Imagery and Symbolism in A Farewell to Arms

【Abstract】 A Farewell to Arms was a famous novel by Hemingway in the history of the world literature. It is a success of the application of the imagery and the symbolism， which play an important role in the novel.

【Key words】Hemingway; A Farewell to Arms; Symbolism; Imagery

【作者簡介】王子敏，女，漢族，海南屯昌人，西安文理學院。

I. Hemingway and A Farewell to Arms

You read books; you know Hemingway. Being the Lost Generation， his ‘code heroes flighted against the life lonely. （Chen& Huang， 2019） In his works， the natural imagery， character imagery， and social imagery are often applied to indicate the plots and relationships. The imagery of some symbolism meanings. His work ‘A Farewell to Arms can be structured into two stages， the war， and the story， whereas the story， brings warmth but finally leads to coldness and desperations.

II. Imagery in A Farewell to Arms

1. Natural scenes

Natural scenes are often used to describe the characters emotions， moods， and render the atmosphere. In the novel ‘A Farewell to Arms， rains， water， and mountains， plains are all applied to implicate the cruelty and coldness of wars and the tragic story. For example， in the novel， rains are typical imagery that indicates darkness and death.

2. Society activities

Fishing is one of the social activities that occurred in Hemingways works. In “The Snow of Kilimanjaro”， the writer went fishing in the mountains. In his works， his characters often proposed themselves when fishing. In ‘A Farewell to Arms， in Chapter 35， Henry invited Emilio to go fishing， and they talked about the life of Emilio. Emilios refusal of back to the war shows that no civilians want to go to the war.

3. Creatures

In ‘A Farewell to Arms， swallows are a typical example of Hemingways Iceberg Theory. Henry killed swallows which is a symbol of the religious. He shoots the swallows， which means that he violent the god and he must pay the price. Philip Young argues that the imageries give ‘an illusion of reality that， in its completeness， reality itself does not give.

III. Symbolism in A Farewell to Arms

Symbolism is often used by writers to enhance their works. Metaphor， symbolization， and suggestion are the usual methods of symbolism. Symbolism conveys some special meaning through specific images. Imagery is something， character， graphic， or color. The most important characteristics of symbolism are imagery and meaning. In Frys （1989） ‘Criticism against the current， he argued that there are five dimensions of a symbol. The mark， motif， imagery， prototype， and monad are all parts of a symbol. In the third dimension， is the imagery， which is then separated expression of analog literature. Take the rain in the ‘A Farewell to Arms as an example again， the imagery rain stands for the miserable and unhappy life in the novel. However， in the Bible， rains are seen as a blessing by the god.

IV. Conclusion

This article analyzes the various imageries in Hemingways masterpiece “A Farewell to Arms”， briefly describes the methods of symbolism and its impacts on the novel. The novel is more about the harm that miserable life and cold war bring to people. In peace， we need to maintain an optimistic attitude， live an active life， fight against war， and protect the peace.

References：

[1]Chen， D.， & Huang， Z. The Analysis of Hemingway and His Tough Man Spirits. In 3rd International Conference on Art Studies： Science， Experience， Education （ICASSEE 2019）[M]. Atlantis Press， 2019.

[2]Young， P. HEMINGWAY， A Farewell to Arms[J]. Explicator， 1948，7.

[3]Fry， T， & Willis， A. M. Criticism against the current[J]. Mean jin， 1989，48（2）：223.