The Fictive World of Ernest Hemingway

Abstract

When examining the four novels, The Sun Also Rises, A Farewell to Arms, For Whom the Bell Tolls, The Old Man and the Sea, one recognizes a development in Hemingway's work. Utilizing a process of structural analysis, it is possible to identify an evolution in characters as they move through a disjointed world of alienation to a sense of unity with the universe. As this sense of unity develops, there is in the works of Ernest Hemingway an increasing attention to the relationship of the characters to their natural surroundings and a deepening and more purposeful relation to other characters. The purpose of this paper is to identify the Hemingway vision of life or underlying assumptions within the fictional lives of his characters.