Analysis of A Clean, Well-lighted Place
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………密…………………………封……………………………………线………………………………… 考试方式： 论文 太原理工大学现代科技学院英美小说要选读卷 专业： 考试日期： 时间： 分钟 共 页 题 号 一 二 三 四 五 六 七 八 九 总 分 得 分 Analysis of A Clean, Well-lighted Place Abstract: Ernest Hemingway is one of the outstanding American short-story writers in the twentieth century. His works are so noted for profound ideas and abundant connotations that they are popular with readers. He is a representative of the Lost Generation. His works are based on his own special experiences, the environment and the age he lived in. Almost all of his works reflect the pessimistic nihilism. The short story A Clean, Well-lighted Place was one of He mingway?s early works. It is a classical short story with nihilism, assuming typical Hemingway?s style, that is, taking Nothingness as the theme and employing abundant simple sentences. In the work, Hemingway, based on the story between the old man and the two waiters, pointed out that Nada commonly exists in human?s life, it is actually the experience of one?s own existence, and the only way to resist Nada is to keep a clean and well-lighted place in the mind. This thesis will make an analysis of the novel from different angles, including the writer, the writing background of the novel, the main characters in the novel and the theme of Nada. Through the analysis, the thesis encodes the origin and the essence of Nada. Outline: I. Introduction II. The Background of the Author and the Novel Ⅲ.The General Introduction to the Novel Ⅳ.Encoding the Theme ——Nada Ⅴ.Conclusion I. Introduction
Hemingway?s short story A Clean,Well-Lighted Place was written in his early time, and is one of classical works of Hemin gway?s style as well. In this short story, he mostly used short and simple sentences. The theme of nothingness is a controversial and popular topic in modern literature. In order to understand the novel and the author?s minds, this thesis makes an analysis of the novel from different angles, including the writer, the writing background of the novel, the main characters in the novel and the theme of Nada.
In the past, some people thought Hemingway?s minds were pessimistic, and A Clean, Well-Lighted Place was a classic novel of nihilism. In the author?s opinion, A Clean,
Well-Lighted Place makes the readers to ponder over the meaning of life and is worthy of reading and studying.
II. The Background of the Author and the Novel
A.The General Introduction of Hemingway
Ernest Hemingway (1899-1961) is a well-known American novelist and short story writer in modern times, and one of the most celebrated and influential authors in the twentieth century. He was awarded the Nobel Prize in 1954 for his short story—The Old Man and the Sea. Moreover, when referring to Hemingway, he is always related with the Lost Generation. It is certain that Hemingway?s life is full of romance. His special experience makes his works represent a generation, and still has a great inf luence on modern literature. If Hemingway?s novel is studied, it is definite to make a research on Ernest Hemingway himself at first.
B. The Lost Generation
Lost Generation is a literature school original in American in the twentieth century. Lost Generation refers to the generation after the World War I. Meanwhile, it also refers to the young writers who lived as expatriates in Western Europe for a short time. The Lost Generation is also called the Sad Young Man by F. Scott Fitzgerald in his book which describes the disillusioned younger generation after the First World War.
The Lost Generation was a group of rebellious youth appeared in America after the First World War. The 1920s was an age of Prohibition. Alcoholic beverages were outlawed by a constitutional amendment. However, young people cheerfully evaded the law in thousands of “speakeasies” (illegal bars). They played jazz, took drugs and bravely denunciated the Puritan morality and the social convention. At the same time, a lot of works appeared to reflect these young men?s depression and sad emotion. They seemed to lose their directions for the future. Actually t he “Lost Generation” was never lost. In the book—Backgrounds of American Literature Thought , it was written that “It (The Lost Gen eration) was shocked, uprooted for a time, bitter critical, rebellious, iconoclastic, experimental, often absurd, more often misdirected—but never …lost?”. (Zhang Hanxi, P165, 1995) The achievement in literature can prove this point of view. A lot of great works was produced by the Lost Generation. Generally speaking, the Lost Generation was a group of people who were sobered up by the War.
