浅析海明威的死亡观--以《死在午后》为例-文学学士毕业论文.doc

Table of Contents
Abstract i
中文摘要 ii
1. Introduction 1
1.1 Research background 2
1.2 The significance of the research 2
1.2.1 A justification of the research 2
1.2.2 Research questions 2
1.3 Research method 2
1.4 Organization of the dissertation 2
2. Literature Review 2
3. Death of Hemingway 3
3.1 Introduction 3
3.2 Image of tough man 3
3.2.1 Tough man in works 3
3.2.2 Tough man in reality 4
3.3 Reasons for death 4
3.4 Reactions to death 4
3.5 Summary 5
4. Dance of Death 5
4.1 Introduction 5
4.2 Bullfighting, an art of death 5
4.3 The death of heroes 5
4.4 Death values of death in the afternoon 6
4.5 Summary 6
5. Conclusion 7
5.1 Introduction 8
5.2 Summary 8
5.3 Limitations and suggestions 8
References 9
Acknowledgements 10

Abstract

Hemingway is always considered as a tough man, who finally killed himself with a gun, and ended his legendary life with a dramatically way. Concerning the mystery of his death, there are many different versions of the story. Yet, it is still unknown through thorough investigation and study.
This paper initiates the death of Hemingway, and proceeds to make a deep analysis of the novella Death in the Afternoon, which guided by the interesting and dangerous bullfights to present his unique understanding of death.
Hemingway’s explicit and vivid description of bullfights and a series of performance in the ring of bullfighters lead to a strong sense of infection, which is attractive and enchanted. Besides, his concise and succinct in conversation with the old lady represent the essence and the spirit of the bullfights. He points out in the book that “Bullfighting is the only art in which the artist is in danger of death”, and reveals that the spirit of bullfighting is bravery, fearlessness, and indifference to death.
It is the hope of the author that the present study will finally develop our own understanding of death.
Key Words: tough man; death; Death in the Afternoon; bullfighting; death values

中文摘要

一向被视为硬汉的海明威，最后竟以含枪自杀如此戏剧化的方式结束他充满传奇色彩的一生。关于他的死亡之迷，众说纷纭，经过研究探讨，最终仍是个迷。
本论文由海明威自杀背后开始，再而分析小说《死在午后》，以书中有趣而危险的斗牛作为引申，诠释他对死亡的独特见解。
海明威在《死在午后》中对斗牛详尽而生动的介绍，对斗牛士在场上系列动作表演的描写，给读者带来强烈的感染力，让人陶醉，使人入迷。书中其与老妇人简洁精辟的对话道出了斗牛的本质与精神，他还指出“斗牛是一种绝无仅有的艺术家处于生命危险的艺术”，而斗牛精神就是勇敢无畏，视死如归的精神。
本文旨在写作的最后能对海明威的死亡观做出更深刻的探讨。
关键词：硬汉；死亡；《死亡在午后》；斗牛；死亡观

1. Introduction
1.1 Research background
Ernest Hemingway is real a tough man. His attractive personality, fearless character and unflinching willpower, and his broad heart, profound thoughts and exuberant vitality are worthy of admiration. With a distinctive disposition, he ultimately chooses to commit suicide.
Thinking carefully, the heroes in Hemingway’s works, such as boxers, soldiers, bullfighters, fishermen, they all possess an amazing nature. They will often face death, but they will often choose to confront death directly. The misfortune, frustration and failure which they experience in their life are not simply because of contingency, but the destiny that could not be avoided. They accept death, at the same time they survive toughly.
For many people, death is a taboo. For Hemingway, death is the common theme of all of his works. Compared with other things, he is more concerned with death. The reason why he shows interest in death is that the life he experiences in the war period is filled with danger and excitement. No matter how hard the circumstances are, he still firmly believes that death is nothing, and holds the faith that one lives with death. His attitude towards death is always ignorant. Finally, he draws a conclusion that nobody can extricate from the misfortune of death.
While Death in the Afternoon is a monograph on bullfights through which Hemingway shows his attitude towards death. As the saying goes in the book, “There are two things that are necessary for a country to love bullfights. One of that is the people must have an interest in death”. It is the interest that most appeals me and impels me to choose this. The bullfighting virtually aims for the death of bulls, and is a resplendent dance of death filled with passion and excitement which is rather cruel, but beautiful. The excessive beauty, therefore, is really the fatal temptation to arouse the desire for exploration.
Death in the afternoon presents a vivid interpretation of death values, which is the subject matter for the current research.

