Ernest Hemingways A Farewell to Arms - Research Paper Example

Hemingway’s creative symbolism of nature and elements of nature in A Farewell to Arms was used to intimately convey the characters feelings and desires. True symbolism is that in which the particular represents the general, not in the way a dream or a shadow does, but as the living and instantaneous revelation of the impenetrable (Goethe; Cited in Peyre 19). Introduction: Symbolism is regarded as an effective literary device that helps an author to provide a vivid, specific, and deep impression of the ambiance to the audience. Use of this literary device empowers a literary artist to convey the entirety of a situation in a symbolic or impressionist manner to the audience even if the artist is not indulging too much in the accurate description of the same. Though experimental application of symbolic devices in literature was mainly popularized by French literary artists, with the due progress of time, gradually, the technique was adopted, practiced and perfected by authors of English literature and Ernest Hemingway’s A Farewell to Arms can be regarded as an excellent example in this context. Set in the background of the World War I, A Farewell to Arms, apart from conveying the immortal theme of love and spontaneous reflection of human emotions during times of devastation, also deals with the horror of war, consequently also attempts to depict that how such horror plagues lives of human being. However, in the process of depicting the situation, the author has not remained focused on providing detailed, explicit description; rather, quite frequently, he has used the symbols and elements of nature, treated those masterfully in order to yield an imagistic representation of the surrounding chaos. In this context, the symbols and elements of nature are used by the author as to represent the pathos of human existence during war, existentialist crisis and to which extent the horror of war has spread its root to the very core of humanity. During a situation of war human misery and nihilism of existence prevail in abundantly. The author’s use of natural symbols and elements reassert that brooding presence of human tragedy during war becomes evident both in the microcosmic and macrocosmic layers of existence. Thesis Statement: Hemingway uses nature’s elements as dynamic and effective symbols of darkness and misery throughout the novel, A Farewell to Arms. The abundant use of Imagery in A Farewell to Arms: Nature reflects the Tragedy Hemingway’s intention to effectively convey the essential theme of the novel in a symbolic manner becomes clear with the very title of the novel itself: “A Farewell to Arms”. The title quite explicitly gives an impression of the theme that the audience is about to experience a literary documentation of the devastation and plight of war and when the situation reaches its climax, when people learn to realize that war is actually corrupting the core of humanity, automatically they give up to participate in the process of such devastating affair. Frederic, the protagonist of the novel, who can be viewed as a representative of the common people, has suffered immensely due to consequences of the war and finally, he has decided to give a farewell to the act of war (Shams 43). Being an active part of the World War I, Frederic has witnessed the entire situation very closely, and aftermath the death of Catherine, his beloved, he has clearly realized that peace or any kind of positivism that can contribute to the progress of humanity, cannot be attained through war. This realization can be evaluated in terms of general reaction of common people towards an act of war. The history of human civilization is replete with the proof that common people always suffer to the greatest extent in an act of war and in order to attain the bliss of peaceful existence, like Frederic, they also wish to farewell such inhuman situations. The way Frederic has observed the brutality and devastation of war, finds a close proximity with that of the author’s biographical reference. Harold Bloom, in this context, has mentioned: “Hemingway’s career included … service as an ambulance driver for the Italians in World War I … activity as a war correspondent in the Greek-Turkish War (1922), the Spanish Civil War (1937-39), the Chinese-Japanese War (1941) and the War against Hitler in Europe (1944-45)” (Bloom 5). Quite clearly, the character of Frederic has been portrayed by the author in a symbolic manner, and he has emerged as an imagistic representation of the author’s troubled existence during an act of war. The prevailing devastation, plight of common people and defeat of the humanitarian approach that the author witnessed personally during situation of war, he has intended to provide a symbolic depiction of the same to the audience through eyes of his protagonist Frederic. Robert Penn Warren opines that “Those who had grown up in the war, or in its shadow could look back nostalgically, as it were, to the lost moment of innocence of motive and purity of emotion” (Penn 26). Frederic, as a victim of war and direct witness of the situation has evidently experienced the loss of moral values, innocence and purity of emotion, such as love, some of the basic traits of human existence. Thus, human beings’ quest to revive from the destruction of war and loss of humanity has been made evident with symbolic title of the novel: A Farewell to Arms. In the introductory part of the Men At War (1942), Ernest Hemingway has elaborated the paradoxes and illusions of war: “When you go to war as a boy you have a great illusion of immorality. Other people get killed; not you. It can happen to other people; but not to you. Then when you are badly wounded the first time you lose that illusion and you know it can happen to you” (Hemingway; Cited in Dahiya 8). The way Hemingway has dealt with the theme of A Farewell to Arms, such observation finds a close relevance in context of the discussion. The suffering of humanity, as it has been depicted in the novel, shows that the realm of traditional illusions and glorified notions regarding participating in a war has been shattered by the ominous signs provided by the natural symbols and elements. The nature has not only remained as a symbolic or imagistic reflector of man’s heinous deeds against their fellow counterparts in A Farewell to Arms, but it also has its own way of revenging against such arbitrary deeds and the death of Catherine, the symbol of purity, tenderness and emotional spontaneity clearly bears proof in support of the observation. Women are often