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ALIENATION AND ABSURDITY OF LIFE

One of the most profound themes of literature is the isolation of self.

Separation and alienation from society can be as encapsulating as the physical

remoteness of one trapped on an island. Psychological isolation is one of the most

prominent and complex themes in literature. Often, there is no escape, or at least

no complete escape. This is one of the major themes of the existentialists.

At the core of Hemingway‘s The Sun Also Rises is a painfully obvious yet

rarely demonstrated tension between main characters that secretly hold contempt

for one another. Protagonist and narrator Jake Barnes reveals subtle hatred and

jealousy of the people with whom he spends the most time socializing. Robert

Cohn displays an unhealthy fixative tendency toward seductress Lady Brett Ashley

that eventually leads to bouts of physical assault. Bill Gorton constantly attempts

to make humorous comments, which are oftentimes demeaning to other members

of the social circle. Despite the destructive animosity present, these characters

would, for the most part, consider themselves friends with each other. None of

them seems to be able to openly acknowledge the extent to which they are

emotionally separated, nor does anyone seem to be able to articulate any of the

angst or depression they feel throughout the novel. The lingering atmosphere of

unspoken tension grows through the narrative, dictating the series of events that

unfolds and prevents interpersonal bonds from strengthening or forming. This

tension forms as a result of the emotional isolation generated by the post-World

War I American experience—an isolation characterized by a lack of empathetic

interpersonal connections and an inability to express feelings verbally.

Without the omnipresent mental isolation, none of the conflicts in the novel

would have come to fruition. Despite the occasional glimpses of true feelings

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(usually occurring only after significant intoxication), most negativity is repressed

and left to fester. Feelings of hostility grow and are somewhat visible, especially to

the reader, but remain unexpressed until they have exceeded the threshold. Jake

describes a particularly unsettling dinner at the peak of this repressed enmity,

comparing it to dinners he had during the War: ―There was much wine, an ignored

tension, and a feeling of things coming you could not prevent happening. Under

the wine I lost the disgusted feeling and was happy. It seemed they were all such

nice people‖ (SAR 146). Jake is able to acknowledge the tension present to the

reader, as well as the sense that the repressed feelings are about to boil over (as

this scene occurs a few days before Cohn‘s physically explosive release). Instead

of pursuing the healthy route of openly admitting his observations and his own

resentment, Jake fully submits to the neutralizing agent of alcohol. He tries to do

away with his ―disgusted feeling‖ because he is unable to confront it or express it.

Since all the main characters try in some way to isolate themselves from their

emotions, the tension between them only continues to grow.

A combination of two cultural factors is responsible for alienating the

principal characters, the first and more obvious being the effects of World War I.

Jake seldom expresses the traumatic events directly, but through his ambiguous

revelations one is able to infer what a horrible experience it was. The most

important lingering aspect of the war is the injury he received that rendered him

impotent. He is extremely reluctant to discuss the issue he has, saying, ―I try to

play it along and just not make trouble for people… Good advice, anyway. Not

to think about it. Oh, it was swell advice. Try and take it sometime. Try and take

it‖ (SAR 31). In the first part of the quote, Jake reveals plainly that he refuses to

discuss his injury with anyone because he simply does not want to burden them

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unnecessarily. He feels as though revealing one‘s weaknesses or negative feelings

is useless. In the second part of the quote, he sarcastically avoids the idea of

thinking about it as ―good advice‖ (SAR 31). Jake struggles constantly to put the

thought of his injury out of his mind, but this task is much harder than it seems. He

is continuously haunted by the lingering damages of the war, yet feels alone and

unable to express these feelings. Bill shared similar war experiences, escaping

physically unscathed but knowing the same terror as Jake. Bill, too, seems unable

to express his war experiences directly, favoring, instead, the use of sarcasm to

mask his feelings.

The second social factor directly responsible for limiting the openness of

the characters is intolerance and hatred. Bill and Jake share a close fraternal bond,

one that both of them are reluctant to acknowledge. Bill expresses his feelings for

Jake, and the reason why he was previously hesitant to admit it: ―I‘m fonder of

you than anybody on earth. I couldn‘t tell you in New York. It‘d mean I was a

faggot‖ (SAR 116). In the United States, Bill felt restricted reveal himself. The

stigma of being homosexual was powerful enough to keep him quiet about even

the simple platonic feeling of liking somebody. Bill is not likely homosexual, he

simply feels a brotherly attachment to Jake. But to express this feeling is viewed as

emasculating, and it forces Bill to keep his feelings inside.

Prejudice in the novel is not limited to sexual preference, however, it is

also directed towards religion. Robert Cohn, being Jewish, is the main victim of

religious discrimination in his personal history and at the hands of his so-called

friends. The abuse he suffered back in the United States is one of the earliest

distinguishing characteristics mentioned by Jake, who said of Cohn, ―He cared

nothing for boxing, in fact he disliked it, but he learned it painfully and thoroughly

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to counteract the feeling of inferiority and shyness he had felt on being treated as a

Jew at Princeton‖ (SAR 1). The torment Cohn experienced in the institution left

him with a deep feeling of inferiority. Instead of trying to find solutions for his

mistreatment, or openly discussing his feelings, he takes up a physically violent

sport that he does not even enjoy in order to compensate for his emotional distress.

He substitutes aggressive physical action for the more verbally open, healthy

alternative. From this point, it is clear that the treatment Cohn endured prevents

him from being able to remark (a result of their own emotional isolations). Cohn is

mentally alienated further by the people he seems to know best. Matters are

complicated when Jake, Bill, and Mike begin to make Anti-Semitic.

