Ernest Hemingway (1899-1961) has gained immense popularity due to his innovative and creative writings, a marvelous American fiction of 20th century. Hemingway has portrayed the realistic picture of the modern man’s wretched life how the modern man is disillusioned and disintegrated due to the shattered old values. It is dilemma of modern man that he has become a mechanically a machine like man by indulging himself into his materialistic pursuits. Ernest Hemingway’s prose style is very simple, unconventional and genuine, depicting the problems of postwar era, death, violence and degeneration of old values in his novels (Balakrishnan, 2003).
The themes of his novels range from moral, social, psychological and ethical degradation to horror, futility and fear of human existence, showing the frustration, demoralization and degeneration of human spirits. He is a realist prose-writer who portrays a true picture of reality on the canvas of life with exclusive pictorial quality (Balakrishnan, 2003).
Hemingway has been immortalized by the individuality of his style. Short and solid sentences, delightful dialogues, and a painstaking hunt for an apt word or phrase to express the exact truth, are the distinguishing features of his style (Balakrishnan, 2003).
It is unjustifiable statement about Hemingway that his writings are devoid of high seriousness but Hemingway is a philosophical writer, interpreting his famous `Iceberg theory’: ‘The dignity of the movement of an iceberg is due to only one eighth of it being above the water’ (Balakrishnan, 2003). His novels reveal the symbolic implications of his art, very true nature of human life how he represents human life in his fiction-writing. He aims to show the dramatic value of human life in this vast universe where supernatural elements influence man’s life (Balakrishnan, 2003).
As with them, a moral awareness springs from his awareness of the larger life of the universe. Compared with the larger life of the universe, the individual is a puny thing, a tragic thing. But in this larger life of the universe, the individual has his place of glory (Balakrishnan, 2003).
Hemingway gives the very idea of futility of human existence in this cosmic world by exposing the themes of death, violence, darkness and predicament of human life. Hemingway presents metaphysical philosophy about the nature of human existence in this universe by delineating his protagonists as alienated and disintegrated individuals who struggle with the odds of life with endurance, bravery and courage. He portrays his heroes, who are wounded emotionally or physically. His all protagonists are depicted in terms of code of courage, fortitude and loneliness who have to fight a losing battle in this world of irrational devastation (Balakrishnan, 2003).
If we observe the novels of Hemingway critically, it is noteworthy that all his novels are panorama of general drama of human pain by posing symbolic questions about life. Hemingway gives symbolic presentation of predicaments in man’s life how a man has to carry on his perpetual struggle for overcoming the supernatural forces which restrain man’s free will power. In nutshell, Hemingway gives an excellent picturesque of human life which ends in death, combating with odds of life perpetually. It is futile to fight a battle for man who is reduced to a pathetic figure by some hostile forces (Balakrishnan, 2003).
However, what matters is the way man faces the crisis and endures the pain inflicted upon him by the hostile powers that be, be it his own physical limitation or the hostility of society or the indifference of unfeeling nature (Balakrishnan, 2003).
The ultimate triumph depends upon the ways of struggling how individuals assert their dignified status in this cosmic world by facing pains and failures with courage and strong will power. Man has free will power to establish his own ideals and values by indulging into the persistent combat against oppressive forces in three dimensions like biological, social and environmental obstacles in this universe. Charles Child Walcutt comments about Hemingway’s fiction writings in these words:
The conflict between the individual needs and social demands is matched by the contest between feeling man and unfeeling universe, and between the spirit of the individual and his biological limitations (Balakrishnan, 2003).
Cubism is an abstract art of exposing the intellectual vision of modern life, an industrial and materialistic society. Cubism is the pure and artistic technique to give pictorial quality to the landscape of the artists’ mind rather than the external world. Cubism is the embodiment of the modern environment, landscape and materials of everyday life (When Cubism Met the Decorative Arts in France). As Legar explains:
A modern man registers a hundred times more sensory impressions than an eighteenth-century artist. . . . The compressions of the modern picture, its variety, its breaking up of forms, are the result of all this (When Cubism Met the Decorative Arts in France).
Cubism is the excellent art movement which leaves deep impacts upon the mind in order to produce new visual consciousness. The cubists have presented the viewpoints more understandable in the post-war era when war was proved to be catalytic to generate elements of modern consciousness (When Cubism Met the Decorative Arts in France).