1.2 The significance of the research
1.2.1 A justification of the research
The study of this thesis is significant in the following aspects:
In the first place, as long as one survives in the world, death is the terminal ideological activities that could not be avoided. On the one hand, men persistently pursue the meaning of life; on the other hand, they face the judgment of death. Most importantly, it is the death that stimulates human beings’ desire to live and encourages human beings to make probes into the value of life which bring people a lofty idea to confront the cruel scuffles in life properly, and give them a power to face death composedly.
In the second place, many studies have already been put on Hemingway’s The Old Man and the Sea. Beginning with a distinct angle, however, this paper is to research Death in the Afternoon and the death values reflected in the novella. Compared with the life circle, the matter of death is eventually more attractive and closer to the reality. Ultimately therefore, the research will be conclusive to a new perspective for death. Hence, it is necessary to study.

1.2.2 Research questions
After defending the necessity of the research, we have to take into consideration the feasibility of the proposed study. Below are the research questions:
1) Hemingway chooses to commit suicide, did he right?
2) Should we live bravely as long as we are alive?
3) What actually the matter of death is?

1.3 Research method
The research is document-based. It is exploratory and interpretive, and it is completely an information collection. This research will lay stress on a close-reading of the novella Death in the Afternoon, which means that some contents will be drawn from the story for a clear illustration of the points.

1.4 Organization of the dissertation
The paper consists of five chapters. Chapter One offers a brief introduction to the research background. Chapter Two is literature review. Chapter Three explains the related information on Hemingway’s death. Chapter Four will apply a detailed analysis of the novella so as to demonstrate the essence of death. Chapter Five is the conclusion of the research.

2. Literature Review
Death is the common subject of Hemingway’s works, so many scholars at home and abroad have thoroughly studied on it through different works and different aspects. Following are some coordinates.
His early works, such as In Our Time, Indian Camp reflect Hemingway’s initial understanding of death. The Sun also Rises, and A Farewell to Arms are a sort of deep perception. The old man and the sea is the sublimation of death awareness.
At home, taking Yang Mei (2007) for example, he analyzes the concept of death through his reinterpretation of The Old and the Sea. In addition, Yuan Xuesheng (2003) and Fu Shuqin (2003) start together from the deep psychology in life in order to analyze the sense of death.
However, at abroad, for instance, Backer (1972) lays stress on the analysis of Hemingway’s background, personality, and works. Besides, Wylder (1969) focuses on the interpretation of Hemingway-typed heroes to show the death views.
From the mentioned above, it can be said that the study of Hemingway’s death values in academic circles nowadays is an open field, having many branches. Yet, Death in the Afternoon is the combination of the essence and spirit of the bullfights to interpret Hemingway’s death cognition. Inspired by this review, the following chapters will present step by step Hemingway’s death ideas.

3. Death of Hemingway
3.1 Introduction
The renowned novelist, Hemingway, kills himself with a shotgun. There are a lot of views of his death. The purpose here is not to enumerate all the reasons for possibility, but the acceptable one, which including his image of tough man in works and in reality, and the different reactions of people to describe his death.

