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Topic: The theme revealed in the novel “ The moon and sixpence sixpence”” Outline: I Summary about writer and the novel “ The moon and sixpence” II Two themes revealed in the novel “The moon and sixpence” The revolt of an individual against the well- established conventions of bourgeois society No rooms for trivial and ordinary pleasures of life in Great Art III Conclusion Summary about the writer and the novel “ The moon and sixpence sixpence”” William Somerset Maugham (1874-1965) W.S Maugham is famous English writer, well-known as a novelist, playwright and short story writer In his writings he kept to the principles of Realism, but his method of writing was also influenced by Naturalism, Neo-romanticism and Modernism W.S Maugham was born in Paris where his father worked as solicitor for the English Embassy At the age of 10 Maugham was orphaned and sent to England to live with his uncle, the vicar of Whitstable Before becoming a writer he was educated at King's School, Canterbury, and Heidelberg University, Maugham then studied six years medicine in London William worked in a hospital of Saint Thomas, which placed in a poor block of London the experience found its reflection in the 1st novel During World War, Maugham volunteered for the Red Cross, and was stationed in France for a period There he met Gerald Haxton (1892-1944), an American, who became his companion Disguising himself as a reporter, Maugham served as an espionage agent for British Secret Intelligence Service in Russia in 1916-17, but his stuttering and poor health hindered his career in this field In 1917 he married Syrie Barnardo, an interior decorator; they were divorced in 1927-8 On his return from Russia, he spent a year in a sanatorium in Scotland Maugham then set off with Haxton on a series of travels to eastern Asia, the Pacific Islands, and Mexico In many novels the surroundings also are international Maugham's most famous story such as “Ashenden: or the British agent ’’ Maugham died in Nice, a small French town from pneumonia on December 16, 1965 The novel “The moon and sixpence sixpence”” Charles Strickland, a good, dull, holiest, plain man who is a conventional stockbroker He is probably a worthy member of society, a good husband and father, an honest broker, but he abandoned his wife and two nice looking and healthy children, a boy and a girl A supposition is put forth: Charles walks out upon his wife to run after some woman A friend of Strickland is sent to Paris to find out who the woman is and if possible to persuade him to come back to his wife After a long talk with Strickland, the man understands that the real reason that inspires him to run away is not woman He decided to be a painter Living in Paris, Strickland comes into contact with a Dutch painter, Dirk Strove Strove is presented as an antipode to Strickland Strove is a kind hearted man but a bad painter He is the first to discover the real talent of Strickland When Strickland falls seriously ill, it is Strove who comes to help Strove persuades his wife to let him bring the artist home to look after him To his surprise, his wife falls in love with Strickland who she holds in disgust Later his wife, a housemaid rescued by Strove, kills herself by drinking acid after Strickland leaves her What Strickland wants from Blanche is not sexual relation but the nude picture of her beautiful figure Leaving France for Tahiti, Strickland is in search of a world of his own In Tahiti, he marries a native girl Ata and he has about three years of happiness He has two children Strickland contracts leprosy and later becomes blind He wants to leave the family but Ata doesn’t let him it His eyesight gets worse but he continues painting Ata couldn’t go to the town and buy canvases; he uses the walls of his house Strickland gets rid of some strong irresistible obsession imprisoning his soul with the help of those paintings He has achieved what he longs for on this land He has painted his masterpiece Knowing that he is going to die, he makes his wife promise to burn down his masterpiece after his death in fear that it will be contaminated by the commercial world of money Two themes revealed in the novel “ The moon and sixpence sixpence”” The revolt of an individual against the well- established conventions of bourgeois society In many of his stories, Maugham reveals to us the unhappy life and the revolt against the set social order The Moon and Sixpence was written in this line It is a story of the conflict between the artist and the conventional society based on the life of a painter The revolt of an individual against the well-established conventions of bourgeois society was shown in the following two aspects: 1.1 Money worship society The bourgeois society with its vices such as: snobbishness money worship, pretense, selfinterest…made their profit of the frailties of mankind To them, money was a useful tool to dominate both economics and politics Money also helped the bourgeois maintain their regal life and it connected the members in family, on the other hand, husband had obligated to support his wife and children for whole his life Therefore, the last generations of the bourgeois forced the young generation to continue their domination It was mentioned in the conversation between Strickland and his friend “I rather wanted to be a painter when I was a boy, but my father made me go into business because he said there was no money in art” In this society, art was non-profitable Therefore, it must be looked down upon In their point of view, art was nothing more than just a job to earn money They did not see