On Ernest Hemingway’s Nihilism

Borrowing the philosophical concept of "Nihilism", the thesis probes into Hemingway’s works and points out that most of his creations have nihilistic features, and Hemingway can even be called a nihilist.The thesis introduces the origin, popularization and the essence of nihilism, and it identifies basis constituents of nihilism—rejection of fixed values, the absurdity of existence, and obsession with death, which can as well be found in Hemingway’s works.Hemingway’s denial to traditional values mainly lies in rejecting of true love, renouncing religious faith and failing to find such war-related values as justice, honor, and valor. In the absurdity of Hemingway’s world, the relation among men, the relation between the male and the female, the relation between man and nature are all alienated and abnormal, meanwhile, enveloped in a sense of futility, people live in pain, despair and helplessness. Hemingway nurses a sense of nothingness, depression and kind of obsessive concern with death, and he thinks, in face of death, love, courage and justice all will be defeated by it.The thesis analyzes the causes for Hemingway’s nihilist thoughts. Generally speaking, Hemingway is greatly affected by the culture, philosophy and modernism in20th century; he is influenced in a special social and historical background. In addition, Hemingway’s physical wound and upbringing background tortures him a lot, which leads him to a sense of nothingness.