Post #8 - Thesis Proposal

American Author Thesis Proposal

I have developed a few ideas that I plan on combining together into one thesis statement. The overarching idea based on my observation that all of the protagonists in Hemingway’s stories have one particular similarity that can be argued is not part of common knowledge (it is well known that Hemingway’s protagonists are mainly serious, manly men who have trouble with women, drink a lot, but display grace under pressure). However, the similarity I am referring to is the isolation of the main characters, both from his friends, associates, and society as a whole. This isolation is exacerbated by the fact that three out of the four protagonists in the novels I have read are expatriates. The only exception is an old fisherman who goes out to sea alone for a few days. Being an expatriate, the main guy will not have any real sense of responsibility to the society. Because they are foreigners they are literally different to everyone else. Another factor contributing to the chronic separation from society is the protagonists’ difficulty in sustained relationships with women, though rarely for similar reasons across the texts. Many of the characters lie to their female friends about their lack of actual feelings for them; this is also seen to a smaller extent with all of the protagonists’ human relationships. They don’t seem capable of naturally interacting with their own friends and fellow members of the various communities.
The actual writing style of Hemingway’s also adds to the isolation of the central characters. Hemingway spends a lot of time in their minds writing out their thoughts as they observe their surroundings and associates. Then during conversations, Hemingway offers the thoughts of the character after many of the lines, and often times there is a contradiction between what the character says and truly feels. Overall the writing is very observant but at the cost of separating the character from his surroundings. This is possibly due to the fact that Hemingway himself is often similar to his characters. As a writer and journalist he was very perceptive but is never truly part of the community he is writing about, this is mirrored in his protagonists’ (some of whom, if not directly based on him, are writers themselves). Thus it is not implausible to argue that all of these patterns seen in Hemingway’s characters can be connected to him as well. He was a very isolated man, was an expatriate, and had troubled relationships with women (being married four times). Another paradox seen in a few of the novels and Hemingway’s life is that they selflessly devote themselves to social causes (such as fighting Fascism in Spain) but simultaneously display the individualism and selfishness of the western American.
As a member of the Lost Generation the ideas contained within my thesis statement were the result of World War I. The war’s seemingly pointless destruction and loss of life led to an overall questioning of life, morality, purpose, and reality by desensitized war veterans. Hemingway’s characters display this by their own interpretations of life’s purpose.
For this paper I will need a biography on Hemingway to provide solid connections between his life and those of his protagonists. I intend for my final thesis to connect the theme of isolation, the concise yet descriptive writing, Hemingway’s life, and the affects of World War I and the resulting Lost Generation on literature and the world.

Post #7 - A Farewell to Arms

I have read all 297 pages of my third book, A Farewell to Arms, since the posting of my sixth post. I have now started on my fourth book, For Whom the Bell Tolls. The third novel by Hemingway I read was about an American, Lieutenant Frederic Henry, in the Italian Army serving in the ambulance service during the Great War. The story is primarily of him falling in love with an English nurse, Catherine Barkley, and his resulting relationship with her. The novel is separated into five books, the first book is where Frederic and Catherine meet. The second book covers Henry falling in love with Catherine as he recovers from his wounds, including her becoming pregnant. In the third book Henry returns to the front but after an Italian retreat deserts the army after almost being killed by Italians accusing him of treachery. In the fourth book Henry and Catherine meet up and escape to Switzerland. Finally in the fifth book, the couple live a quiet life in Switzerland until Catherine goes into labor. Their son is stillborn and Catherine dies soon after. The book ends with Henry walking back to his hotel alone and in the rain.

