Hemingway's Attitudes Towards Nature

Ernest Hemingway is one of the most celebrated and remarkable writers in the world literature. His works have attracted numerous readers and a great many scholars all over the world have spent much academic energy on them from different perspectives. However, very few critics have associated Hemingway's works with the newly-developed ecological criticism. With the hope of enriching the research of the great litterateur and further arousing people's ecological awareness, this thesis employs ecocriticism, the new critical approach burgeoning in the late twentieth century that takes man's relationship with nature as its primary focus, to explore the abstract ecological consciousness in Hemingway's famous work The Old and the Sea and three of his short stories, namely,"Big Two-Hearted River","An African Story"and"Fathers and Sons".This thesis consists of five parts. Part one is the introduction, which presents the ecological status and the environmental problems that human beings are confronted with and introduces the appearance of ecological literature and ecological criticism. Chapter one first gives a survey of the new critical theory through its general definition, historical background and literary significance, and then switches to Hemingway's life experiences, pointing out that Hemingway is a writer with ecological consciousness and his life is always related to the great nature. Chapter two focuses on the analysis of the ecological thought implied in the famous work The Old Man and the Sea. The study shows that Hemingway endowed the novelette with a deeper and more abstract theme than what the critics have generally interpreted. That is, the symbiosis between man and nature is well embodied in this work. Santiago's motivation of going out to the sea demonstrates man's dependence on nature. The vivid description of all the beautiful creatures in the book conveys a harmonious relationship between mankind and the physical environment. The tough image of the code hero is in this chapterinterpreted from a totally different point of view, i.e. the old fisherman is actually a complete failure in front of the order of nature and those who destroy the ecosystem will all definitely be punished by the power of the great nature. Chapter three is devoted to an ecocritical reading of three of Hemingway's short stories, which are typically taken from his Africa-based works, short story collections Winner Take Nothing and In Our Time. This thesis holds that Hemingway's ecological awareness is reflected from different perspectives in these three short stories. The central meaning of returning to nature is expressed in"Big Two-Hearted River"with the narration of Nick's simple experience of camping and fishing. In"An African Story", the author illustrated man's cruelness towards nature through an innocent boy's inner voice and, from the perspective of morality, tried to call on mankind to get along with the great nature with humanitarianism. And in"Fathers and Sons", Hemingway artistically interweaved Nick's reminiscence of his beloved father with the lost beauty of American countryside to show his own appreciation towards the beautiful nature. Part five, as the conclusion, summarizes the ecological consciousness implied in Hemingway's works. It points out the contribution Hemingway made to the modern environmental movement, explains the importance of reanalyzing Hemingway's works through the perspective of ecocriticism in literature research and environmental protection, and advises the readers to be aware of the potential environmental problems and be prepared for danger in times of safety in the brand new era.