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.