Ⅲ. The General Introduction to the Novel
A. The Writing Style of A Clean, Well-lighted Place
As it has been mentioned above, Hemingway helped to accomplish a revolution in literature style and language. He tried to cut out all the words that were not necessary. His style was characterized by short and simple sentences with a few adjectives and adverbs. In his short story A Clean,Well-lighted Place, Hemingway used a lot of conversations to compare the middle aged waiter with the young waiter. In the short story, the sentences have only one or several words. Hemingway also used meaningful symbols to convey deep meanings, which is worthy of studying and thinking over.
B. The Characters of the Novel
This story took place in a Spanish café. The plot was focused on the old man, the middle aged waiter and the young waiter.
The old man was the main character in the short story. Late at night, everyone had left the café except the old deaf man, who was a little drunk. The two waiters were worried that he might leave without paying if he became deeply drunk. Then they kept watch on him and began their conversation about the old man. At first glance of the short story, it seemed difficult to understand why the old man wanted to commit suicide just for nothing. However，
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…………………密…………………………封……………………………………线………………………………… through the following conversation, more information can be learned about the old man. We know that t he old man?s character is complex. Being depressed but still keeping dignity was the old man?s image created by Hemingway, which fits the image of “Hemingway Hero”. On one hand, the old man was weak, despaired and extremely unhappy. He had a lot of money but lost belief. He stopped believing in anything that might have been significant in the past. For him, Nothingness meant hopelessness, aimlessness and meaninglessness of the life. The old man tried to commit suicide but failed. Then he liked to sit late in the café—a clean and well-lighted place to buy drunk. Special attention should be paid to that the old man?s deafness was an image symbolizing his separation from the rest of the world. The old man needed a place of refuge from his terrible awareness of that human lives were meaningless. On the other hand, though the old man was in despair, he still kept dignity. In the short story, there are many sentences describing the old man?s dignity. Hemingway once said that a man could be destroyed but not defeated. Moreover, the old man was deaf and lonely, but he was not defeated spiritually. The young waiter was selfish and impatient. He had a wife waiting for him to go home, so he wanted the old deaf man to leave as soon as possible. Therefore, he became angry and impolite. He intentionally poured the brandy out of the cup. His bad service formed a strong contrast with the old man?s cleanness. He did not sense the dignity the old man had about him. Furthermore, the young waiter was ignorant and blindly confident. He was so concerned with the daily routines and desires that he did not care about the others. He could not understand the old man. He did not realize what he had, such as job, wife and confidence, was unreliable because he was young. He thought that money should keep a person be happy. He meant that the old man had no reason to kill himself because he was rich. Poverty, in his opinion, would be the only excuse for suicide. The middle aged waiter was more sympathetic. He knew the importance of a clean and well-lighted place for those who need a refuge to escape from the reality. He knew the old man?s suffering and was sympathized with him. Therefore, he did not think it was bad for the old man to stay in the café late into the night. Through the analysis above, it is known that Hemingway took the two waiters as known information, and the old man as unknown information. There was a sharp contrast between the youth and oldness, between the old and young waiters. In fact, the old man, the middle aged waiter and the young waiter represent the youth, the middle age and the old age in the different stages of life. In each stage, people have different attitudes towards life and they lead different ways of life. At the same time, the three typical characters also reflect the people?s spiritual state after the WWI in American society. C. The Theme of the Novel The short story A Clean,Well-lighted Place was one of Hemingway?s most compact
stories. It talks about loneliness, which he considered to be the principal tragedy of modern life. Nada (Nothingness) was an important theme of this story. Nearly all the characters live in Nada. For the old man, Nada means hopelessness, aimlessness and meaninglessness of life, which was the exact reason for the old man?s suicide. He tried to kill himself, by which he thought he could make himself get rid of the earthly affairs. The middle aged waiter was aware of what the old man suffered. He knew the old man?s today was his tomorrow. He knew the importance of a clean and well-lighted place to those who need a refuge to escape from loneliness. However, he had to leave the café at the end of the novel. The young waiter lived in Nada as well, even if he did not realize it. His ignorance makes a strong contrast
with the old ma n?s wisdom. He was unaware of what he had. For him, the life was another kind of meaninglessness, because he was blindly confident with the unreliable youth.