associated with the earth and are also considered as characterized by the same features like that of the mother planet. While Frederic can be regarded as the spirit of masculinity and common male spirit, who intentionally or are forcedly participate in warfare, Catherine can be viewed as the symbol of the eternal spirit of womanhood. Catherine death, keeping in accordance with such observation can be interpreted as the end of mother earth. The way she dies, which is during the process of giving birth to a child, can be viewed as giving birth to desire and accumulation of such increased range of desires will finally result in end of the positives of humanitarian existence: “The death of the beloved woman in Hemingway is part of the tropological cosmos, in which the moist element dominates because death the mother is the true image of desire” (Bloom 1-2). Consequently, the death of Catherine also suggests revenge of the nature against humankind as it can be interpreted in the line that by ending the essential features of the human emotion, of which Catherine is a symbol, the nature is asserting its protest against all forms of human arbitrariness. Among the other nature symbols or elements, rain has remained an important imagistic element in the novel. Throughout A Farewell to Arms, the image of rain has recurred and on every occasion, it has represented the pessimism, bleak, murky and plagued existence of the human beings in time of war: “… wherever and whenever we come across ‘rain’ in A Farewell to Arms”, it invariably stands for disease and sickness, want and scarcity, misery and misfortune, gloom and depression, fear and insecurity, darkness and destruction” (Shams 44). Keeping in accordance with this observation, it becomes quite interesting to see that with the use of recurring ‘rain’ symbol, the author has shown that every individual, during the course of his existence, is torn apart between two extreme dimensions. During the time of war, the continuous undercurrent of such dilemmatic existence becomes mostly conspicuously and clearly points out the existentialist crisis that an individual is compelled to deal with during such a critical situation. The devastation that human beings inflict on each other during a war and of which rain becomes a symbolic presentation, has been made evident by the author in the very introduction of the novel as he lays down: “At the start of the winter came the permanent rain and with the rain came the cholera. But it was checked and in the end only seven thousand died of it in the army” (Hemingway 4). While the ‘rain’ as a symbol of devastation has not only provided an impression of the horror and suffering of common people during the War, consequently, with specific focus on the number of soldiers died due to the consequences brought forth by the rain, it also becomes evident that revenge of the macrocosm or the entire cosmos against human cruelty. The nature, in this context, has received such an ominous stature that no matter how powerful human beings are in terms of their accumulative force, ammunitions or technological innovations but the power of nature remains insurmountable. The mastery or artistic ingenious of Ernest Hemingway can be realized in this context as he, with the effective use of nature symbols, has not only created an impression of the bleak and pessimistic surrounding but at the same time, also has provided an impression of universal magnitude that human arbitrariness against one another ultimately creates a negative impact at the natural level and human beings remain solely responsible for their own misery. Like all the great authors of literature, this capacity of Ernest Hemingway that he enables the audience to view the universal within the limited scope of literary narrative, has made him an “impeccable writer of English prose” and “[His] words strike you … as if they were pebbles fetched fresh from a brook” (Donaldson 15). Like rain, the dry autumn leaves and dust also have remained important symbols within context of A Farewell to Arms. These nature symbols and natural elements have been used by the author to show the prevailing barrenness of human existence in time of war, which is void, and deprived of any emotional nourishment. Situation of soldiers in the War can clearly be found similar as that of the dust and dry leaves, because they will also be blown away or powdered by the grinding of giant war machine. However, on the other hand, the river has emerged as a positive symbol in the context of redeeming the crimes that people inflict over each other and the meandering course of the river will finally lead the common people to life, liberty, freedom and peaceful existence (Shams 45-46). While the Italian soldiers were retreating, compelled by the desperate urge to save his life, Frederic’s leap in the river can be observed as a “leap into freedom and safety” (Shams 47). While on one hand, the threats of destruction and involvement in war remain as explicit paths, which will lead a human being to break and non-spiritual existence, the river emerges as a symbol of hope, love, affinity, and natural protection that provides an individual with the hope to aspire for existential betterment. Conclusion: Ernest Hemingway has effectively used the natural symbols and elements within scope of A Farewell to Arms to show the natural hostility and bleakness of human existence in time of war. The nature has not only remained just a backdrop in this novel but it has been provided with a personified stature by the author. With the use of natural symbols and elements the author has clearly suggested that brutality of human deeds will not go unpunished; rather with the due progress of time, nature will take its revenge by depriving the human beings from the essential features of their existence. Works Cited Bloom, Harold. Ernest Hemingway. New York: Infobase Publishing. 2005. Bloom, Harold. Ernest Hemingways A farewell to arms. 2nd Ed. New York: Infobase Publishing. 2009. Donaldson, Scott. New essays on A Farewell to arms. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press. 1990. Hemingway, Ernest. A Farewell to Arms. New York: Scribner. 1969. Hemingway. Ernest. “Men at War”. Cited in Hemingways A Farewell To Arms : a Critical Study. New Delhi: Academic Foundation. 1992. Peyre, Henri. What Is Symbolism?. Alabama: University of Alabama Press. 2010. Shams, Ishteyaque. Novels Of Ernest Hemingway: A Critical Study. New Delhi: Atlantic Publishers & Distributors. 2002. Warren, Robert Penn. “Earnest Hemingway”. Ernest Hemingway. New York: Infobase Publishing. 2005. Read More