【英语论文】海明威对待命运的矛盾态度在其作品中的体现.doc

海明威对待命运的矛盾态度在其作品中的体现hemingways contradictory attitudes towards fate mirrored in his worksabstractthe thesis shows hemingways contradictory attitudes towards fate on the basis of an analysis of the main characters in his three well-known novels. in the sun also rises, the protagonist jake is unfortunate. his wound symbolizes the cruel fate as well as hemingways pessimistic attitude towards life. but jake has changed from a depressive to a person who has found the hope for life. his change reflects hemingways optimistic attitude: remaining a gleam of hope in despair. in a farewell to arms, the death of catherine, meaning the loss of love too cruel a fate for the protagonist henry to stand, reflects hemingways pessimistic view of life and his disappointment at reality. but henry has changed from a man treating life as a game to a tough guy of duty who can face his heartbreak alone, which shows hemingways positive view of life. in the old man and the sea, hemingway reveals his positive attitude towards fate through the protagonist santiagos unusual courage and optimism and reveals his pessimistic view of life through santiagos failure and loneliness. but hemingway also leaves a gleam of hopemanolin. the boy will be the next champion not to be defeated.hemingways contradictory attitudes towards fate are fully demonstrated in the protagonists fates in his works. the attitudes stemmed from his family background, his complicated life experiences and the social reality in america at that time.so we cannot simply see hemingways attitudes towards life and fate as either optimistic or pessimistic. his attitudes are paradoxical. on the one hand, he admires unyielding efforts and believes in the strength of human beings; on the other hand, he reveals pessimistic attitude towards life that no matter how hard one tries, his efforts are all for naught.key words: hemingway; contradictory attitudes; towards; fate海明威对待命运的矛盾态度在其作品中的体现摘要 通过对海明威著名的三部小说中主要人物进行分析可以看出海明威对待命运的矛盾态度。太阳照样升起中的主人公杰克是不幸的，他的伤象征着残酷的命运以及海明威对待生活的悲观态度。但是杰克改变了，从一个忧郁悲伤的人转变成为一个找到了生活的希望的人。杰克的转变反映出海明威在绝望中保留一丝希望的乐观态度。在永别了,武器中，凯瑟琳之死意味着爱情的失去，是主人公亨利难以承受的残酷命运。它反映出海明威悲观的人生态度以及对现实的失望之情。但是亨利从一个游戏人生的人转变为一个有责任感并独自承受巨大悲伤的硬汉。亨利的转变显示出海明威积极的人生态度。老人与海中主人公圣地亚哥非凡的勇气和乐观精神显示出海明威积极的人生态度，而圣地亚哥的失败和孤独则显示出海明威悲观的人生态度。但海明威还是留下了一线希望马洛林。这个男孩将成为下一个不会被打败的胜利者。 海明威对待生活和命运的矛盾态度通过其作品中主人公的命运得到充分展现。他的这一态度源于他的家庭背景, 他复杂的人生经历和当时美国的社会现实。所以，不能简单地认为海明威对待命运的态度是乐观的或者是悲观的。他的态度是矛盾的。一方面，海明威赞扬不屈不挠的努力，相信人类的奋斗精神；另一方面，他显露出悲观的人生态度，即无论怎样努力，一切都是徒劳。关键词: 海明威； 对待； 命运；矛盾态度；contents1. introduction.11.1 about hemingways three novels.11.2 the protagonists fates in the three novels.12. an analysis of hemingways attitudes towards fate .22.1 attitudes towards fate in the sun also rises.22.2 attitudes towards fate in a farewell to arms.42.3 attitudes towards fate in the old man and the sea62.4 the causes of hemingways contradictory attitudes83. conclusion.10notes10bibliography11hemingways contradictory attitudes towards fate mirrored in his works1. introduction1.1 about hemingways three novelsearnest hemingway, an american novelist and short story writer, was awarded the nobel prize for literature in 1954. he is one of the great american writers of the 20th century. lots of his works involve his own complicated life experiences, including his participation of the two world wars and his enthusiasm for fishing, hunting, bullfighting, etc. they are his autobiography to a large degree. hemingway reveals his own innermost feelings, including his contradictory attitudes towards life and fate through the characters fates in his works.with the publication of his first true novel the sun also rises in 1926, hemingway was recognized as the spokesman of the lost generation and became an international celebrity. the novel, sold more than one million copies during his lifetime, is about some expatriates living in postwar paris, who try to seek psychic solace by eating, drinking, traveling, and lovemaking. in 1929 hemingway published a farewell to arms, another novel with world waras its background. it tells of a tragic wartime love affair between an ambulance driver and an english nurse. both the two books reflect an entire generation, including hemingway himself, ruined by the war physically and mentally. his last masterpiece, the old man and the sea printed in 1952, earned him the pulitzer prize in fiction for 1952, and was instrumental in winning him the nobel prize two years later. it is a story of an old cuban fisherman, down on his luck, and his supreme ordealan agonizing battle with a giant marlin on the sea. the three novels, together with for whom the bell tolls, are his main masterpieces, representing his great achievements in literature.most protagonists in hemingways works have distinctive characteristics, such as bravery, strong will and remaining graceful under pressure. they are well-known as hemingway hero. hemingways works usually share an exciting topic that how a tough guy braves and experiences hardships calmly and gracefully. but those protagonists also reveal a pessimistic view of life from time to time. from those vivid images determination as well as pessimism, hemingway unfolds peoples great physical and mental suffering in a certain times and reveals his contradictory attitudes towards life and fate.1.2 the protagonists fates in the three novelsthe protagonist jake in the sun also rises is a symbol of despair, loneliness, and melancholy. he is a typical image representing an entire generation who have torn by world warand are grieving for the loss of their romantic idealism. jake is injured during the summer of 1925 in italy, which leads to his sexual dysfunction. later, he falls in love with brett who loves him, too. but both of them are aware of the impossibility of their having a life together. jake suffers more than any other