A Comparative Study Of "Tough Guy Image" In The Works Of Ernest Hemingway And Chen Zhongshi

Ernest Hemingway,as a famous American novelist in the 20 thcentury,with its unique “iceberg theory”,he creates a large number of “tough guy” images,and he vividly expresses the subjectivity consciousness of life through “tough guy” spirit.Chen Zhongshi,one of the most famous contemporary Chinese writers,gets inspiration from foreign literature;in process of “find one’s own sentences”,he shapes the “grass root heroes” who show great righteousness and perseverance.To a certain extent,the“grass root hero” and “tough guy” share some similar spirit.Through comparison and contrast of the “tough guy images” created by two famous writers,we can get some differences between the culture of China and the United States;so we can deal with the common problems faced by all the human beings in a more tolerant approach.This thesis includes four chapters.The first chapter,first of all,it copes with Ernest Hemingway’s and Chen Zhongshi’s tough experiences and the “tough guy” images in their works.Hemingway experienced the two world wars,which resulted in the huge trauma in his mind,but traumatic experiences contributed a lot to forming his tough character.Chen Zhongshi also suffered from a setback during his schooling time.He was absent from school for economic reasons,also failed in the university entrance exam.During the “Great Cultural Revolution”,he was classified as “royalist” and suffered from the great critique,but the experience did not strike him down;on the contrary,the experiences accumulated materials for his “grass root hero”.The similar “tough guy” experiences of two writers laid a solid foundation for the “tough guy” images created by them.The second chapter is about the overall comparison between “tough guy” images in the two works.These “tough guys” shine the grace of “code hero”;they can also reflect the spirit of caritas of the “benevolent”.The common spirit of “tough guy” is of literary significance and practical significance.These “tough guy” shine the tough,tenacious and unyielding spirit,which contributes a lot not only to the works of world literature,but also to enlighten people who pay too much attention to material and money(especially the young college students)to establish responsible consciousness,to enhance thecapacity of shouldering frustration,to shape tough quality,to show individuality,and to fully display the vitality of youth.The third chapter is about the detailed analysis of Hemingway’s “tough guy image”and Chen Zhongshi’s “grass root hero”,which reflects in the distinction of the “tough guy spirit”,in the different “tough guy” growth process(circumstances),and in the different objects and degrees they resist.Hemingway’s “tough guys” try their best to struggle with living circumstances,which reflects thoroughness of revolting.Chen Zhongshi’s “tough guys” are the guards of the feudal patriarchal clan system,and they show the doctrine of the mean attitude toward revolutions and political movements in daily life,which are conservative.The different “tough guy” spirit is connected with the difference of the farming civilization and ocean civilization.“Tough guys” created by Hemingway develop along the track of “confusion — firm —mature”.The growth of“tough guy” created by Chen is not obvious.This mainly comes from two writer’s own experiences and different social identity.The objects revolted by “tough guys”are more macro,and most of them are human common problems,such as war and death.Because of the tough tasks,they revolt them thoroughly and tragically.While in Chen’ s work,the objects revolted by “tough guys” are more specific,and most of them are the problems that do not comply with the ethical order of the feudal society or ethics in life.Under the impact of the social progress trend,the resistance is weak,and even is inappropriate.The fourth chapter deals with the specific text analysis.It includes the similarities and differences of the art form used to create the “tough guys.Two writers share some commons in techniques;in detail,the tough guy’s double personality traits are reflected in characters’ relationship,which is mainly reflected in the attitude of “tough guys”towards female.In their works,they make comparison between female and male to reflect the male’s energetic and sturdy power,and the comparison also embodies the patriarchal consciousness of “tough guys”.They also pay much attention to the usage of symbolism to highlight images.These techniques make the characters in the novels more vivid.By decoding images,readers can deeply understand the characteristics of “tough guys”.Due to the different creation concepts and the different languages,the narrative patterns also differ.Hemingway’s writing is concise.He likes using short sentence and spoken language.Through frequent shifting of narrative perspectives to enhance theperformance of the image creation.Chen Zhongshi prefers long sentence and dialects,complies with the concept of “characters culture psychological structure” to shape characters,and draws personality traits in the grand narrative.It is hoped that the thesis will be helpful to our deeper understanding of the spiritual pursuit of the “tough guys” and the cultural differences between China and America.The techniques used by the two writers are different;at the same time,the creation concept and the common regular of literature and aesthetics will be found through the comparison and contrast.