the beautiful things that art brings When Strickland decided to follow in his father's footsteps, his dream and aspiration were hidden on the bottom of his heart After working hard for ages, he became a prosperous stockbroker He is probably a worthy member of society However, there is in streets of the poor quarters a thronging vitality which excites the blood and prepares the soul for the unexpected It was actually happened in Paris, because Strickland gave up the luxury life and got acquainted with hard life just only wanted to fulfill a long-cherished dream He had to give up his dream to follow his father’s wishes “I want to paint.” “I’ve got to paint.” The brief answer expressed his willingness to get out of ideology ties which were imposed by his father And his hand and mind would express his big dream by painting masterpieces “I couldn’t get what I wanted in London Perhaps I can here.” “I tell you I’ve got to paint.” The author said that “I seemed to feel in him some vehement power that was struggling within him, it gave me the sensation of something very strong, overmastering, that held him” And Strickland cannot have a comfortable life any more “I haven’t any money I’ve got about a hundred pounds.” We could probably see it through Strickland’s appearance when he came to Paris “Sitting there in his old Norfolk jacket and his unnourished bowler, his trousers were baggy, his hands were not clean; and his face, with the red stubble of the unshaved chin, the little eyes, and the large, aggressive nose, was uncouth and coarse.” 1.2 Family and social responsibilities Painting is not only a ‘dreamy moon’ of Strickland but also of many progressive people in bourgeois society According to bourgeois concepts, all the men have to be responsible for his family and children He’s forced to have a strong connection with what is considered to belong to him Strickland’s life is tied tightly down to family’s contract However, all that sort of things means nothing at all to him He doesn’t let those reasons impact on his way chasing his passion any longer It can be obviously proved through the conversation between two men, Strickland and the author, in chapter II of the novel ‘Hang it all, one can’t leave a woman without a bob.’ ‘Why not?’ ‘How is she going to live?’ ‘I’ve supported her for seventeen years Why shouldn’t she support herself for a change?’ ‘Let her try.’ ‘Don’t you care for her anymore?’ ‘Not a bit’ When Strickland talks about his children, his attitude is revealed to be heartlessly scornful ‘They’ve had a good many years of comfort It’s much more than the majority of children have Besides, somebody will look after them When it comes to the point, the Mac Andrews will pay for their schooling.’ ‘I like them all right when they were kids, but now they’ve growing up I haven’t got any particular feeling for them.’ He totally gives up on his own family, children and thinks that they could live by themselves without his care Even if they can’t make arrangement for their life, his relatives might come to help Strickland also doesn’t mind what people loathe and despise him ‘Everyone will think you a perfect swine.’ ‘Let them.’ ‘Won’t it mean anything to you that people loathe and despise you?’ ‘No’ ‘You don’t care if people think you an utter black-guard?’ ‘Not a damn.’ He really doesn’t care any longer ‘You won’t go back to your wife?’ ‘Never’ ‘You don’t care if she and your children have to beg their bread?’ ‘Not a damn.’ He does everything: abandoned wife and children; left his successful career behind just because he totally hates that gloomy society and its old customs Only by a short conversation between two men, the author already describes the strongly reactive mind of Strickland, a man who dares to stand up and fight over the old customs of that boring society and bourgeois Regarding to Strickland’s point of view, his escape is the only decision; it’s also the solution to release his imprisoning mind He doesn’t regret or be ashamed of what he’s done He accepts the eyes of society because he doesn’t care Actually, it’s never ever meant anything to him The only thing that he really cares is his mind right now freely to follow and everything he ever dreams of in his own ‘dreamy moon’ No rooms for trivial and ordinary pleasures of life in Great Art 2.1 Sacrifice everything to be an artist At the beginning, the stockbroker Strickland had a stable life with happy family However, when he started to chase his path as an artist, he had to experience a poor situation Moreover, he was willing to get rid of everything to be an artist Great art don’t depend on age as long as you have real passion Even though at the age of forty “the chances are a million to one”, Strickland still wants to be a painter “I can learn quicker than I could when I was eighteen”, said he He wanted to be a painter when he was a boy but his father didn’t allow him His father consumed that there was money in art Therefore, he had to give up his passion for such a long time However, his fire for art wasn’t stamped out And this was the perfect time for him to implement his dream again On his way chasing that dream, he had to sacrifice everything He passed by the material and the sensual to fulfill spiritual needs He got rid of a happy family with a comfortable life to go to Paris and lived in destitute life there Although he knew that his family needed him and they had to suffer difficulties in life without him, he didn’t intend to change his mind and he accepted to be considered as a selfish man He understood that his action weren’t highly appreciated; however, he still wanted to pursue art in his own way Strickland