person in this book physically as well as mentally, but finally he manages to seek solace from fishing, swimming, tennis, and, especially, bullfighting. he finds the ring of bullfighting is a new world on which he can concentrate his thoughts and feelings. the bullfighters, together with the rising sun bringing warmth and brightness to the world, symbolize his hope for life.the protagonist henry in a farewell to arms also represents the entire generation ruined by world war. he has been changed greatly by his violent wounding, from a man treating life and love as a game to a tough guy of duty who can face his heartbreak alone and continue his life bravely. he escapes from the battlefield during the retreat and manages to arrive in switzerland with catherine. he begins to understand the value of love and enjoy the true love. but before long he loses all of that when catherine dies of a difficult labor.the protagonist santiago in the old man and the sea is a classic image of tough guy in hemingways works. santiago, an old lonely cuban fisherman with unusual courage and optimism, hooks and finally kills a giant marlin through days of painstaking efforts far out in the gulf stream. but his capture is almost eaten up by the sharks during the long voyage home.2. an analysis of hemingways attitudes towards fate2.1 attitudes towards fate in the sun also rises the sun also rises is the first published long piece of fiction written by hemingway. the whole story is dominated by a tragic and depressing atmosphere. the protagonist jake represents an entire generation ruined by world war. he loses more than he deserves in the war, and even worse, he is disillusioned with traditional american values of hard work. he meets brett who is a nurses aid when he is injured and sent to a hospital in milan. they fall in love. but when jake learns that he is impotent, they decide to go their separate ways. they love one another, but they feel there is nothing they can do about the cruel reality. it is painful and destructive for them to be together. when they meet in england again, they discover that they are still in love. however, their love ends in misery.jakes wound is not life-threatening, but it is too cruel for anyone to bear. it deprives jake of the right of being a normal man. except grieving for his misfortune and his lost love alone, he can do nothing about his wound, which actually symbolizes the unchangeable and terrible fate. he loses much more during the celebration in spain, for his love and respect for brett have been tarnished. what sustained him is gone. undoubtedly, he is one of the most lonely and tragic characters in hemingways works.by describing jakes suffering and despair, hemingway reveals his own pains and sorrows when his idealism has been ruined by world war. after the war, peoples interest on hemingways bravery on the battlefield gradually cooled, and hemingway, suffering from the wound and the terrible recollection of the war, led a humble life. he even could not have enough money for food. his passion and idealism before he participated the war had turned into deep disappointment, or even, hatred towards the reality and society. he felt that he had been cheated and everything was a lie and life, dominated by fate, was painful and aimless. people could not change their unfortunate fates no matter how hard they tried. the only thing they could do was suffering the endless misery silently like jake.but it is an oversimplification to regard hemingway as a pessimist just according to the description of jakes misfortune. jake finally manages to learn how to make a life for himself, seeking solace from his work, sports, swimming, bicycle racing, observing box, fishing, and especially, bullfighting. his wound has nothing to do with his relationships with man, and he makes a lot of male friends. he is satisfied with his life in a mans world and he has become a tough guy who can brave and shoulder pains and sorrows alone. he gets solace from the ring of bullfighting and those masculine bullfighters belonging to the mans world. the ring of bullfighting serves as a psychic refuge for him. the sun, rising every day in the east, brings warmth and bright to the world and implies that life will continue its process no matter how hard it is and that people should not lose heart but should remain a ray of hope in despair and continue their lives bravely. the mortals vexations are so negligible in comparison with the eternal sun. jakes change and his strong in mind reflect that hemingway does not lose all his hope for life, hemingway is by no means a pessimist denying everything in the world. instead, he believes there are a lot of beautiful things and hopes, such as the rising sun and the ring of bullfighting, in life. one may fail in one field as jake loses his love and the right of being a normal man, but one can be successful in other fields as jake gets rid of his decadent attitude towards life and finds something sustaining him to continue his life. in spite of hemingways disappointment at reality, he did not completely lose his hope for life. his personality prevented him from taking a decadent attitude towards life. actually, when he led a humble life in paris in the expectation of achieving his objective of being a successfully professional writer, he never had an idea of giving up even during the hardest times when he hardly had anything to eat. the change of jake embodies hemingways strong will and the optimistic attitude towards life. so the sun also rises is a tragicomedy rather than an absolute tragedy. in this novel, hemingway reveals his contradictory attitudes towards fate mixed by disappointment and hopefulness for life.2.2 attitudes towards fate in a farewell to arms hemingways contradictory attitudes towards fate are also mirrored in a farewell