Another distinct American attitude that could affect self-alienation is less

explicitly stated in the text. American culture places individualism in high regard,

as opposed to the group-oriented focus of Eastern collectivist cultures. There is

also a stress on the importance of masculinity in American culture, at least for

men. Part of being an independent, manly human being is restricting the emotions.

To emote negatively, or seek emotional comfort in others is often seen as

effeminate. Any expression of feeling is a sign of weakness, and being raised as an

American male, showing weakness is intolerable. Hemingway himself especially

valued masculinity and individualism, avoiding stylistic or poetic language in

favor of simple, gruff sentences for that very reason. Perhaps his personal

masculine ‗code‘ prevented him from talking openly about his war experiences.

He may have written this characteristic into his characters as a subtly sympathetic

measure, one exempt from the stigma of feminization. Jake is fully engrained with

this masculinity-above-all mentality, as are Cohn and Bill. It leads them to repress

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their emotions even further. The emphasis on individualism may also lead to their

inability to form strong bonds with one another.

Jake and Bill get along fine, but Jake is never able to maintain a healthy

relationship with anybody else in the novel. He avoids socializing altogether,

preferring to be alone most of the time. Though his masculine characteristics

correctly align with his notions of what should be for an American male, they end

up crushing any hope he has for normal friendships.

American pride is in individualism and masculinity while it has still

manifested itself in the heads of citizens everywhere. As war has destroyed

countless lives and minds, ignorant and arbitrary hatred is as ubiquitous as ever.

Perhaps the relationships are not quite as dysfunctional as Jake‘s, but the emotive

limitations are nearly identical.

Isolationist tendencies are an unavoidable products of the American

experience, whether caused by World War I or the Civil War, whether masculinity

is pursued vigorously or subtly, or whether someone is hated for their gender, race,

or religion. The isolation in The Sun Also Rises could be avoided if the characters

were able to open up, express their feelings, and develop realistic, healthy

relationships instead of the hollow masks they attempt to put over their

animosities. Perhaps a time will come when Americans will value empathy rather

than strength, when military conflict is avoided in favor of treating domestic

issues, and when ignorance and hate fade into the distance. Until that time, all the

characters are bound to feel some kind of emotional alienation as a part of being

American.

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In the novel The Sun Also Rises Ernest Hemingway describes a couple who

share a very strange and distant kind of love for each other by possessing the idea

of spiritual alienation and the feeling of disillusion. This story takes place

immediately after World War I, a time of great hardship. This hardship results in a

digression of values both morally and socially.

Hemingway has represented disillusionment and alienation in many

different occasions in the novel. when Jake starts to pray, he almost falls asleep

and he prays for the Bullfighters. He knelt and started to pray and prayed for

everybody.

I thought of, Brett and Mike and Bill and Robert Cohn and myself,

and all the bullfighters, separately for the ones I liked, and lumping

all the rest, then I prayed for myself again, and while I was praying

for myself I found I was getting sleepy, so I prayed that the bull-

fights would be good, and that it would be a fine fiesta, and that we

would get some fishing. (SAR 138-139)

This quotation establishes that Jake has loose morals because he did not

pray for anything really important, instead he prays for having fun and a good time

in the fiesta. When he is praying for something important it bores him and he

almost falls asleep. Furthermore he could not pray as well anymore because he has

returned from the war where he has seen many terrible things. He is isolated and

chambered in his own soul.

Brett is a beautiful woman who has never loved anybody yet she is

satisfied with her arbitrary love affairs . She has also lost self-respect by randomly

saying,

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I‘m a goner. It‘s tearing me all up inside‘...

I‘m a goner now, anyway. Don‘t you see the difference?‘

No.

I‘ve got to do something. I‘ve got to do something

I really want to do. I‘ve lost my self-respect‘. (SAR 159)

because she realizes that she does not really love anybody after all she has gone

through and all she has done in her life. She shows disillusionment by searching

for fulfilment as well as true love. Brett has a lot of trouble deciding on having one

man and settling down with him. In an attempt to find a new lover, she engaged

herself to Mike Campbell of Britain. Still unsatisfied, she continues on to have

affairs with Robert Cohn and then falls in love with Romero the bullfighter. She is

a disillusioned woman who cannot find happiness anywhere, no matter which man

she picks. Herself and the society have corrupted her. Her beauty can be

considered as a major handicap. It is her beauty that precociously draws men to her

side as well as her attitude toward drinking.

The most profound disillusionment that Hemingway has expressed by the

characters through over drinking. The characters, in The Sun Also Rises are serious

drinkers, they drink like it‘s their job. Actually, alcoholism practically is a

profession for one of the characters (Mike), a slacker whose major distinguishing

factor is his ability to get drunk and stay drunk for days, possibly years, on end.

Alcohol provides a much-needed escape from the realities of the world that

Hemingway‘s characters move through; it allows them to push away their personal

doubts and fears, as well as renounce responsibility for their actions. Drinking is a

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largely ineffectual coping mechanism with this group of isolated, aimless,

uncertain, and irresponsible people. They always drink when they go out to places.

"You wouldn‘t believe it. It‘s like a wonderful nightmare."

"Sure, " I said. "I‘d believe anything. Including nightmares."

"What‘s the matter? Feel low?"

"Low as hell."

"Have another absinthe. Here, waiter! Another absinthe for this señor."

"I feel like hell," I said.

"Drink that," said Bill. "Drink it slow."