The theme of Nada consists of three forms: the consciousness of death, the awareness of bitterness and the consciousness of absurdity. Hemingway was good at describing death. If his other works are read, it can be found that there are a lot of works involved with the topic of death. In the short story A Clean,Well-lighted Place, even if there is no bloody description, no subject about bull fighting, war, and violence and so on, the death can still be felt and touched. The awareness of bitterness can be found in this short story as well. The characters in the short story were despaired, depressed and aimless.
Ⅳ. Encoding the Theme——Nada
As Nada (Nothingness) is the theme of the short story.The novel involves the theme of death and fear. In order to understand the them better, it is necessary to make a study of the origin and essence of Nada.
A. The Origin of Nada
Some scholars think Hemingway?s idea of Nada comes from the ancient philosophy of pessimism. Friedrich Wilhelm Nietzsche (1844-1900) was one of the important philosophers in ancient western countries. According to Nietzsche, Nada was a historic movement. Nietzsche pronounced “the God was dead” and it was human being?s own idea that the almighty God would help them. As well as it is known, in western countries and the United States, religion plays a very important part in people?s eve ryday life. People believe in God, and they regard God as the almighty and supreme divinity who creates and dominates the entire creature. In the belief of Christianity, people believe in human being?s original sin. Only if one believes in the God, he can be saved. However, when Nietzsche pronounced “the God was dead”, it meant that the belief of religion, which was once the spirit pillar for thousands of years, collapsed. In fact, Nada reveals the rootlessness of human?s beliefs.
B. The Essence of Nada
What is Nada? According to the analysis, Nada is actually the experience of one?s own existence. Nada does not lead to pessimism, and it is the thorough understanding of life.
A Clean,Well-lighted Place was a story of the coexistence of “Being” and “Nothingness”. The old man hid himself in the shadow. The undisturbed and untouched peace of night made him feel the difference. To a deaf person, the silence at night brought him relief and consolation after the day?s noise. In the short story, the lights, shadows, and the tidy café were full of symbolic meanings. The darkness symbolized Nada, while the lights symbolized the hope. Although Nada commonly exists in people?s life, the only way to resist the darkness is to keep a clean and well-lighted place in the soul, that is, love, dignity and sympathy.
Ⅴ.Conclusion
From the analysis above, it can be concluded that Nada is an important theme of the novel. All the characters in the novel lived in Nada. Nada seemed like the destiny they could not break a way from. In fact, Nada reveals the rootlessness of human being?s beliefs. Obviously, the characters in the short story A Clean,Well-lighted Place did not have beliefs. Through the three typical characters, the old man, the middle aged waiter and the young waiter, Hemingway delineated human being?s spiritual state after the First World War. Because of the industrial development and the War, People?s value tended to be various. People?s perplexity, loneliness, depression and rebellion actually reflected the great changes in
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…………………………………………密…………………………封……………………………………线………………………………… social thoughts. In Hemingway's opinion, Nada commonly exists in people?s life no matter whether it is realized or not. In the short story, Hemingway used many symbols to convey deep meanings. The Nothingness and Existence coexist in the novel. The lights, shadows and a well lighted place all have symbolic meanings. Although Nada is the real feeling that people can not escape from, the only way to resist Nada is to keep a clean and well-lighted place in the soul, that is, love, sympathy and dignity. References: [1] Zhang Hanxi. Advanced English. Peking: Foreign Language Teaching and Research Press, 1995. [2] Zhu Yu. European Culture. Peking: Foreign Language Teaching and Research Press, 2005. [3] Zhu Yongtao. Essentials of British and American Cultures. Peking: Foreign Language Teaching and Research Press, 2005. [4] 苏顺强．论海明威的虚无思想[J]．外国文学研究，2000，(1)． [5] 陶洁主编．美国文学选读[M]．北京：高等教育出版社，2000． [6] 吴然．“硬汉”海明威：作品与人生的演绎[M]． 北京：昆仑出版社，2005. [7] 夏基松．存在主义哲学评述[M]．江苏：江苏人民出版社，1987．
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