemingway’s own life experience. His unique writing style and tragic sense reflect his view on love and war.
The theme of A Farewell to Arms is distinctive, that is anti-war. Henry and Catherine’s tragic fate expresses the anti-war theme. Hemingway thinks that war is evil and cruel. War is like a devil that destroys everything. It hurts people’s body as well as their spirit. He thinks war is good-for-nothing. In the novel, most soldiers have war weariness. In order to escape war, some soldiers even harm themselves. They hate war. They expect that war will end soon and go back to home.
However, Hemingway’s anti-war view has some reasons. He lives in an era of disturbance and war which can be described as “wasteland”. In the beginning of the 20th century, the First World War broke out. Young man joined war under the government’s publicity. But soon they realized war is no the same as they thought. War left them unrecovered injury. They were helpless and lost in the world. Hemingway took part in the war too. He puts his own experience and view of war to the novel. In the novel, Hemingway depicts the real face of war and the tragedy caused by war to express his hatred and disgust to war.
The title A Farewell to Arms not only means say good-bye to war, but also means say farewell to love. Love is an eternal theme in Hemingway’s creation. A lot of his works tell the love story with war as the background. Hemingway’s life experience has some impact on A Farewell to Arms is. The heroine refers to a real nurse who took care of Hemingway in hospital. In the novel, Henry and Catherine’s love tragedy is the clue that runs through the story. It criticizes the evil side of war. War destroys their love.
“Does Catherine really die of dystocia?” To answering this question, the reader can turn to Hemingway’s iceberg theory. Looking from the part above water, it is easy to know Catherine dies of dystocia. But where is the remaining part? It is war. People cannot control their fate in war. It is the imperialism war that takes Catherine’s life. Henry and Catherine’s love tragedy is caused by war. Cruel and ruthless war destroys their beautiful dream and deprives their happiness.
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Conclusion
Hemingway is one of the most genius writers in the 20th century. He combined his romantic experience and creation perfectly. He creates a vivid picture of disaster the two World Wars bring to the world. He writes the tragedy of human’s resistance with nature. No matter the early years’ “Lost Generation” novels or the later tough man novels, they receive a lot criticism among the world. His iceberg theory and terse language arouse a revolution in literary history. Among his great works, there exists a kind of moving tragic aesthetic.
A Farewell to Arms is the peak of the “Lost Generation” novel. Hemingway depicts the First World War in the novel. It becomes a famous war novel because of its anti-war emotion and tragic ending. Hemingway puts his own war experience in the novel. A Farewell to Arms is a typical Hemingway story that mixed war, love and death together.
My paper analyzes the tragic aesthetic in A Farewell to Arms. It begins with an introduction of the author and the story to let the readers be familiar with the general background and the plot of the story. And then the author focuses on analyzing the characters of the novel in the following aspects: Henry’s attitude changes with the contact with Catherine, Henry’s tragic ending and the reason, Catherine’s image and her tragic ending and the reason. This paper discusses Hemingway’s writing techniques in three aspects: terse language, iceberg theory and symbolism. Reading the novel, the readers not only can enjoy the moving love story, but also can appreciate Hemingway’s genius as a writer of great skills. People will also have the knowledge of the society of the 20th century, the cruelty of war and people’s sufferings at that time. By this paper, people will better understand the tragic aesthetic of the novel, the reason why the two characters will end in tragedy and Hemingway’s vision of love and his anti-war view.
The hero Henry can not escape the bound of destiny in the most dangerous
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situation----war, as well as in the most romantic situation----love, and finally heads to destruction. The heroine Catherine plays an important role in Henry’s growth. She not only reflects Hemingway’s tragic view of life, but also shows the tough guy spirit and heroic qualities. The social background and the character’s own characteristic concentrates to the tragic ending.
Hemingway is known for terse and vivid language. He uses the least words to convey the most meaning. Thus, his iceberg theory give people a mysterious and attractive feeling which make them want to discover the hidden meaning from word level. The description of weather and scenery has a hidden consciousness, especially the description of rain. This image appears from the beginning to the end. It symbols a sense of tragedy.
From the above analysis, the author summarizes Hemingway tragic aesthetics. Hemingway’s works always discuss the tragic problems. His purpose is to reveal human’s great power to face despair and tragic life. Hemingway’s tragic aesthetics reflects his view on war and love. War is an evil that ruin people’s normal life. Love in war will end in tragedy.
In conclusion, the paper makes a plain analysis of Hemingway’s tragic aesthetics, revealing the great achievement of A Farewell to Arms. At the same time, it shows his unique writing techniques that distinguish him from other writer. His influence on the later generation is great.
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Notes
[1] M. H. Abrams, A Glossary of Literary Terms（Boston：Thomson Learning, Inc，1999）208
[2] http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/A_Farewell_To_Arms. html [3] Ernest Hemingway, A Farewell to Arms, (Shanghai: World’s Books Press, 2011), 37
[4] Carlos Baker, The Mountain and the Plain Hemingway: The Writer as Artist, (Princeton: Princeton University Press, 1956) 136
[5] 董衡巽, 海明威传 (杭州: 浙江文艺出版社, 2008) 78 [6] 董衡巽, 海明威传 (杭州: 浙江文艺出版社, 2008) 153
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