It was beginning to get dark. The fiesta was going on.

I began to feel drunk but I did not feel any better.

"How do you feel?"

"I feel like hell."

"Have another?"

"It won‘t do any good."

"Try it. You can‘t tell; maybe this is the one that gets it.

Hey, waiter! Another absinthe for this señor!". (SAR 193)

When they drink, they unlock their true feelings and emotions. It gives

them a relief and it also helps them to express what they truly feel. Since most

character is disillusioned by the reality, drinking has brought them alteration.

In this story, there is a very different way of life from what people know

today. The disillusioned relationship that Jake and Brett share is one that would

seem completely unrealistic in today‘s time, but to them, it was acceptable. Jake,

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no doubt, would have preferred to have it differently, but he is accepting the way it

stands.

I lay awake thinking and my mind jumping around. Then I couldn‘t keep

away from it, and I started to think about Brett and all the rest of it went

away. I was thinking about Brett and my mind stopped jumping around

and started to go in sort of smooth waves. Then all of a sudden I started to

cry. (SAR 27)

In this rare moment of release, Jake breaks down and gives in to his despair about

his hopeless relationship with Brett. Jake emphasizes just how difficult it is to stay

tough and rational at night – when they‘re alone in the dark, it‘s hard not to think

of the things that make them unhappy.

But I could not sleep. There is no reason why because it is dark you should

look at things differently from when it is light. To hell there isn‘t! I

figured that all out once, and for six months I never slept with the electric

light off. That was another bright idea. To hell with women, anyway. To

hell with you, Brett Ashley. (SAR 128)

Left alone for the night, Jake‘s problems all emerge in full force. He‘s

definitely right – something about the night time makes all a little too introspective

at times. Despite his efforts to brush them off, his emotional issues can‘t be

ignored forever. This situation expresses the isolated, hurt and emotional feeling

which can‘t be cured forever. The physical and mental wound made all the

characters to undergo hardships, that is so widely spread during the post wartime

cause the people to lower their moral standards and being alienated.

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Frederic Henry, in Ernest Hemingway‘s A Farewell to Arms undergoes a

self-awakening into the ideas of existentialism. In the beginning of the novel,

Henry is a drifter unconsciously searching for a meaning in life. As Henry slowly

discovers the trivialities and horrors of life, he becomes ―authentic,‖ which means

discovering the existential fact that life has no meaning and learning to deal with

it. Religion, patriotism, love, and several other outward forms pose as temptations

that Henry must conquer in his quest to become authentic. It shows the absurdity

of life.

Henry‘s first temptation is that of religion and what it means. Henry flirts

with the idea of religion with a series of doubts and questions. What appeals to

Henry and religious followers is that religion gives man a set of guidelines on how

to live with hope. Henry is a drifter unconsciously looking for fulfillment. Henry‘s

first temptation with religion was the Priest‘s home town of Abruzzi. The priest

persuades Henry with the idea of going to his hometown. The Priest explains to

Henry, ―There is good hunting. You will like the people and though it is cold it is

clear and dry‖ (AFA 16). Abruzzi is more than a town and in that town it

represents religion. Henry throughout the novel really wants to give religion a

chance but is held back by reasons beyond his control he reflects,

I had not gone. It was what I had wanted to do and I tried to explain

how one thing had led to another and finally he saw it and

understood that I had really wanted to go and it was almost all right.

(AFA 21)

Critic Ray West Jr. explains that Henry‘s lack of acceptance towards faith

as ―A parable of twentieth-century man‘s disgust and disillusionment at the failure

of civilization to achieve the ideals it had been promising throughout the

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nineteenth century‖ (Ray 22). Frederic Henry represents twentieth-century man.

Twentieth-century man rejects religion because religion does not keep its

promises. After centuries of unchallenged doctrines of religion, mankind slowly

discovers that what was once sacred is now nothing. In the nineteenth century

religion was controlled with an iron fist; people had to follow a certain set of

guidelines or there was no reward in heaven. People began to ignore the ideas of

religion and still lead happy peaceful lives. Man acknowledges that life can exist

without God. Henry makes it evident through the criticism of Ray West Jr.‘s

twentieth-century man theory he says, ―In defeat we become Christians‖.

Hemingway is concluding that religion is the realization of hope and guidance

beyond means other than oneself. Instead of looking for answers elsewhere, the

answers should come from within. Henry goes on to say,

I had gone to no such place but to the smoke of cafes and nights

when the room whirled and you needed to look at the wall to make

it stop, nights in bed, drunk, when you knew that that was all there

was, and the strange excitement of waking and not knowing who it

was with you, and the world all unreal in the dark. (AFA 21)

The vices or reality of Henry‘s world cannot accept the town of Abruzzi,

though it is cold it is clear and dry. As with religion Henry doesn‘t accept the idea

of God or Christian doctrines. Christian guidelines certainly would not conform to

Henry‘s lifestyle Henry explains to the priest that

He had not had it but he understood that I had really wanted to go to the

Abruzzi but had not gone and we were still friends, with many tastes alike,

but with the difference between us. (AFA 22)

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Henry realizes that without religion men can still function in harmony. As

the priest has his set values and rules defined by Christian doctrines and rules,

Henry has his own values and rules defined by himself the individual. Henry

confides unconsciously to the priest of his fading faith. When he is talking about

the status of the war at the hospital in Milan Henry sums up his view on religion:

I had hoped for something more.