Throughout the books I have read so far one particular similarity stands out. Every single main character is what would be called a man's man, rugged, stoic, and graceful under pressure. They all have failed relationships with women, the old man is unmarried (The Old Man and The Sea), Jacob Barnes (The Sun Also Rises) is impotent from a war wound, and Fredric Henry's love Cathrine dies after giving birth (A Farewell to Arms). All of the men find purpose in there lives mainly through hard work (Henry the only exception when he devotes his life to his love Catherine). The old man spends all of his time fishing, the only distractions being his own dreams and baseball. All of this make it quite obvious that Hemingway follows a similar pattern when he creates his protagonists, because of their similar characteristics. Another similarity I found between Jacob Barnes and Fredric Henry is their resemblance of Ernest Hemingway himself. This is especially evident with Henry, because A Farewell to Arms is a semi-autobiography of Hemingway. Barnes, after serving in World War I, becomes an expatriate journalist in France, much as Hemingway did. It is not unreasonable then to postulate that Hemingway's protagonists are often extensions of himself.

Another similarity I have found in the books is the protagonist's isolation. Through almost all of The Old Man and The Sea, the old man is alone on his boat. Even in the ending, the old man is not physically alone because "the boy was sitting by him," but he "was sleeping again" (140). The book ends with the old man alone with only his dreams. The ending of The Sun Also Rises is very similar. Barnes is not alone physically either, for he is in a taxi with Brett, but he is separated from her due to his impotency. "Brett said, 'we could have had such a damned good time together,'" to which he merely replies, "Yes,...Isn't it pretty to think so" (222). Barnes, after leaving his friends, spends his time alone on the coast. Henry is the least isolated compared to the other two, however he becomes so in the end. Whereas the old man and Barnes are separate from meaningful relationships, especially with women, to begin with Henry becomes so in the novel. The book ends with him moving into isolation, "After a while I went out and left the hospital and walked back to the hotel in the rain" (297). He goes through the traumatic experience that Barnes, and possibly the old man, have already had.

Post #6 - The Sun Also Rises

Since my last post I have finished my second book, The Sun Also Rises, reading a total of 116 pages. I have only just started reading my third book, A Farewell to Arms. In The Sun Also Rises, the rest of the story mainly occurs near or in Pamplona, Spain. The group of friends, that comprise the main characters, go fishing in the mountains/hills and partying during the week-long fiesta in Pamplona (known as the Running of the Bulls). They also attend multiple bullfights and interact with some of the bullfighters.

I have noticed both in The Sun Also Rises and The Old Man and The Sea, that Hemingway has a particular type of relationship between man and beast. Despite the fact that it is a man killing a fish or bull, the fight itself is noble as is the ending when done properly. Only certain characters understand this quasi-spiritual relationship between the man and the animals, most other characters do not recognize the nobility and purity of it. In The Old Man and The Sea, the old man considers the fish superior and only his cunning allowed him victory. In many ways it is the same in The Sun Also Rises, the bullfighter's tricks defeat the bull but it is an honorable death in the eyes of the narrator Jacob Barnes. The same is true for the old man who has much respect for his catch, until the sharks eat it that is. I could use these observations if I write about Hemingway's view of the natural world. Possibly his war experiences desensitized him to the connection between humans and the higher power and caused him to glorify the same connection with the creatures of the Earth.

Post #5 - The Sun Also Rises

I have only gotten to Chapter 12, page 106, which is about half way through the book since my last post. The book continues with the lives of these various writers, journalists, artists, and nobility in Paris during the 1920's. The narrator, Jacob Barnes, is in love with a woman named Brett, who is divorcing an English noble, marrying a Scott, having some sort of affair with Robert Cohn (the failed Jewish writer), and spends much of her time with a lively old count. Book One is mainly about the social life of the above characters in Paris. Book Two follows the fishing trip made to Spain by Jacob, Robert, and another American author friend of Jacob named Bill; Brett and her fiancé Michael will meet them in Spain. Jacob and Bill both do not like Robert very much because they find him to be awful, Jacob is also jealous of whatever relationship Robert might possibly have with Brett. By Chapter 12, Jacob and Bill have just arrived at the village where they will actually fish.