accepted to live in a bad condition, without money, job, food and at last he found a Shelter at a hotel Afterward, despite the fact that he got a serious disease and became blinded; he still tried to fulfill his masterpiece on the walls of his house During the first days staying in Paris, he only found a cheap hotel to live He appeared with such a miserable, untidy image “He sat there in his old Norfolk jacket and his unnourished bowler, his trousers were baggy, his hands were not clean; and his face, with the red stubble of the unshaved chin, the little eyes, and the large, aggressive nose, was uncouth and coarse His mouth was large; his lips were heavy and sensual.” He desired to paint He repeated his speech many times when answering his friend “I want to paint.” “I’ve got to paint” “I tell you I have to paint” 2.2 Strickland protects Beauty and Art Art is very pure It can not be measured by the value of money or sexual relation Strickland struggled to abandon his appetence for art “Let me tell you I imagine that for months the matter never comes into your head, and you’re able to persuade yourself that you’ve finished with it for good and all You rejoice in your freedom, and you feel that at last you can call your soul your own You seem to walk with your head among the stars And then, all of a sudden you can’t stand it any more, and you notice that all the time your feet have been walking in the mud And you want to roll yourself in it And you find some woman, coarse and low and vulgar, some beastly creature in whom all the horror of sex is blatant, and you fall upon her like a wild animal You drink till you’re blind with rage.” He assumed that as an artist he shouldn’t have trivial fun such as desire of women For Strickland, woman is like an invisible rope tightening his life It is very hard to escape from them Therefore, he tried to avoid it He was willing to give her up as well as his unsatisfactory painting He did everything to be a true artist even though it made him become a cruel man Finally, he achieved what he wanted He created a masterpiece It was worth what he’d spent He devoted all his life to pursue art As an artist, he didn’t care about fame or wealth He painted pictures only to satisfy his love to art He never sold his pictures to get money He did not to accept his masterpiece to be contaminated by the commercial world of money His dream was very beautiful III Conclusion Based on the life of Paul Gauguin, “The Moon and Sixpence” is W Somerset Maugham's ode to the powerful forces behind creative genius Charles Strickland is a staid banker, a man of wealth and privilege He is also a man possessed of an unquenchable desire to create art As Strickland pursues his artistic vision, he leaves London for Paris and Tahiti, and in his quest makes sacrifices that leave the lives of those closest to him in tatters Through Maugham's sympathetic eye Strickland's tortured and cruel soul becomes a symbol of the blessing and the curse of transcendent artistic genius, and the cost in human’s lives it sometimes demands Topic 2: Impression of characteristic I, William Somerset Maugham (1874 – 1965) William Somerset Maugham was born in Paris on 25th January, 1874, the sixth and youngest son of the solicitor to the British embassy Maugham learned French as his native tongue At the age of 10, Maugham was orphaned and sent to England to live with his uncle, the Reverend Henry MacDonald Maugham, in Whitstable, Kent Educated at King's School, Canterbury, where he developed a stammer that he never outgrew, and Heidelberg University, Maugham then studied six years medicine in London He qualified in 1897 as doctor from St Thomas' medical school, but abandoned medicine after the success of his first novels Liza of Lambeth (1897) The book sold well and he decided to abandon medicine and become a full-time writer Maugham achieved fame with his play Lady Frederick (1907), a comedy about money and marriage By 1908 Maugham had four plays running simultaneously in London On the outbreak of the First World War, Maugham, now aged forty, joined a Red Cross ambulance unit in France While serving on the Western Front he met the 22 year old American, Gerald Haxton The two men became lovers and lived together for the next thirty years During the war Maugham was invited by Sir John Wallinger, head of Britain's Military Intelligence (MI6) in France, to act as a secret service agent Maugham agreed and over the next few years acted as a link between MI6 in London and its agents working in Europe Maugham had sexual relationships with both men and women and in 1915, Syrie Wellcome, the daughter of Dr Thomas Barnardo, gave birth to his child Her husband, Henry Wellcome, cited Maugham as co-respondent in divorce proceedings After the divorce in 1916, Maugham married Syrie but continued to live with Gerald Haxton During the war, Maugham's best-known novel, Of Human Bondage (1915) was published This was followed by another successful book, The Moon and Sixpence (1919) Maugham also developed a reputation as a fine short-story writer, one story, Rain, which appeared in The Trembling of a Leaf (1921), was also turned into a successful feature film Popular plays written by Maugham include The Circle (1921), East of Suez (1922), The Constant Wife (1926) and the anti-war play, For Services Rendered(1932) In his later years Maugham wrote his autobiography, Summing Up (1938) and works of fiction such as The Razor's Edge (1945), Catalina (1948) and Quartet (1949) After the 1930s Maugham's reputation abroad was greater than in England Maugham once said, "Most people cannot see anything, but I can se what is in front