to arms. during world war, hemingway served a few weeks as a red cross ambulance driver on the italian front in 1918 before being injured by an austrian mortar burst. in the milan hospital, he fell in love with an american nurse who was eight years older than he was and who eventually refused to marry him. his wound and the failure of his first true love are a heavy blow to him. a farewell to arms is hemingways autobiography to a large extent. one of the main differences between the protagonist henry and hemingway is that henry understands the war in a way that hemingway never did in italy at the age of nineteen. that is the reason why henry holds a decadent attitude towards the war and life and treats life and love as a game. there is a sharp contrast between henrys decadence and hemingway zest during the war. at first, henry treats his relationship with catherine as a game. when henry kissed catherine, “oh, darling,” she said, “you will be good to me, wont you?” “what the hell, i thought. i stroke her hair and patted her shoulder. she was crying.”1 a piece of his monologue reveals his view of love and life at that time. “i knew i did not love catherine barkley nor had any idea of loving her. this was a game, like bridge, in which you said things instead of playing cards. like bridge you had to pretend you were playing for money or playing for some stakes.”2 henrys decadence actually reflects hemingways disappointment and pessimism towards life and the social reality when hemingway understood the truth about the war a few years later on. hemingway, tortured by his wound and the terrible recollection of the war, was depressed and suffered from insomnia. he began to view the war in a new way, understanding the so-called glory and the salvation of democracy in the world were nothing but nonsense and he was cheated by the political propaganda. .but henry has been changed greatly by his violent wounding. he begins to understand the vulnerability of life and the value of true love and his feelings, habits, and character alter. his escape during the retreat is by no means cowardliness but a farewell to arms and the pursuit of life, peace and love. the most exciting and beautiful scene in the story is when henry and catherine meet again. “that night at the hotel, outside the windows the rain falling and in the room light and pleasant and cheerful, feeling that we had come home, feeling no longer alone waking in the night to find the other one there, and not gone away”3 as for henry, it is a farewell not only to arms, but also to the decadent self and those abstract notions such as faith, honor, and patriotism and it is a beginning of being a man of duty who has understood the significant meanings of life and love. finally henry and catherine successfully arrive in switzerland, where they enjoy the happiest days in their lives. in the novel, the rural scenery in the neutral country is described like a fairyland. “ in front of the house where we lived the mountain went down steeply to the little plain along the lake there was an island with two trees on the lake and the trees looked like the double sails of a fishing-boat. the mountains were sharp and steep on the other side of the lake”4 at there, henry and catherine enjoy the happy life to their hearts content. by describing the change of henry and the true love between him and catherine, hemingway is in praise of the beauty in life and demonstrates his positive view of life. henry and catherines happy life in switzerland symbolizes beauty and hope, serving as a solace to people who are suffering the cruelty of war and life. the picturesque and serene land is an idealistic shelter from the disappointing reality. hemingway thinks that one should grasp opportunity and take action without any hesitation to change his life and fate like henrys resolute farewell to arms and one should not succumb to misery but should try to break away from it to create a promising future. it is an optimistic and positive attitude towards life. however, as the story goes on, the couple are confronted with tragic fate again. catherine delivers a stillborn baby boy and, later that night, dies of a hemorrhage. catherine is a perfect character in the story, representing kindness, gentleness, honesty and strong mind. she is the incarnation of hemingways first love. catherines death symbolizes the uncontrollable and terrible fate and human beings doom. much as henry loves catherine, he can do nothing about her difficult labor; skillful as the surgeon, he can only postpone death for a little while instead of saving catherine or her baby. it is a world where people are all permanently at risk and have little control. hemingway cannot offer a satisfactory explanation to the destroy of beauty in life. it is the world, he thinks, that “kills the very good and the very gentle and the very brave impartially”, and “if people bring so much courage to this world the world has to kill them to break them, so of course it kills them.”5 like the ants on a log in the fire, it is impossible for people to escape from inevitable misery and defeat no matter how hard they try. hemingway, seized by pessimism again, sees life as an agonizing and helpless process in which man is negligible, fragile and is predestined to be defeated. at the end of the story, henry, a changed man, bears his heartbreak with an astonishing endurance. by writing short and concrete words and dialogues, hemingway impresses the readers with henrys great pain and, more important, his strong will. “you cant come in now,” one of the nurses said. “yes, i can.” i said. “you cant come in yet.” “you get out,” i said. “the other one too.”6 behind the seemingly plain words are henrys heartbreak and endurance. then henry “went out and left the hospital and walked back to the hotel in the ra