The Unyielding Spirit Against The Harsh Environment

The nature of man and his eternal tragic fate are one of the main themes in Hemingway's novels. This thesis tries to manifest Hemingway's tragic conception through a systematic analysis of his works, with four major masterpieces as examples— The Sun Also Rises, A Farewell to Arms, For Whom the Bell Tolls, and The Old Man And the Sea.In Hemingway's eyes, life is mainly a tragedy. He maintains that man is doomed to defeat in his struggle against all sorts of catastrophes and his own fate. Meanwhile, pessimism is not the only theme in Hemingway's tragedies, his works are filled with a kind of positive spirit as he holds that, "Man is not made for defeat, A man can be destroyed but not defeated." Man has the capacity to gain spiritual transcendence through his hard struggle against the harsh nature and the surroundings. Hemingway's tragic conception reflects his meditation on life.Hemingway's tragedies can be analyzed from different perspectives. Nihilism and pessimism, the dominating ideological moods in Hemingway's fiction, affect the attitude of his protagonists toward life. Instead of adopting an active way of living, they tend to accept their catastrophe and defeat with grace and courage. This is especially true in his earlier fictions. In his later works, Hemingway's protagonists are endowed with some kind of spirit. In order to fulfill their desires, they manifest their staunch spirit and take positive action against their fate. Though they get nothing in material, they gain a spiritual triumph and transcendence. This is of great significance in Hemingway's tragic conception.