―Defeat?‖

―No. Something more.‖

―There isn‘t anything more. Except victory. It may be worse.‖

―I hoped for a long time for victory.‖

―Me too.‖

―Now I don‘t know.‖

―It has to be one or the other.‖

―I don‘t believe in defeat. Though it may be better.‖

―What do you believe in?‖

―In sleep.‖ I said. (AFA 200)

Henry dodging the question of the priest doesn‘t know what to believe in

anymore. The priest says, ―It has to be one or the other.‖ Basically the priest is

saying either he is a believer or not. Henry believing his own idea that ―In defeat

we become Christians‖ (AFA 199) resists defeat even ―Though it may be better‖

(AFA 200). Defeat is better in a sense of giving man a sense of hope and

ultimately a reward for a life well spent. The last time religion is given serious

thought is when Henry and Catherine walking together in the rain next to the

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cathedral. Henry then begins to ignore temptation and sees his past, the outward

forms of religion, when Catherine declines his offer to go into the Cathedral:

I wish they had some place to go.

It mightn‘t do them any good.‖

―I don‘t know. Everybody ought to have some place to go.‖

―They have the cathedral,‖ Catherine said.

―You‘re my religion. You‘re all I got. (AFA 215)

Henry is still optimistic in that ―Everybody ought to have some place to

go‖ but Catherine tells him otherwise. Henry envisions that ―some place to go‖ is

finding hope to life through religion. Catherine rejects his notion with a view, that

―It mightn‘t do them any good.‖ Catherine had no faith in religion. She exclaims to

Henry that, ―You‘re my religion. You‘re all I got.‖(AFA 215)

The underlying theme of Existentialism is the notion that the world is

without purpose, value, or meaning. It is only by personal choice that this is no

longer so; the authentic decision is to apply meaning to ones life. These decisions

must be made based on the stimuli one has received from ones senses, for that is

all the information a man can use to make such choices. This concept is well

described by Nietzsche, who says ―All credibility, all good conscience, all

evidence of truth comes only from the senses‖ (Nietzsche 134). Hemingway is

characterized by his use of ―iceberg principle‖.

As per this principle, the top part of the iceberg is above the water and the

reader must comprehend the remaining 7/8ths that is submerged. He masters the

art of implication and subtle nuances of dialogue. Here is an excerpt from A

Farewell to Arms that exemplifies his style:

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―So you make progress with Miss Barkley?‖

―We are friends.‖

―You have the pleasant air of a dog in heat.‖

I did not understand the word.

―Of a what?‖

He explained.

―You,‖ I said, ―have the pleasant air of a dog who—―

Stop it,‖ he said. ―In a little while we would say insulting things.‖

He laughed. ―Goodnight,‖ I said. ―Goodnight, little puppy.‖

I knocked over his candle with my pillow and got into bed in the dark

Rinaldi picked up the candle, lit it and went on reading. (AFA 27)

In this passage, there are elements of infatuation, teasing, humor and

friendship. The scene is touching yet funny. These aspects are remarkably

achieved through simple dialogue and small actions. By doing this, Hemingway is

forcing the reader to make choices about the story based on the small information

provided. This ties back into the Existentialist theme discussed earlier with regards

to man‘s personal choice to add meaning to his life based on the data he receives

from his senses.

Hemingway‘s style, much like Existentialism, relies on the ability of man

to reason and infer. He collaborates with the reader to achieve emotion and mood,

without actually writing about it. Existentialists believed that life was futile and

purposeless. Nietzsche set forth the concept of Nihilism, which translates to

nothingness. This is a formula for this theory, which is largely Darwinian in

nature:

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Universe= created not by God, but by Time + Space + Chance +

Matter = since time, space, etc., are all impersonal, then the

universe is impersonal (has no personality). Thus Man = having

evolved from animals, man is part and parcel of the impersonal

universe. Therefore, man is impersonal and meaningless.

(Nietzsche 158)

This dark and depressing reality that Nietzsche sets forth is obviously

rejected by much of mankind, who naturally feels the need to attach meaning to

his/her life. Absurdity results when man makes unauthentic and untruthful choices

that do not add any more meaning than he had before. For example, Henry and

Catherine feel a sense of nothingness because of the grim reality of war in which

they both are a part of it. In the beginning of the novel they look to the wrong

places (make the wrong choices), to add meaning to their unhappy lives. Catherine

is in despair over the death of her finance and because of this she feels emptiness:

I wanted to do something for him. You see I didn‘t care about the

other thing and he could have had it all. He could have had

anything he wanted if I would have known. I would have married

him or anything. But then he wanted to go to war and I didnt know¦

I didnt know about anything then. I thought it would be worse for

him. I though perhaps he couldnt stand it and then of course he was

killed and that was the end of it. (AFA 19)

As a result of this she begins a relationship with Henry. However, this

relationship is fake and contrived in the beginning. They superficially pretend they

are in love, playing with the idea of it as a diversion from their painful reality.

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We sat on the flat stone bench and I held Catherine Barkleys hand.

She would not let me put my arm around her.

―Are you very tired?‖ She asked.

―No.‖

She looked down at the grass.

―This is a rotten little game we play, isnt it?‖

―What game?‖

―Dont be dull.‖

―Im not, on purpose.‖

―You‘re a nice boy,‖ She said. ―And you play it as well as you know

how.

But its a rotten game.‖

―Do you always know what people think?‖

―Not always. But I do with you. You dont have to pretend you love me.