of my nose with extreme clearness; the greatest writers can see through a brick wall My vision is not so penetrating." His literary experiences Maugham collected in The Summing Up , which has been used as a guidebook for creative writing William Somerset Maugham died in 1965 in a small French town from pneumonia "I have never pretended to be anything but a story teller It has amused me to tell stories and I have told a great many It is a misfortune for me that the telling of a story just for the sake of the story is not an activity that is in favor with the inte llige ntsia In endeavor to be ar my misfortune s with fortitude " (from Creatures of Circumstance, 1947) II THE INTRODUCTION OF WRITING “The Moon and Sixpence” is one of the most important and famous novels of William Somerset Maugham It was written in 1919, revealing to us the unhappy life and the revolt against the set social order It is a story of the conflict between the artist and the conventional society based on the life of a French painter, Paul Gauging Like many other works, “The Moon and Sixpence” is characterized by narrative facility, simplicity of style, and a disillusioned and ironic point of view that attract the readers The principal character is Charles Strickland, a prosperous stockbroker who is a good dull, holiest plain man He is probably a worthy member of society, a good husband and father, an honest broker, but “there was no reason to waste one’s time over him” Charles’s wife is a pleasant hospitable woman and they have two nice looking and healthy children, a boy and a girl Suddenly, Strickland disappeared leaving his wife and children behind A supposition is put forth: Charles walks out upon his wife to run after some woman A friend of Strickland was sent to Paris (where he said to be) to find out who the woman is, and if possible to persuade him to come back to his wife After a long talk with Strickland, the man understands that the real reason that inspires him to run away is not woman; it is because that he wants to paint! He does not care for his wife and children any longer, they should try to support themselves and his wife can get married again Strickland has a hard life in Paris where he goes to painting classes People are surprising at a man of forty like him starting to learn painting without any innate talent for it He does not care for his hardship of life, nor does he care for people and their opinion about him As an artist Strickland does not care for fame or wealth He never “sold a single picture and he was never satisfied with what he had done” It seems that he is seeking something new not existing in the world yet in order to satisfy his love for art Living in Paris, Strickland comes into contact with a Dutch painter, Dirk Strove, another important character of the novel Strove is presented as an antipode to Strickland Strove is a kind hearted man but a bad painter He is the first to discover the real talent of Strickland He cares for the artist and sees it his responsibility to help him in distress When Strickland falls seriously ill, it is Strove who comes to help Strove persuades his wife to let him bring the artist home to look after him To his surprise, his wife falls in love with Strickland who she holds in disgust Later his wife, a housemaid rescued by Strove, kills herself by drinking acid after Strickland leaves her What Strickland wants from Blanche is not sexual relations but the nude picture of her beautiful figure Leaving France for Tahiti, Strickland is in search of a world of his own In Tahiti, he married a native girl and he has about three years of happiness He has two children Strickland contracts leprosy and later becomes blind He has achieved what he longs for on this land He had painted his masterpiece Knowing that he is going to die, he makes his wife promise to burn down his masterpiece after his death in fear that it will be contaminated by the commercial world of money “The Moon and Sixpence” touches upon another problem of bourgeois society: the fate of the intellectual in a society where the values of man are measured in terms of money As a short story writer W.S Maugham demonstrates brilliant mastery of the form He exposes the contemporary society with is vices such as snobbishness, money worship, pretence, self-interest, complacency and above all, the hypocrisy in the people’s way of life The extract we studied is Chapter II in the novel Through the conversation of the two men, Strickland and his friend, the character of Strickland way clearly described, and the bourgeois concepts of happiness, responsibility, art and talent were all well revealed by the author III, THE ANALYSIS OF STRICKLAND CHARACTER Strickland as an ordinary man 1.1 Strickland is irresponsible inconsiderate toward his wife Strickland used be a good husband to his wife Actually, he owns a happy family and good economic condition For many people, Strickland is good businessman and has good status in society However, he suddenly abandoned his wife and went another place Strickland leaved his wife and children behind without a word His leaving makes her very miserable and she had a suspicion that he run away with other women His wife- Army is a pleasant hospital woman Strickland can’t find any reasons which belong to Arm to leave her When Army sends him many letters to persuade him to come back, Strickland doesn’t read any letters from her It means that he doesn’t concern anything related to his wife When making conservation with friend sent to persuade him, Strickland expresses a coolly attitude to his wife “I can not describe the extraordinary callousness with which he made this