Hemingway’s View Of Women In His Short Stories From The Perspective Of Covert Progression

Ernest Hemingway(1899-1961)is a famous modern American novelist.Hemingway won the Nobel Prize for Literature in 1954 for his powerful style forming mastery of the art of modern narration.The narration in Hemingway’s short stories is concise and clear and the narrative techniques are flexible and diverse,the deep meaning hides behind the seemingly simple language,which can better reflect Hemingway’s exquisite narrative arts.There are some details hidden in Hemingway’s short stories that seem to be irrelevant or inessential to the plot development,but these details constitute a narrative undercurrent parallel to the overt plot development.This narrative undercurrent is the covert progression put forward by Shen Dan.This thesis will study Hemingway’s three short stories by adopting Shen Dan’s covert progression.The “Covert Progression” and “Dual Narrative Progression”are the theoretical concepts and research models pioneered by Shen(2021).Through the comparative method,the thesis defines the definition of covert progression and interprets the function of covert progression and depicts the methods to explore the covert progression.Under the guidance of the covert progression theory,through close reading,the author explores the dual narrative progression in Hemingway’s short stories,The Short Happy Life of Francis Macomber,Hills Like White Elephants and Cat in the Rain and makes the comparison between the covert progression and the overt plot development to explore Hemingway’s view of women in his works.The author thinks that the thematic meaning that covert progression indicates supplements or subverts the thematic meaning that overt plot development indicates.Exploring the dual narrative progression in the three short stories of Hemingway will make readers grasp the thematic meaning and aesthetic value of Hemingway’s short stories more correctly and comprehensively.Through the analysis of the covert progression,the author thinks that Hemingway shows his sympathy for women who live in the patriarchal society and hopes that they don’t lose themselves and get lost in the patriarchal society.