In the beginning of 20th century, Pablo Picasso and Ernest Hemingway present their innovative and creative visions about the modern life in graphical manner. Both Pablo Picasso and Ernest Hemingway has earned great fame for the particular artistic qualities as Picasso’ unique and original style of painting while Hemingway’s revolutionary prose-style, abstract ideas, terse but simple style of writing, ambiguous stories which evoke the intuitive and imaginative powers of the readers (Picasso and Hemingway – 20th Century Innovators, 2009).
Hemingway is inspired by Picasso’ new style of painting, known as cubism and the deep impacts of Picasso’ artistic style, cubism can be seen in his writing works, particularly in his famous novel, The Sun Also Rises. Picasso and Hemingway depict the moral human drama of modern life in their artistic works. Hemingway portrays the exotic world with all colors in order to expose the inherent response of the individuals towards the real life, both artists expose the futility of war and its destructive influences upon humanity (Picasso and Hemingway – 20th Century Innovators, 2009).
In The Sun Also Rises, Hemingway presents his war experiences by portraying the uncertain world of lost generation who indulge in merry-making and pastimes like fishing trips, bullfighting, passing time in nightclubs and cafes. All main characters of the novel, The Sun Also Rises like Jake; Brett’s fiancé, Mike Campbell, Brett, Count Mippipopolous are true depiction of the lost generation who lead life of uncertainty and ambiguity (About The Sun Also Rises, 2010). In the novel, everything is painted as reaction to the dilemma of the war how the major characters of the novel are affected physically and psychologically, engaging them in incredible consumption of alcohol and continuous travelling from place to place. Hemingway paints the life of those characters in vague manner to reveal the very truth of life how these characters are leading life without any proper destination. All these characters reveals the devastating influences of Great War upon their minds and souls, if they are not post generation of war, they would act in different way (The Sun Also Rises, 2002).
In the novel, The Sun Also Rises, Jake Barnes and Brett Ashley are attracted by each other sexually but their sexual desire is too much intense. But Jake is unable to consummate his desire of love-making due to the wounded physique in war. But in spite of being injured, he can’t control his passionate desire of sexual intercourse, though he has lost his penis, yet he has deep emotions for Brett. He wants to satisfy her sexually after developing this deep relationship but Jake is incapable to do so (About The Sun Also Rises, 2010). Jake’s agony interprets the mechanization of industrialized society where life is much happier and better but after World War II, life has become more terrible for the individuals. The lives of Jake and Brett are true mirror to the lives of people after the Great War. The Sun Also Rises is one of the greatest novels ever written by Hemingway due to its unique literary devices like realism, impressionism and cubism to elaborate the stories of love and war more perfectly (About The Sun Also Rises, 2010).
Hemingway portrays how World War has destabilized the conventional concepts of faith, justice and morality. The people are unable to rely upon each other traditionally, they are lost generation who have undergone the bitter experiences of War, leading aimless and meaningless life as they are morally and psychologically lost people (The Sun Also Rises, 2002). The lives of Jack and Brett are embodiment of hollowness as they have good acquaintances with each other but still they are not contented due to the lack of consummation of love who try to fill this gap of life via escapist activities e.g. dancing, drinking, travelling, debauchery etc. Hemingway never exposes explicitly that Jake and his friend’s lives are pointless and aimless but it is his style of writing which implies such ideas about the sentimental and mental background of the characters. This implied manner of exposing ideas shows the influences of cubism in this novel, The Sun Also Rises (The Sun Also Rises, Themes, Motifs & Symbols, 2010).
In the novel, all characters live a life of discontent and dejection, Jake and his friends always indulge in constant merry-making but all merrymaking or revelry activities remain joyless. They involve themselves in heavy drinking in order to forget about War and internal spirits. They always remain busy in partying, dancing, drinking and chattering but still they remain sorrowful, dejected, purposeless and nothingness (The Sun Also Rises, Themes, Motifs & Symbols, 2010). The novel depicts the post war era by narrating the destructiveness and aimlessness of human lives, victimized by horror of war. Jake and other soldiers have to lead life without manhood due to his physical injury (loss of penis). He is confused soul who can’t deter his feelings of sexual love for Brett as he thinks that he is “less of a man” than he was before. Jake is personified as weakened or empty soul of masculinity who feel unconfident of their manhood power (The Sun Also Rises, Themes, Motifs & Symbols, 2010).