reply” Although Strickland acknowledged his action, he still does like that Has she deserved that you should treat her like that? No Then, isn’t it monstrous to leave her in this fashion after seventeen years of married life without a fault to find with her Monstrous” Abandoning wonderful wife is faulty However, letting a woman without a bob is more pitiless He also knows before that his wife and children will have to suffer difficulties in life without him But he still leaves them to pursue his aim “Hang it all, one can’t leave a woman without a bob Why not? Don’t you care for her any more? Not a bit” Strickland does not try thinking whether a weak woman can live without support from man; especially she has to nurse two children They don’t know what they should in order to support their life and what will wait for them in the future He supposed that he no longer have any responsibility to his family and all things that he did before be enough 1.2 Strickland is irresponsible selfish father Strickland does not want to take any responsibility to his children His children are very young and innocent They have never done any harm to Strickland “Damn it all There are your children to think of They’ve never done you any harm They did not ask to be bought in to the world If you chuck everything like this, they’ll be thrown on the street They have had a good many years of comfort It’s much more than the majority of children have Besides, somebody will look after them When it comes to the point, the Mac Andrews will pay for their schooling” How can children live without support from their father? He did not care about his children any more, even though they could be thrown out in the street For many people, rearing children is very holly duty and happiness For children, father is the material and spiritual favor It is very poor for children when he entrusts them to the care of Mac Andrews Especially, Strickland thought that he did not have any special feeling to his children For many men, children are always very special and take really important part in their emotional life Strickland only had special feeling to his children when they were small When they grow up, he no longer loves them It seems that the nature of a father in Strickland has disappeared He became an unemotional father Strickland is ungrateful to his friend Dirk Strove is a very kind- hearted person Dirk Strove is the person who recognizes the talent of Strickland and helps him everything in bad days When Strickland falls seriously ill, it is Strove who comes to help Strove persuades his wife to let him bring the artist home to look after Strickland must have gratitude all the things that Strove had done for him On the other hand, Strickland has an adulterous affair with his best friend’s wife Moreover, Strickland just wants to take use of her body for the nude picture and causes the death of Strove Strickland as an artist 2.1 Strickland is a really passionate painter He compares his passion to paint is like the desire to breath He abandoned his wife and children to pursuit his dream of painting He gives up a happy life to go strange place to learn knowledge, experience, etc , when the author skips the things which he doesn’t know, it will make the gaps for the work And if so, it will not have effect as the writer expect In other words, the things are mentioned in the work is surface information and the things aren’t mentioned is the deep meanings which he wanted the readers to sense And when the reader senses the omitted parts a greater perception and understanding for the story can be achieved Making the reader has to read and think It is success of this work When the reader senses the omitted parts, a greater perception and understanding for the story can be achieved 2.2.2 Simlicity This Characteristic can be found in many works of Hemingway including “ A Farewell to Arms” Like many his pieces, the story is more complex than it seem on the surface The language he used is keeping with the characters he wanted to portray It is surprising how he reveals the inner world of his personages The author uses precise words helping the readers imagine the story This style of simplicity is a trademark of Hemingway and ia what sets him apart from many other writers 2.2.3 Short declarative sentences Plain words is simple declarative sentences bring out the sensations of the central characters and at the same time make the reader participate in the events of the story He gives some advice: “ Use short sentences, use short first paragraphs, use vigorous English, not forgetting ti strive for smoothness, be position, not negative” 2.2.4 Carefully selected words: Hemingway’s style of writing is striking His sentences are short, his words are simple Yet they are often filled with emotion A careful reading can show us furthermore that he is master of pause That is, if we look closely, we see how the action of his stories continues during the silences, during the time his characters say nothing This action is often full of meaning There are times when the most powerful effect comes from 35 restraint Such times occur in Hemingway’s fiction He perfected the art of conveying emotions with few words Hemingway is a classicist in his restraint and understatement He believes that the strongest effect comes with an economy of means 2.2.5 Realistic dialogues The language of Hemingway’s work is bare simplicity; it is in keeping with the characters he wanted to portray It is surprising how he reveals the inner world of his personages in short dialogues and colloquial phrases Plain words in simple declarative sentences bring out the sensations of