That‘s over for the evening. Is there anything you‘d like to talk about?‖

―But I do love you.‖

―Please lets not lie when we dont have to. I had a very fine little show

and Im all right now‖. (AFA 31)

Catherine and Henry choose to engage in a phony love affair, which

satisfies neither of them, leaving them with the same feeling of meaninglessness

that they had before. This exemplifies the existential theme of absurdity, where

man attempts to attach meaning to his life, only to find that his attempts have been

futile.

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Henry also seeks significance in the wrong ways. He has become

desensitized by war, so he does not take it seriously; and finds it is absurd. He

meets a wounded soldier on the side of the road, who tells him about the measures

he has taken to stay out of the front lines. Henry sympathizes with him and aids

him in escaping the lines one more time. There are several opportunities where

Henry could have acted in line with the regulations of being a proper officer, but

he does not because he does not take the war seriously. He expresses this feeling to

his friend Rinaldi after his leg is blown to pieces by an explosion and is offered an

award of honor:

They say if you can prove you did any heroic act you can get the

silver. Otherwise it will be bronze. Tell me exactly what happened.

Did you do any heroic act?‖ ―No,‖ I said. ―I was blown up while

we were eating cheese.‖ Be serious. You must have done something

heroic either before or after. Remember carefully. I did not.

(AFA 63)

Henry does not try to make himself seem honorable in any way. Because,

he does not see anything but absurdity, he tries to find a purpose while at war. He

drinks with his fellow officers, ―I drank wine because tonight we were not all

brothers unless I drank a little‖. (AFA 38) in order to feel connected to them, but

this only leads to further emptiness later in the night;

I went out the door and suddenly I felt lonely and empty. I treated

seeing Catherine very lightly, I had gotten somewhat drunk and had

nearly forgotten to come but when I could not see her I was feeling

lonely and hollow. (AFA 41)

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Henry feels lonely and hollow because the choices he has made, such as

drinking, have not compensated for his feeling of meaningless due to the absurdity

connected to a life fighting a war. Hemingway‘s novel is seen as a human reaction

to existentialism that man cannot accept that life is absurd and meaningless, so his

characters reach a point where they try to defy this principle.

His heroes are unable to ―buy into‖ dominate social systems of thought,

and therefore feel alienated by society. The solution that Hemingway proposes is

individual as well. His protagonists must discover a code by which they can order

their lives so that they can cope with a world that would otherwise make no sense

to them (Smith Allen Par. 4).

Henry is ready for the next phase of the book, where he chooses to add

meaning to his life. The emptiness he feels is becoming unbearable and he seeks a

purpose and reason to live. His relationship with Catherine has begun to take on

more meaning. He begins to make different choices.

Henry is beginning to develop his essence, which obviously, according to

Existentialists, can only begin after one exists in the world. This is in line with

John Lockes theory of the tabula rasa- where man is a blank slate upon birth and is

only written upon as he experiences the world. Since, as described earlier,

Hemingways characters are trying to find a code to live so that their lives seem to

hold meaning, choice plays an important role. At this point in A Farewell to Arms,

Henry is choosing to develop his code; his essence. Sartre would say that he is

condemned to be free, because once thrown into the world, he is responsible for

everything he does. The first part of this code Henry develops his love for

Catherine. No longer an illusion; their love has become real:

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God knows I had not wanted to fall in love with her.

I had not wanted to fall in love with any one. But God

knows I had and I lay on the bed in the room of the hospital

in Milan and all sorts of things went through my head but I

felt wonderful. (AFA 93)

Later in the novel, Rinaldi comments Henry that he acts like a married man, and

that he is more serious than he used to be:

I‘ve led a quiet life., ―You act like a married man,‖ he said. ―What‘s

the matter with you?‖, ―I feel like hell.‖ ―This war is terrible,‖

Rinaldi said. ―Come on. We‘ll both get drunk and be cheerful. Then

we‘ll go get the ashes dragged. Then we feel fine.‖ ―I‘ve had the

jaundice,‖ I said. ―and I can‘t get drunk‖. Oh, baby, how you‘ve

come back to me. You‘ve come back serious and with a liver.

I tell you this war is a bad thing. Why did we make it anyway.

(AFA. 167-168)

Rinaldi notices how Henry has begun to change- instead of escaping the

war by drinking, he now turns to love. He also makes the decision to give up in

terms of the war; he sees how it is ruining his life and those of his friends:

Anger was washed away in the river with any obligation. Although

that ceased when the carabineer put his hands on my collar, I would

like to have had the uniform off although I did not care much about

the outward forms. I had taken off the stars, but that was for

convenience. It was no point of honor. I was not against them. I was

through. I wished them all the luck. There were the good ones, the

brave ones, and the calm ones and the sensible ones, and they

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deserved it. But it was not my show any more and I wished this

bloody train would get to Mestre and I would eat and stop thinking.

I would have to stop. (AFA 232)

Since Henry is now at the point of developing his essence, he is making

choices to try to add meaning to his life. The characters in Hemingways novels

cannot accept the fact that life is absurd and futile, so they seek a reason to live.

For Henry and Catherine, the war has caused this feeling of emptiness and

absurdity. They develop a love for each other to fill the void they feel inside.

Existentialists would say that they are forming their essence by making different

choices.

