1.3 The Organization of the Paper

This paper aims to study the light and shadow in Hemingway’s literature works. The purpose of this paper is to identify the light and shadow images, to find out their implications and to evaluate their importance in Hemingway’s major works. This thesis proves the above proposition in following four parts.

The introduction part provides brief introduction to Ernest Hemingway and his major works , introducing the background and the significance of the paper, and listing the main contents of the paper.

Chapter two introduces the attitude of Hemingway towards light and shadow through other people’s narration or comment and the heroes in his own works .  

Chapter three is the major part of the thesis, focusing on founding out the implication of light and shadow in Hemingway’s works.文献综述

In conclusion part, a brief summary will be made and it can reveal the literary meaning of light and shadow in Hemingway’s works.

Chapter 2 Hemingway’s Attitude towards Light and Shadow

In order to carry out the research, this paper collects some related materials about Hemingway. As we all know, Hemingway has experienced World War I and gets wounded in the war. His witness of deaths in World War I left him a fear of shadow and darkness. He has spent many sleepless nights to recover from the wounds. Ernest’s brother Leicester Hemingway says, “Not all of Ernest’s wounds were physical. Like hundreds of thousands of other soldiers before and since, he had received some psychic shock. He was plagued by insomnia and couldn’t sleep unless he had a light in his room.” With these words, we could know clearly that Hemingway is afraid of darkness and becomes dependent on light and light and shadow mean a lot to Hemingway. He also transfers this fear to the heroes in his fictions. From the characters in his works, we would know his attitude towards light and shadow changes with the passage of time. In the following part, we will give a general analysis of heroes in Hemingway’s works according to publication date.

2.1 A Time of Fear

Hemingway’s first hero Nick Adams in In Our Time, which was Hemingway’s first collection of short stories and was published in 1925, has many sleepless nights and has to have light before he falls asleep and feels death just waiting for him in the darkness. He is fearful of shadow or darkness.

2.2 A Time of Loneliness

 In The Sun Also Rises(1926), Jake lies awake at night thinking about his living situation. He doesn’t worry about death. He tolerates his relationship with Brett during the day, but he suffers from the nights. He is alone and so lonely and he can not comfort himself at night or in the dark. 

Then in the novel A Farewell to Arms which was published in 1929, Frederick Henry has similar experience of Hemingway. He admits that for him, the night has some strange attraction in the beginning. But then he develops a fear of darkness after he gets wounded. Later he may find that being alone is the major fear in the night. After he meets with Catherine, the nights become pleasant. 

In For Whom the Bell Tolls, published in 1940, Robert Jordan doesn’t have bad nights or any fear of darkness. However, one night he suddenly wakes fearing that Maria will be taken away from him leaving him alone.来!自-优.尔,论:文+网www.chuibin.com

2.3 A Time of Pleasantness

Finally, in The Old Man and the Sea, written in 1951 and published in 1952, Santiago not only wakes in the morning, but also sleeps safe and sound all night, having sweet dreams of his youth. The old man believes that tomorrow would be better. He is looking forward to the coming of another day, having hope towards tomorrow. Santiago successfully explains the Tough Guy image.

It appears that Hemingway has outlined the change in his attitude toward shadow or darkness in his  personal feelings. First, it is a time of fear. Then it turns into a time of loneliness, finally a time of pleasantness which leads to another hopeful day. It seems that he has got rid of fear of shadow or darkness. From the analysis above, we can know that Hemingway attaches great importance to light and shadow or darkness. We see the attitude of Hemingway from his brother’s description and his own works. In next chapter, we’d like to make a concrete discussion about the importance and the implication of light and shadow imagery.