the central characters and at the same time make the reader participate in the events of the story Dialogues can be one of the most effective techniques in creating believable characters The key to writing believable dialogue, then, lies in balancing realism and good storytelling Both of which Hemingway excelled at Hemingway’s characters seem most aimless in their conversation, which is when they will be most direct at revealing their anxieties Iceberg principle expressed in chapter IV- “ a farewell to arms arms”” 3.1 Omission As is typical in a Hemingway work, Henry's narration is spare, detached, and journalistic Contrary to what the reader might expect, the effect often heightens emotion For example, Hemingway ratchets up the connotations of death and violence by omitting explicit mention of blood when it drips on Henry in the ambulance Hemingway shows his range when he occasionally uses a near "stream-ofconsciousness" narration for Henry In these few cases, Henry's thoughts are ungrammatical, awkwardly worded, and repetitive - much as the mind works, especially 36 under such chaotic circumstances A notable example is the long second-person narrative passage in Chapter XXXII after Henry has divorced himself from the army By addressing himself as "you," Henry shows how he has separated from his former self through his "separate peace." Henry is unable to explain why he has joined the Italian army to drive an ambulance In Chapter III, he explained that the priest "had always known what I did not know and what, when I learned it, I was always able to forget." There seems to be a premium on not knowing things, on remaining ignorant, as if that is some kind of protective armor Catherine reverses this, wishing she had known that her fiancé was going to die: "'He could have had anything he wanted if I would have known I know all about it now But then he wanted to go to war and I didn't know.'" Henry's character emerges more here He briefly admits to having never loved anyone, while Catherine seems somewhat numbed by her fiancé's death That she carries his stick "like a toy riding-crop" suggests she will treat love mostly as a game-like diversion from her pain The war is coming back to life with the spring It’s still only a nuisance, but it has moved closer, further disturbing the natural rhythms of the town The dewy garden next door is now the site of an artillery battery Henry checks his ambulances and finds that while he was gone things went on pretty much as usual He’s mildly miffed Maybe he’s not as necessary in this war as he thought he’d be He goes to his room Rinaldi is all shined up, ready to visit Miss Barkley, and he persuades Henry to go along with him The two officers meet Catherine Barkley and another nurse, Helen Ferguson; Catherine and Henry pair off, Rinaldi talks to Helen In conversation Catherine lets you in on some of her past when she answers Henry’s question about an officer’s swagger stick she carries She explains that it belonged to her fiancé, who died last year in the Somme Note the way Hemingway shows you some of the romantic notions held by many people at the start of World War I Catherine 37 volunteers as a nurse’s aide, half hoping that her boyfriend will come to her hospital with a picturesque wound, looking like somebody out of an old painting, Instead and she states it with brutal directness "they blew him all to bits." The memory of the loss loosens her tongue and she tells Henry how she stayed chaste throughout her engagement but now wishes she hadn’t The chapter closes with some banter about the rivalry between the English and the Scots that Rinaldi finds incomprehensible Then Rinaldi acknowledges that he’s lost Catherine to Henry, if indeed he ever had her to lose 3.2 Simplicity The language of Hemingway’s work is bare simplicity, it is in keeping with the characters he wanted to portray It is surprising how he reveals the inner world of his personages through short declarative sentences, carefully selected words, and realistic dialogs The author uses short declarative sentences often used in daily life so that the readers feel that they also participate in the events of the story He knows how to perfects the art of conveying emotions with few words; therefore, plain but precise words and worth details standing out the situation are employed Moreover, realistic dialogs among characters help the readers imagine the story a lot A combination of these factors strongly reflects simplicity that is a part of “Iceberg theory” by Hemingway and set him apart from many other writers The author uses precise words helping the readers imagine the story He chooses worth details standing out the situation For example: “ The battery in the next garden woke me in the morning The battery fired twice and the air came each time I could not see the gun ”The sound of the battery is used as the signal opening the background of the story It is recalled with other descriptions together showing its effect on the things All of the described details carry the air of the ear Hemingway doesn’t mention the war directly but also imagine the disaster everywhere This style of simplicity is a trademark of Hemingway and what sets him apart from many other writers 3.3 Short declarative sentences 38 A Farewell to Arms is the unforgettable story of an American ambulance driver on the Italian front and his passion for a beautiful English nurse It’s very clear that iceberg principle is expressed in chapter IV mostly by short declarative sentences Hemingway was so good at forming the dialogue with full of short and condensed sentences The meaning that he hide can be understood by readers