Henry‘s next temptation is that of the outward forms of objects. Critic Ray

West Jr. suggests that, ―When the words became separated from the acts they were

meant to describe, then they meant nothing.‖ (Ray 10) What Ray West Jr. is

acknowledging is an existential idea of existence precedes essence. In other words

an object is just present and nothing more. Author Hemingway believes in the

existential idea in that there are no outward forms. The character Frederic Henry is

also distilled with Hemingway‘s theory as he demonstrates an existential view:

I was always embarrassed by the words sacred, glorious, and

sacrifice and the expression of vain. We had heard them, sometimes

standing in the rain almost out of earshot, so that only the shouted

words came through, and had read them, on proclamations, now for

a long time, and I had seen nothing sacred, and the things that were

glorious had no glory and the sacrifices were like the stockyards at

Chicago if nothing was done with the meat except to bury it. There

were many words that you could not stand to hear and finally only

the names of places had dignity. (AFA 206)

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A sacrifice, as Henry puts it is ―wasted meat‖. An example of that idea is

reminiscent of ancient Mayan civilization‘s human sacrifices that accomplished

nothing. Virgins were sacrificed to false Gods with no reciprocation from the Gods

above. According to Henry only things such as directions, names, and places had

any dignity. They represent only one thing with no false hopes or pretenses. A sign

that is written with the words ―California 50 miles‖ is just that. There is nothing

glorious or sacred painted on that sign. The sign merely illustrates a fact and

nothing more or any false pretenses. Again, when he is escaping arrest from the

carabinieri, Henry notes,

I would like to have had the uniform off although I did not care much

about the outward forms. I had taken off the stars, but that was for

convenience. It was no point of honor. (AFA 24)

Through Henry it is author Hemingway‘s comment about the false representation

of medals. The medals or as Henry puts it as ―decorations‖, had anything but

honor. The medals in their psychical form represent nothing. Critic James F. Light

summarizes this point brilliantly in that the character of ―Ettore, who sees war as

an accident suitable for promotion and self-glorification‖ (James 25). Ettore cares

not of patriotism or honor. He uses his medals only for the sake of opportunity and

to boost his super ego. Upon learning that Henry is going to get some decorations,

Ettore enviously comments,

Your going to get it. Oh boy, the girls at the Cova will think you‘re

fine then. They‘ll think you killed two hundred Austrians or

captured a whole trench by yourself. Believe me, I got to work for

my decorations. (AFA 20)

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Ettore sums up exactly what he works for- decorations. Having one medal

or ten, makes not a braver man. A true patriot is not measured on decorations or

rewards. Patriots care not of these things as they love their country enough to die

for it. Henry doesn‘t see Ettore‘s pretentious behavior as plainly as Catherine.

Catherine explains that ―We have heroes too, but usually they‘re much quieter‖

(AFA 127).

Henry‘s final temptation is that of love. He no longer becomes a drifter and

wants to share his life and love where there is always hopes and compromises.

Rinaldi one of ―the initiated‖ as critic Ray West Jr. tries to summarize Henry‘s

false convictions of love:

Truly? I tell you something about your good women.

Your goddesses. There is only one difference between

taking a girl who has always been good and a woman.

With a girl it is painful. That is all I know. And you will

never know if the girl will really like it. (AFA 25)

As one of ―the initiated‖ Rinaldi is an existentialist. Rinaldi‘s description

of the virgin is rather crude but important. He is trying to persuade Henry not to be

fooled by love and asked him to get in the way of life. Rinaldi is a man as he

defined himself, ―with simpler pleasures.‖ and goes on to say ―Now you see.

Underneath we are the same. We are war brothers‖ (AFA 20). Rinandi knows that

Henry is undergoing changes. Henry‘s temptations are hindering the ―initiation‖.

After Henry is separated from his ―war brother‖ the temptations must be faced

alone. Henry is still learning to have hope and the outward forms of love hinder his

progress. At the beginning of the novel, he was a man ―with simpler pleasures‖ as

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critic Peter Hays surmises ―He makes it clear that his initial interest in Catherine is

sexual only; he is seeking no commitment‖ (Peter Hays 34). Henry was a

lieutenant for three years with no idea on which direction life takes until he met

Catherine. All of a sudden it becomes clear to Henry himself while in the hospital

in Milan he acknowledges ―I had not wanted to fall in love with anyone‖

(AFA 18). Upon being reunited with Catherine, Henry confesses to himself that

―When I saw her I was in love with her. Everything turned over inside of me‖

(AFA 43).

The next temptation that love brings forth is Henry‘s request of marriage

upon learning of Catherine‘s pregnancy. Catherine defends her view in

responding, ―What good would it do to marry now? We‘re really married. I

couldn‘t be any more married‖ (AFA 131). After rethinking the situation, there

pops the question during the final months of her pregnancy ―I suppose if we really

have this child we ought to get married‖ (AFA 321). Henry accepts the notion as

the right thing to do but what does it mean? Being married before or after doesn‘t

effect the child physically or delays its birth. Marriage in this sense is the outward

form of their love. Marriage in the physical sense before or after the fact means

nothing as with Catherine‘s early comment of ―I couldn‘t be any more married.‖

Henry and Catherine surely learned that they were in love, no matter married or

not. Having a ring on the finger doesn‘t make the love any stronger, it is just a

psychical representation of their love.

Henry turned his love to Catherine throughout the war to get him through.

When he leaves and lives with her to have their child, her painful labor threatens to

take her life. Henry prays and begs for her to live:

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Please, please, please, dear God, don‘t let her die. Dear God, don‘t

let her die. Please, please, please, don‘t let her die. God please don‘t

make her die. I‘ll do anything you say if you don‘t let her die. You

took the baby but don‘t let her die. That was all right but don‘t let

her die. Please, please, dear God, don‘t let her die. (AFA 360, 361)

Henry, who is the believer of God seeks the grace from above. He pleads to

the Almighty knowing that He is the only solution and God alone can save the life

of his ladylove who is his world. This prayer reflects the inner feeling of Henry

who can‘t imagine a life without her.