3.2 Image of tough man
3.2.1 Tough man in works
It is obvious that almost of Hemingway’s novels involved with death which caused by war, disease, emotion and various accidents. From the earliest publication the collection of short stories In Our Time to the publication of The Old Man and the Sea before his death which brings him the highest honor that he develops the thought of life through death.
The boxers, bullfighters, fishermen, writers and soldiers and so forth are heroic figures in his novels. They are all man of action rather than a man of theory. They often will be in the edge of life and death, but they have chosen to confront death directly. That is what a Hemingway-type hero should have. The men act in an acceptable way, never in a cowardly way, whose initial feelings of fear changed finally into an indifferent attitude towards loss, and towards death. This is the so-called “Grace under Pressure”.
First of all, take Henry for example, the hero in the novel of A Farewell to Arms. After experiencing a brutal world war and being the edge of dying several times, he understands that the real threat of death is not the destruction of life, but most people in the world could not control their own destiny. At last, Henry’s wife dies of dystocia, which is indeed a heavy blow to him. What the story is going to illustrate is that the impact on the whole world is insignificant, regardless of the existence or the elimination of individual.
The next will be referred to Jordan, the character of For Whom the Bell Tolls. He, as a university student, rushes to the battlefields of Spain with the best feeling to the oppressed nations in the world. However, he does not find any partners, and no supporters. He always holds the faith that “I have been fighting for a year for my faith; if we win here, and we can win in every place…You are so lucky that you could lead a wonderful life. You have spent a lifetime no less than anyone else, and say to yourself that there is nothing to complain about”. His inner monologue reflects his calmness and pride when in the face of death. Hemingway expresses his view through Jordan that human beings can courageously face death, but cannot escape death. In a word, death is unavoidable.
The last is Santiago. He is the typical representative of Hemingway-typed heroes. The old man drifts in an isolated sea, but his 85 days at sea which is a fighting between life and death. The elderly struggles with the big fish so as to survive, and struggles with the shark so as to protect the prey. Ultimately there is only a skeleton of the fish left. Santiago, however, is rich in determination and perseverance during the process of struggling, and he refuses to succumb to a steak of misfortune. And he endures enormous pain and loss without dissolving into sentimentality or self-pity. Therefore, it is the hardships of survival that forces the old man to struggle with the nature tirelessly. The old man is confronted with a crisis of life and death, which shows that human beings cannot conquer death, but we can overcome death in mental.
The Hemingway-typed heroes are all action-oriented, brave and fearless; they accept the challenges, the failure and the death. No matter how hard they try, they are doomed to be a loser. At the same time, they are heroes without exception in Hemingway’s views for they have done what they should do.

3.2.2 Tough man in reality
It is clear that Hemingway is a tough man in real life. He is an adventure-oriented man. He appreciates boxing, enjoys bullfighting, and participates in hunting. That is to say, he involves in those so-called manly activities. The characters in his novels, boxers, bullfighters, soldiers, writers and fishermen, are all marvelous heroes. Hemingway knows better than anyone else of their glory, and of their suffering, especially the latter.
He takes part in the two World Wars, and the Spain Civil War in his lifetime. After the World War I, as a massacre in human history, Hemingway is not only hurt in mind, but in body he surly receives 237 bullets. And World War II also brings him some serious sequelae, tinnitus, severe headache. He is deeply disturbed by all these suffering and full of hopelessness; however, he is still alive and insists on writing. It is the highest confirmation and commendation for his efforts to award Nobel Prize in Literature. Hemingway is a tough man in reality.

3.3 Reasons for death
Hemingway is often regarded as a bull that has huge energy and high spirit. His final decision to commit suicide is the perfect explanation of his concept of death, instead of an escape or a timid behavior.
As for Hemingway’s death, there are two reasons that are acceptable. One is the extreme pain both in mind and in body. The other is the exhaustion in writing. When he is aged, Hemingway is in torment with hypertension, dermatosis, diabetes, mental disease and other severe diseases. Many people may have heart that man is afraid of the ceaseless of illness, because nobody can withstand the endless agony from the body. Moreover, the end of creation in writing is the fatal blow to him. For a real writer, writing is life. The well-known writer Shi Tiesheng argues that “the purpose of writing is unlikely to die”. Shi Tiesheng lives for writing, while Hemingway chooses to die for his creation in writing is fading.
It is not only the collapse of the physical, but more importantly, the end of creation that makes Hemingway end his life. He leaves the world with an artist’s unique approach and adheres to his motto, “Born not to be defeated, one can be destroyed, but cannot be beat”.

3.4 Reactions to death
Some would be astonished by Hemingway’s death, and be confused. Being astonished means that Hemingway is an amazing writer and a tough man, for his death exactly is an utmost loss in the literary world. Being confused means that why a man of fame, statue, and wealth would choose to commit suicide. It can be inferred that nobody could endure the endless suffering from the body, moreover, the destruction of the mind. And as a man with strong self-esteem, he would prefer to die, rather than be controlled by the pain of disease. What’s more, his writing could not be continued. It can be understood that he could not find the reason for living and death is just the pursuit of life, also a sort of respect for life. However, his death will not prevent people from loving him.

3.5 Summary
From what have mentioned above, the point of this chapter is to illustrate that Hemingway’s death does not run counter to the image of tough man. The diversity does exist, but the k