The driver and nurse met each other in the scenario of war, firstly by sharing the surprising of the girl: “What an odd thing- to be in Italian army” They talked so frankly and very open seems like they know each other and have some similarities “Oh, isn’t there? I was brought up to think there was” During the conversation, he found that Barkley so beautiful with “tawny skin and gray eyes” Suddenly, Henry touched her big pain of the love with her tenente It was pretty a strong love in years however because of the war he had to departure her forever He came to her just like a partner that she can share every things, her feeling of love, her regret,… Henry’s respond “I see” showed sympathy on her sadness They came closer Now, he could not stop showing his impression on her hair “you have beautiful hair” and added he like it “very much” The readers can understand his feeling, his emotion with very short and effective sentence The writer did not want to write too much, he wanted to hide the depth of meaning and readers should be on the same heartbeat with him He shared in the work of “Death in the afternoon “that: “If a writer of prose knows enough of what he is writing about he may omit things that he knows and the reader, if the writer is writing truly enough, will have a feeling of those things as strongly as though the writer had stated them The dignity of movement of an ice-berg is due to only one-eighth of it being above water A writer who omits things because he does not know them only makes hollow places in his writing.” That trend was stated especially in chapter IV of “A farewell to arms” Talking about the front, Henry still said that “But it’s very beautiful”, “this is the picturesque front” For him, it‘s a chance to meet a beautiful nurse However, there was another worry about the war in their talks Henry thought that “they won’t crack here” how can they stop the war and “what’s to stop it” In contrast, with the strong attitude toward the war, Barkley said “they may crack” “anybody may crack” She seriously made us think that the war only brings us pain, sadness and sorrow The conversation continued with many strong short sentences “no”, “I think not” They showed us a very clear attitude, clear statement Hemingway did not need to use a lot of 39 words but the main meaning that he wanted to emphasize still comes to readers’ minds You’ve already heard about Ernest Hemingway’s "Iceberg Principle" or theory of omission It’s the simple idea that the reader is to be trusted All the reader needs is the surface information (the part of the iceberg we can see) to understand the situations being discussed (or the water below the visible iceberg) “Iceberg Theory” was Hemingway’s idea that most of the story was going on “underneath” the story he was telling 3.4 Carefully selected words On the surface, Hemingway was an average writer, un-possessing of flashy vocabulary or vivid descriptions of physical or geographical features He seldom used extravagant adjectives and kept many important sentences short and to the point In The Old Man and the Sea, Hemingway created a masterpiece of punctuality, portraying colossal meaning in very few, carefully selected words In A Farewell to Arms, Hemingway repeats usage of his characteristic punctualities when describing events, people or things In addition, he eases usage of adjectives and adverbs and focuses on nouns and verbs ("The Hemingway Style") Very seldom did Hemingway use extravagant adjectives Hemingway was said to be a master of his craft, carefully selecting the appropriate wordage so that the underlying message would not be deterred His work was mostly appreciated and accepted by contemporary literary critics who admired his ability to create huge meaning from small sentences The critic and presenter of the 1954 Nobel Prize, James Nagel, had this to say about Hemingway's literary style: "With masterly skill [Hemingway] reproduces all the nuances of the spoken word, as well as those pauses in which thought stands still and the nervous mechanism is thrown out of gear It may sometimes sound like small talk, but it is not trivial when one gets to know his method He prefers to leave the work of psychological reflection to his readers and this freedom is of great benefit to him in spontaneous observation" (The Influence of Ernest Hemingway: Introduction) 40 In A Farewell to Arms, Hemingway repeats the usage of adjectives and adverbs and focuses on nouns and verbs ("The Hemingway Style") The setting of the book details a sad, wartime love affair between a medic and a nurse (The Columbia Electronic Encyclopedia) The story, typical of Hemingway's style, depicts the hero as a person with a dangerous job who goes about it without fear and accepts defeat with bravery and brushes off death around him His short sentences magnificently relay the potent emotions of the characters through well-placed imagery Here, in A Farewell to Arms, the main character, Frederic, reunites with his love, Catherine, in Milan, Paris: "When I saw her I was in love with her Everything turned over inside of me She looked toward the door, saw there was no one, and then she sat on the side of the bed and leaned over and kissed me I pulled her down and kissed her and felt her heart beating." It can be concluded that Hemingway's writing style is easily spotted due to his regular usage of ambiguous, underlying messages contained in his works On the surface, his tales were that of a bland nature and lacking true substance However, according to his critics, Hemingway was a master of his craft, carefully selecting the precise wordage so that the underlying message would not