Poor, poor dear God. And this was the price you paid for sleeping

together. This was the end of the trap. This is what people got for

loving each other. ¦So now they got her in the end. You never got

away with anything. Get away hell!…what if she should die? She

won‘t die. ¦She can‘t die. (AFA 350)

When Catherine and the child die, Henry does not know what to do but see

Catherine again. He enters her room but seeing her does not help; he is completely

disillusioned and alienated. He feels the absurdity of life.

But after I had got them out and shut the door and turned off the

light it wasn‘t any good. It was like saying good-by to a statue.

After a while I went out and left the hospital and walked back to the

hotel in the rain. (AFA 363)

After Henry has lost his love and his child, he has deserted the war. The

book ends with him alone in the rain, completely alienated. He now knows all the

things around him are false. Henry now realizes the fact that the true forms of

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religion, patriotism, and love are empty forms of hope. He learns that any hope

must only come from within. Henry is now authentic by experience, so he walks

quietly back to the hotel in the rain. and knows that he has to shape his destiny.

Existentialism takes a pessimistic view on life and man‘s existence, so the way in

which A Farewell to Arms ends is very existentialist.

Though Hemingway is apparently a realist who has a predilection for

physical action, he is essentially a philosophical writer. His works should be read

and interpreted in the light of his famous `Iceberg theory': 'The dignity of the

movement of an iceberg is due to only one eighth of it being above the water'. This

statement throws light on the symbolic implications of his art. He makes use of

physical action to provide a symbolical interpretation of the nature of man's

existence. It can be convincingly proved that, While representing human life

through fictional forms, he has consistently set man against the background of his

world and universe to examine the human situation from various points of view.

In this aspect, he belongs to the tradition of Hawthorne, Poe and Melville,

in whose fiction darkness has been used as a major theme to present the lot of man

in this world. Hemingway's concern for the predicament of the individual

resembles the outlook of these `nocturnal writers'. 'As with them, a moral

awareness springs from his awareness of the larger life of the universe. Compared

with the larger life of the universe, the individual is a puny thing, a tragic one. But

in this larger life of the universe, the individual has his place of glory'. This

awareness of the futility of human existence led Hemingway to deal with the

themes of violence, darkness and death in his novels. By presenting the darker side

of life, he tries to explore the nature of the individual's predicament in this world.

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This metaphysical concern about the nature of the individual's existence in

relation to the world made Hemingway conceive his protagonists as alienated

individuals fighting a losing battle against the odds of life with courage, endurance

and will as their only weapons. The Hemingway hero is a lonely individual,

wounded either physically or emotionally. He exemplifies a code of courageous

behavior in a world of irrational destruction. He offers up and exemplifies certain

principles of honor, courage and endurance in a life of tension and pain which

make a man a man. Violence, struggle, suffering and hardships do not make him in

any way pessimistic. Though the `vague unknown' continues to lure him and

frustrate his hopes and purposes, he does not admit defeat. Death rather than

humiliation, stoical endurance rather than servile submission are the cardinal

virtues of the Hemingway hero.

A close examination of Hemingway's fiction reveals that in his major

novels he enacts `the general drama of human pain', and that he has 'used the novel

form in order to pose symbolic questions about life'. The trials and tribulations

undergone by his protagonists are symbolic of man's predicament in this world. He

views life as a perpetual struggle in which the individual has to assert the

supremacy of his free will over forces other than himself. In order to assert the

dignity of his existence, the individual has to wage a relentless battle against a

world which refuses him any identity or fulfillment.

His novels are replete with existential themes. Full of anguish and grief, the

characters of Ernest Hemingway‘s novel experience the absurdity of life, and try as

they might to develop a positive essence by their choices, their lives end in sorrow

and alienation. Just as Samuel Beckett‘s Waiting for Godot proves there is nothing

to be done, A Farewell to Arms shows that there is no solace to be found from a

life of love and war.

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For Whom the Bell Tolls has been written in the backdrop of Spanish civil

war, Hemingway experienced as a news reporter. Therefore, the chances of

exaggeration are almost equal to nothing and he leaves no stone unturned to

expose the sufferings, the brutalities and the miseries of common human beings.

These are some factors that caused him to write For Whom The Bell Tolls.

The Spanish civil war was fought in 1930s between Fascist and

Republicans with an impression that both sides were considering themselves right

in their own scenarios. It is a general phenomenon that two opposite forces,

involved in a war consider themselves always right and their purpose behind the

war. They damn care of how much there is a blood shed and how much there is a

loss of humanity on both sides. Hemingway in For Whom The Bell Tolls recounts

those memories, which were nerve-shattering experience not only for him, but also

for those human beings, who had seen the catastrophe of the I World War, were

experiencing this in the Spanish civil war and unfortunately were destined to

experience this in the form of II World War in the coming years.

Robert Jordan is a protagonist of the novel. The novel narrates what

happens in the life of an American volunteer, Robert Jordan, who has been

assigned the task of blowing up a bridge in the hills. He goes through the same

nerve-shattering experience, when he takes part in the war in actual life. He is on

the Republican side, fights against Fascist. He participates in the war with a hope

to do something for Republicans. His endurance, determination and persistence

have been presented by Hemingway with a unique touch of patriotism. He is a

warrior, who is sincere to his cause more than anything else.

