A Thematic Study of A Farewell to Arms 英语专业毕业论文.doc

A Thematic Study of A Farewell to Arms 1 Introduction Hemingway is a representative writer of the Lost Generation in modern American literature. His influence has been more pronounced in the realm of prose style. In his first collection of stories and thereafter, he combined elements from Gertrude Stein, James Joyce, and journalism to create a radically modern approach to the writing of sentences and paragraphs, such as an emphasis on nouns and verbs, a limited word-palette, frequent repetition of the same words and phrases, short sentences and a lack of clarity in the relationship between one sentence and the next. Hemingway’s writings and his personal life exert a profound influence on American writers of his time. Many of his works are regarded as classical of American literature, and some have been made into motion pictures. The overriding theme of his stories and books is “grace under pressure”, especifically, the ability of “men without women” to remain calm and competent in the face of life-threatening violence. His saga novel A Farewell to Arms is the best one among literatures about Lost Generation. The novel describes the experience and the change of character of one typical American youth in the first person. This paper, based on an analysis of characters and symbols, approaches the thematic concerns of the novel and argues that war and love and their mutual relationship are the central idea that runs throughout the novel. 2 Story of A Farewell to Arms A Farewell to Arms is set against the historical and geographical background of World War I. Hemingway, like other famous authors, such as John Dos Passos, F.Scott Fitzerld, joined the army. Before the war, they were innocent, being full of emotions, but deluded by the grandiloquence from the politicians. During the war, they saw many tragedies, and their bodies and soul mostly suffered irreparable hurt. To the extent of Hemingway’s experience, A Farewell to Arms can be seen as his autobiography. Ernest