Existentialist Articulation In Hemingway's In Our Time

As one of the most influential philosophical trends in western world,existentialism came into being in the 1920s,reached climax after the Second World War and became the most popular philosophy in the 1960s.Not so famous and popular though it is,it exerted a deep influence on social life and cultural field of that time.The fundamental focus of existentialism is on the absurdity of the world,the anguish of life and how people make free choices and take actions to shoulder responsibility under such circumstance,thus find the meaning of existence.Ernest Hemingway(1899-1961)is a famous writer both at home and abroad.His works and writing style have aroused many scholars' attention since the 1930s.As Hemingway's first collection of stories,In Our Time marks a milestone in his writing career from the perspective of language style,structure and theme.The thesis will focus on the study of its themes.Besides,the collection has a distinctive feature of that time.The spirits that Hemingway accurately depict and reveal coincide with existentialist thoughts after the First "World "War in Europe,such as nihility,loneliness,death and free choice.Based on Sartre's existentialist ideas,the thesis will discuss the existentialist articulation in In Our Time.The whole thesis includes three parts—introduction,body and conclusion.The body part consists of three chapters and will discuss the existentialist thoughts in the novel from the following three aspects—existence,alienation and freedom.Among these chapters,the first chapter is to disclose absurdity from social background,living and mental condition of people at that time.The second chapter is to analyze alienation with the discussion of interpersonal relationship between a man and other people as well as man and himself.The last chapter will demonstrate how characters make free choices and take relevant responsibilities in the absurd and alienated world and finally find out the meaning of life.During a hard time when people's various values disrupt,violence and death flood in people's life,survival becomes a question.The whole era forces people to look for something that they can hold to.Both Sartre and Hemingway grasped the pulse of that time.Based on the above analysis,the thesis holds that there are rich existentialist thoughts in In Our Time,and Hemingway is a writer with the awareness of existentialist philosophy as well.