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He becomes able to distinguish the difference between appearance and

reality and what happens to his determination and sincerity, when he comes to

realize that the resulting effects of war are nothing but a massacre and a loss of

humanity on a greater scale. He realizes the absurdity of life. This is exactly what

Hemingway has been concerned as an author throughout his life. He is not

interested in telling the cock and bull stories, related to bold and audacious

adventures of his heroes, rather he describes the inner turmoil, the sufferings and

pains, the loneliness and longingness people experience in the name of war. He

takes the responsibility on his shoulders to bring to light the hideous sides and

heinous aspects of wars, fought in the 20th

century. Perhaps no other 20th

century

writer has been this much involved to capture the inner conflict, the hollowness of

minds and the spiritual emptiness of the alienated people.

As the novel opens, Robert Jordan is a machine-like man who operates

without much emotion as a volunteer for the Republican Cause against the Fascists

during the Spanish Civil War. He is logical and rational to an extreme in carrying

out his missions as an explosives expert. Hemingway is recognized for his

depiction of male protagonists who are alienated, hyper-masculine, obedient,

dedicated and willing to sacrifice themselves. His protagonist Robert Jordan fit in

this description. Before he meets Maria, Jordan is alienated as a human being. 'I

don't like that sadness,' he thought. That sadness is bad. That's the sadness they bet

before they quit or betray. That is the sadness that comes before the sell-out"

(FWBT 6). He travels alone, exhibits no family ties and retains only one or two

friends whom he admits he doesn't know very well. Maria is the catalyst that

connects him with the human race and brings about in him a renewed sense of

spirituality.

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She sat down opposite him and looked at him. He looked back at

her and she smiled and folded her hands together over her knees.

Her legs slanted long and clean from the open cuffs of the trousers

as she sat with her hands across her knees and he could see the

shape of her small up-tilted breasts under the gray shirt. Every time

Robert Jordan looked at her could feel a thickness in his throat.

(FWBT 22)

However, after he encounters the highly superstitious Pilar, who reads

omens in nature and everyday occurrences and who can even small death in others,

he begins to consider that perhaps there is, after all, a supernatural power that

coincides with sound scientific judgment. In chapter one he hears that Pilar can

prophesy the future by reading palms, and he wonders what she would see if she

examined his palm. In chapter two, she examines his palm but drops it quickly, as

if burned, and answers "nothing," to his inquiry about what she saw.

"Let me see thy hand," the woman said. Robert Jordan put his hand

out and the woman opened it, held it in her own big hand, rubbed

her thumb over it and looked at it, carefully, then dropped it. She

stood up. He got up too and she looked at him without smiling.

"What did you see in it?" Robert Jordan asked her. "I don't believe

in it. You won't scare me."

"Nothing," she told him. "I saw nothing in it."

"Yes you did. I am only curious. I do not believe in such things."

(FWBT 32)

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It would seem then, that a logical man would dismiss this palm reading

incident as an entertaining interlude, but the incident circulates in Jordan's mind

throughout the novel. So from the beginning Jordan visualizes the nothingness in

life. He knows on some level that Pilar saw his death-a short life, perhaps-and this

realization makes him more aware of life. Indeed, perhaps it provides the catalyst

for him to fall so deeply in love with Maria. After he falls in love, Jordan becomes

much more spiritual. Indeed, the couple's love-making at times seems like a

ritualized religious encounter, a mystical union that Jordan has never experienced

before. His love for Maria comes to interfere with his cold-minded belief in the

Cause. Now that he has found her, he doesn't want to lose her, and the possibility

of a happy future together begins to dominate his mind instead of the mission he

feels he must carry out with total objectivity. In this regard, he becomes

preoccupied with the omen Pilar saw in his hand. As time passes, Jordan becomes

much more aware of the world and begins to consider that there is after all, another

reality beyond the physical. And by the end of the novel, he comes to believe in

Pilar's prophesies to the point where she reassures him that what she saw in his

hand was just nonsense. They both correctly believe, however, that he will soon

die.

In For Whom The Bell Tolls, if Robert Jordan does confront the same

nothingness, how could he justify his cause behind the war, he is fighting for. The

very inability of Hemingway‘s heroes leads them eventually to a life of senses:

drink, sex and so on. Once determined, audacious and loyal, they become

wandering souls with a sense of alienation. To mitigate this sense of alienation,

they involve themselves in such activities so much so that they could justify their

existence. This is a world, exasperated by the war, Hemingway shows in his novels

where his heroes are born and brought up and live their lives in a smug

complacency.

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Hemingway, in his novels and short stories, presents human life as a

perpetual struggle which ends only in death. It is of no avail to fight this battle,

where man is reduced to a pathetic figure by forces both within and without.

However, what matters is the way man faces the crisis and endures the pain

inflicted upon him by the hostile powers, be it his own physical limitation or the

hostility of society or the indifference of unfeeling nature. The ultimate victory

depends on the way one faces the struggle. In a world of pain and failure, the

individual has also his own weapon to assert the dignity of his existence. He has

the freedom of will to create his own values and ideals. In order to achieve this

end, he has to carry on an incessant battle against three oppressive forces, namely,

the biological, the social and the environmental barriers of this world. According to

Hemingway, the struggle between the individual and the hostile deterministic

forces takes places at these three different levels. Commenting on this aspect of the

existential struggle in Hemingway's fiction, Charles Child Walcutt has observed

that, ―the conflict between the individual needs and social demands is matched by

the contest between feeling man and unfeeling universe, and between the spirit of

the individual and his biological limitations‖ (TCLC vol 203, 167).