Review Of Three Africa-Based Short Stories By E. Hemingway

Natural world is the centre of writing and life to Earnest Hemingway . Africa , which is a continent full of mystery remote from the modern civilization, is a strong attraction to Hemingway, making him intoxicated. It is this large continent that inspires Hemingway's Africa-based writing and offers him rich materials of writing. He told us that Africa could get all the people to return to their childhood except for invaders and looters. So , this expresses the feeling of an American writer to the continent.In the two trips to Africa, Hemingway saw the grassland and green hills there, in the meanwhile, he went through the never-got stimulation. Everything in Africa such as the fast running antelope and lions made Hemingway ,who was fond of hunting, excited much. Of course , the trip to Africa gave him plenty of material for his writing. The production of the three short stories , as"Francis Macomb's Short and Happy Life,"An African story"and"The Snows of Kilimanjaro", enjoyed the benefit from Hemingway's two trips to Africa.The success of"The Old Man and The Sea"shows that , Hemingway is good at depicting the terms between human beings and nature, which is deeply rooted in the American traditional naturalism. However, Hemingway was not confined to this convention. In the creation of the three novels , Hemingway ,based on the natural surroundings, analyzed the character of the protagonist in the novel, or showed the change of their natural view and ecological view, or reflected the destiny of the heroes with the help of symbolism. In this way, we could understand Hemingway's personal image, ecological view and the view of life and value.Hemingway's trip to Africa and his African complex supplied the materials of such novels as"Francis Macomb's Short and Happy Life","An African Story and"The Snows of Kilimanjaro". At the same time, with the portrait of landscape in Africa, it shows the union of Hemingway's artistic theory and his artistic practice, that is , art is from truth ,but it is above truth.With"Francis Macomb's Short and Happy Life"as focus, the two heroes of Macomb and Wilson were analyzed, giving the comparison between them . One is brave, the other is coward; one confident, the other self-pathetic. In the end of the story, Macomb found his dignity and courage back as a man at the price of life. It's easy to see that the two different figures are organized in the nature of Hemingway, that is, Macomb plus Wilson is Hemingway. With this association, we can understand the image and personality of Hemingway along with his naturalism in his heart.In"An African Story", with the inner activity of a boy, we can see Hemingway's concern about the terms between human and nature, disclosing the cruelty of human being, hoping for the harmonious terms between them. David's angry remark on the elephant hunting was the denial against men-centered theory, and approval of harmonious terms between human and nature.In"The Snows of Kilimanjaro, Hemingway used a leopard as the symbol reflecting the hero Harry's fate. In his recalling to the past, Harry ,who was already dead in life, slowly overcame the fear to death, forgetting the coward nature. In the end, his dream came true when he was dead. With his life view being heightened, we can see Harry's death hinted Hemingway's death complex, which says that , death is not important as the result, what is vital is the form of the death and the person's attitude to death. Thus , we deepened our understanding to the view of life and value held by Hemingway.