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.