Hemingway doesn’t narrate this fact directly but it is the reaction of Jake and his friends towards Cohn. They hit hard Cohn by abusing when they capture him while showing “unmanly” attitude with Brett. They handle their fears of being pathetic and unmasculine by pointing out the weakness they observe in him. Hemingway also stresses upon this thematic sense by portraying the character of Brett, who often behaves like men as she too introduces herself as “chap,”having short boy haircut and masculine name. she is physically and spiritually too strong, confident and independent as if she embodies all traditional masculine characteristics while all male characters are doubtful about their masculinity like Jake, Bill and Mike (The Sun Also Rises, Themes, Motifs & Symbols, 2010).
Sex is the most influential and critical force in The Sun Also Rises. It is the sexual jealousy which forces Cohn to infringe his basic code of ethics and assault Jake, Romero and Mike. It is the sexual desire which prevents Brett to establish intimate relationship with Jake despite of her true love for him. It is the sex passion which undercut the self-respect of Cohn, passions of love, displayed by Jake and Brett. Brett is characterized to display the negative influences of sex as she is a modern woman, having sexual relations with several men without any scrupulous feelings (The Sun Also Rises, Themes, Motifs & Symbols, 2010).
The gap of communication is also displayed the influences of cubism in the novel how Hemingway depicts his characters without effective communication with each other. The hide their true feelings and never be honest or direct to each other. They can’t share their torments which is the legacy of war. As they talk about war in ridiculous manner, Georgette and Jake have agreed on this point during dinner that the war “would have been better avoided” (The Sun Also Rises, Themes, Motifs & Symbols, 2010). The dejected feelings are expressed when Brett distresses Jake and he exposes his discontent with her. Similarly, Mike is drunk aimlessly and expresses his disgusting feelings for Cohn. Drunkenness helps Jake and his friends to tolerate their lives without any true passions of love and aim. They want to escape the reality of life by indulging themselves in drinking and merry-making (The Sun Also Rises, Themes, Motifs & Symbols, 2010).
Oh, Jake, Brett said, “we could have had such a damned good time together (The Sun Also Rises, 2002).
The bullfighting in the novel is symbolic presentation of healthy activity and bright aspect of life. It is the presentation of postwar society in the perspectives of Jake’s characterization. For example, we can construe the outline of Belmonte from the viewpoint of Jake and his acquaintances. Just as Cohn, Mike, and Jake all once swayed Brett’s love, so too did Belmonte once control the fondness of the crowd, which now rejects him for Romero. Belmonte is the symbolic representation of the lost generation while bullfighting is the symbol of destructiveness of sexual passions. The words Hemingway use to portray Romero’s bullfighting is about sexual, and his assassination of the bull gives shape of a seduction (The Sun Also Rises, Themes, Motifs & Symbols, 2010).
This symbolic equation of sex and violence further links sexuality to danger and destruction. It is important to note that the distinctions between these interpretations are not hard and fast. Rather, levels of meaning in The Sun Also Rises flow together and complement one another (The Sun Also Rises, Themes, Motifs & Symbols, 2010).
In nutshell, the words and forms in the novels and short stories of Hemingway have visual art akin to Paul Cézanne, portrayed on the canvas of real life so accurately. Several critics identify the works of Hemingway in the context of visual and verbal arts (Recurrence in Hemingway and Cézanne).
The motif is at its most dominant in the middle chapters of The Sun Also Rises where the route tournante takes us not only into the Spanish Pyrenees but into Cézanne’s world of color and forms (Recurrence in Hemingway and Cézanne).
Hemingway’s cubism can be displayed like a powerful light which mitigates the darkness in order to clarify everything prominently. In Our Time, Hemingway probes into the disparaging influences upon the human existence how his words have been changed into horrified creatures with dominant standpoint towards the world and all apparent qualities are exposed by employing this technique of 20th century (Hemingway’s In Our Time: Cubism).