Hemingway's writing is so distinctive. Everything is so simple yet detailed. Everything is chronological, as he writes out many of the characters actions. There is also a lot of emphasis on location in The Sun Also Rises. All of the streets are named and precise details of where the characters go and what the places look like is provided. In both books I have read so far, the narrator is also one of the main characters. So not only are the events being witnessed thoroughly described, but the narrators thoughts as well. The characters themselves are also similar. They are both single and very observant of all their surroundings, including the land (or previously ocean), people (or in Old Man the animals), and objects. Both characters also seem to have a simple outlook on life, taking each day as it comes without much anxiety or ambition. Much of the writing is on in depth descriptions of the narrator's surroundings. Basically everything is very concise, as almost all of the sentences are shorter than ten words, it is journalistic in nature because of Hemingway's experiences as a journalist.

Post #4 - The Sun Also Rises

I have finally started my second book and have so far read to page 29, or the first three chapters of Ernest Hemingway's first book, The Sun Also Rises. The narrator of the story is an American newsman/reporter named Jacob Barnes who seems based of Hemingway himself. The main character at this stage appears to be a Jewish American author Robert Cohn. Robert Cohn has a pathetic existence, his life being dominated by the few women that openly care for him, at least up until where the book begins. Both Jacob and Robert live in Paris and Jacob is definitely a veteran of World War I. So far in the book, Jacob is narrating his experiences on one particular evening, during which he has so far eaten with a woman and socialized with his friends, most of the time intoxicated.

The main theme I have picked up so far is that the pointless nature of life. All the characters don't really have any purpose and event feel themselves to be drifting with time. There is also a lot of emotional detachment, Cohn has supposedly never been in love, and women only care for him to exploit him. Jacob does not seem to particularly like his companions and feels sick from watching people enjoying themselves. All conversation is empty and deals with extremely trival subjects, such as everyone's opinion on Paris (which is mainly negative).

I have not found any symbols in The Sun Also Rises, at least yet. It is probably because I am not far enough into the book. In The Old Man and The Sea, I think the fish symbolized the honor and perfection of nature and the entire struggle of the Old Man to catch it was a symbol for the struggle of man over nature (which is somewhat obvious as that what it literally was).

Post #3 - The Old Man and The Sea

I have finished my first book which was 140 pages, so I read a mere 120 pages since my last post.

A summary of what I read, which was pretty much the entire book, is as follows. The old man goes out after a long streak of bad luck. He eventually hooks an extremely large fish. The fish then takes him very far out and he must endure two days of holding the line, with no company but himself and the birds and fish. After a struggle he then catches the massive fish which turns out to be bigger then his boat. As he returns sharks begin to arrive. He initially fights them off with his harpoon until it is lost, then his knife attached to a oar until it is broken, and then clubs until he is defeated. When he finally returns home only the skeleton of the great fish remains and he goes to sleep.

Throughout the story the old man has a great respect for all of the creatures of the ocean (except some of the sharks) and the sea itself. He sees the fish as a more worthy and honorable being. As he returns after catching the great fish he talks to it until it is destroyed by the sharks. This shows a theme of the nobility of nature and the inferiority of humans.

Post #2 - The Old Man and the Sea - Favorite Passage

I read to page 20, for a total of 20 pages.

The book begins the story explaining how the old man has not caught a fish for over eighty days and a boy who used to help him has been forced to work on another boat by his parents. The old man is well respected by the other fishermen it seems but the boy is the only one who cares for him. The beginning of the book put simply is the boy preparing the man for another day of fishing.

A theme so far seems to be simplicity in life, the old man has only what he needs to survive (if that considering the boy is his main source of food). He is very simple minded, the only thing he and the boy discuss besides fishing is baseball and dreams from his youth.

One of my favorite passages was on page 17:

"May I take the cast net?"
"Of course."
There was no cast net and the boy remembered when they had sold it. But they went through this fiction every day. There was no pot of yellow rice and fish and the boy knew this too.

This is a perfect example of Hemingway's style of writing. The sentences are all extremely simple and concise, only enough words to convey the information. There is also a pattern of lots of tradition throughout this book. Everything is done a certain way and the past is revered by the main characters, though they operate in the present. The sentences also do not have any punctuation because they sentences are all so short and/or simple. All of the writing is also very explanatory. As the conservation occurs, Hemingway explains the surroundings and meaning behind everything (at least from the eyes of the boy or old man).