An artificial extension of the human eye, the searchlight for Hemingway also possesses a peculiarly tactile quality, as if to emphasize the physical force of this technology, and reverse the conventional associations of light with objectivity and enlightenment (Hemingway’s In Our Time: Cubism).
In Our Time, Hemignway provides an appraisal and cautious clarification of domineering culture, giving appropriate touches of light and darkness. In Our Time, Hemingway relates the people, creatures and things without objectifying them if we evaluate the very structure of In Our Time with the modern cubist styles of painting, the readers would be enjoyed such interesting comparisons when unique touches of cubism are employed to see the world in new angle, modern set of techniques (Hemingway’s In Our Time: Cubism).
After critique of Paul Rosenfeld, several critics have agreed that there are cubist elements in this book, In Our Time. For instance, Jacqueline Vaught Brogan discusses that the fragmentation of the story in In Our Time is directly associated with the visual fragmentation of cubist painting styles. In the similar context, Elizabeth Dewberry Vaughn asserts that Hemingway’s verbal recurrence is equal to repetition of visual images, painted by Picasso in geometrical shapes (Hemingway’s In Our Time: Cubism). Elizabeth Dewberry Vaughn states:
Both Hemingway and Picasso emphasize form over content; because of this emphasis the audience discovers meaning by looking both at the work as a whole and at the relationship among the individual parts of the text or painting (Hemingway’s In Our Time: Cubism).
Like Cubists, Hemingway brings into the light by showing multi-faceted things, events, people, ideals and concepts on his textual canvas in order to dominate the world. In Hemingway’s novels, the themes of alienation, disintegration, fragmentation and dejection are linked with cubism.
The continuous vibration and twinkling of brush-strokes against the discontinuous geometry of their structure is set forth, not as light, but as a property of matter—that plasma…. of which the Cubist world was composed (Hemingway’s In Our Time: Cubism).
Paul Rosenfield relates Hemingway’s prose-style with cubist painting how he employs direct, rudimentary, fragmentary and simple forms, textures and rhythmical tones, depicting the modern American society which enhances his value as a revolutionary American story-teller (Wagner-Martin, 2002). Hemingway paints a true picture of postwar era by representing the scenes of Spain’s hotels, churches, nightclubs, fishing streams and bullfights in authentic manner. Everything is painted with the fine touches of brush strokes of the expert painter who portrays a realistic picture on the canvas of real life (Wagner-Martin, 2002).
The intellectual structure built up from the story makes for violent dislocations in the customary logic of narrative (such as the “dislocations” inherent in both visual and literary “cubism,” I would add) (Brogan and Vaught, 1998).
According to Berger and Hughes, cubism is a form of realism, depicting the latest world of scientific advancement so perfectly. It is the gradual process of unfolding the utopian truths in pre-war era, how the cubists strive hard to amalgamate all disparate elements of the cosmos as whole.
In a Cubist picture, the conclusion and the connections are given. They are what the picture is made of. They are its content (Hemingway’s In Our Time: Cubism).
The reader of Hemingway’s fictitious stories has to find his role within the textural content while the intricacy of the forms and fragmentary phrases allocate him as partial reviewer. Hemingway uses the artistic techniques of cubism in In Our Time and The Sun Also Rises, parallelizing the spirit, themes, content, forms and characteristics (Hemingway’s In Our Time: Cubism).
Cited Works
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Balakrishnan,2003, Introducing Ernest Hemingway by Prof. Ganesan Balakrishnan, Ph.D.
Retrieved from: http://www.literature-study-online.com/essays/hemingway.html
Brogan and Vaught, 1998, Article: Hemingway’s ‘In Our Time’: a cubist anatomy.
(Ernest Hemingway), Article from: The Hemingway Review Article
dated: March 22, 1998 Author: Brogan, Jacqueline Vaught,
Retrieved from: http://www.highbeam.com/doc/1G1-20653057.html
Hemingway’s In Our Time: Cubism, Conservation, And the Suspension of Identification, Lisa Narbeshuber, Acadia University
Picasso and Hemingway – 20th Century Innovators, 2009, Picasso and Hemingway – 20th Century Innovators, retrieved from:
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Published By Ron Berman, University Of California, San Diego
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