be deterred (Cooper) These underlying messages and themes were described by Hemingway as the "iceberg method;" meaning that 7/8 of the story lay underneath the words This method was evident in The Old Man and the Sea, where Hemingway attempted to devalue radical religion by inferring that it relied too heavily on luck Nowhere is Hemingway's uncanny ability to portray character emotion and development more omnipresent than in A Farewell to Arms 3.5 Realistic dialogs As we know , the language of Hemingway’s work is bare simplicity In his works’plots, he often use a lot of dialogs Yet they are often filled with emotion and in keeping with the characters he wanted to portray The plot of “ A farewell to arms” described a war, the dialogs are realistic The chapter describes the first meeting of Frederic Henry with Catherine Barkley, to whom is introduced by an Italian, Rinaldi The 41 dialogs are mainly used in this chapter It is the dialogs that disclose the characters in full so that they can be seen eventually in retrospect In all dialogs, persons communicate together, talk naturally like in their daily life In orther words, realistic dialogs were expressed obviously For example, the dialogs is in the chapter such as: “ Do they ever shell that battery?” I asked one of the mechanics “No, Signor Tenente” It is protected by the little hill” Here, Hemingway used “Signor Tenente”instead of “Signor Lieutenant “ or “ Sir”, which are Italian speech Because Hemingway is Italian army so he decied to maintian these words in this plots Realistic dialogs like the way everybody talk together, yet having the high literature level In another dialogs : “ What’s the matter with this machine?” “ It’s no good One thing after another.” “New rings.” In the dialogs, Hemingway used a lot of short anwers such as : “ New rings”, “ At the same place”, “ No”, “ Very much” , “ Quite” , “ Yes” These short anwers are both realistic language and full emotion Thus the realistic dialogs in the chaptet create Hemingway’ s style of writing and at the same time make the readers partcipate in the events of the story Topic: The attitude towards war conveyed in chapter IV Outline I Introduction II Main body II.1 Summary of chapter IV and characteristics of main personages II.1.1 Summary of chapter IV 42 II.1.2 Characteristics of Frederic Henry in chapter IV II.1.3 Characteristics of Catherine Barley in chapter IV II.2 The attitude towards war conveyed in chapter IV II.2.1 The motives for the participation of Barley and Henry in the war II.2.2 The attitude of Barley and Henry towards the war II.2.3 Barley and Henry’s perception of death III.Conclusion I Introduction “A farewell to arms” was written by a famous American author, Earnest Hemingway who devoted his whole life to the struggle against fascism and wars “A farewell to arms” is an anti – war novel in which Hemingway wanted to make the reader see war as a merciless massacre of men and woman and the senseless destruction of the values created It is the story of an American lieutenant, Frederic Henry, who serves in an Italian ambulance corps during World War I The novel falls into five parts, each describes a different phase in Henry’s adventures He falls in love with Catherine Barley, a volunteer nurse from Great Britain When he is wounded she nurses him in the hospital His convalescence is over; he returns to the front and finds himself in a disorganized retreat He deserts during the mass retreat, rejoining the girl he loves, and they escape to 43 Switzerland in a small boat over the lake of Maggiore Their idyll comes to an end when she dies in child-birth This paper covers the analysis of the attitude towards war conveyed in chapter IV II Main body II.1 Summary of chapter IV and characteristics of main personages II.1.1 Summary of chapter IV Chapter IV describes the first meeting of Frederic Henry with Catherine Barley, to whom he is introduced by an Italian, Rinaldi In the morning one day, a battery of guns wakes Henry He goes to the garage, where the mechanics are working on a number of ambulances He chats briefly with the men and then returns to his room, where Rinaldi convinces him to tag along on a visit to Miss Barkley At the British Hospital, Rinaldi spends his time talking with Helen Ferguson, another nurse, while Henry becomes acquainted with Catherine Henry is immediately struck by her beauty, especially her long blonde hair She carries a stick that resembles a "toy riding-crop"; when Henry asks what it is, she confides that it belonged to her fiancé, who was killed in the Batter of the Somme When she, in turn, asks if he has ever loved, Henry says no On the way home, Rinaldi observes that Catherine prefers Henry to him The short conversation between Catherine Barley and Frederic Henry clearly reveals their attitude toward war and their motives for participant in that war are somewhat similar Through these personages’ attitude toward war, Hemingway emphasizes on a moral advantage in defeat Man may be trampled by war, man may die, but the proud spirit of man cannot be conquered II.1.2 Characteristics of Frederic Henry in chapter IV In chapter IV, Frederic Henry proves to be a responsible person in work and sympathetic person toward Catherine Barley Firstly, Frederic Henry is a responsible person in his work His responsibility is revealed through his attention to the operation of the machines At the beginning of the chapter IV, when Henry wakes up, he goes around to check machines, “I addressed, went downstairs, had some coffee in the kitchen and went out to the garage Ten cars were 44 lined up side by side under the long shed They were top-heavy, blunt-nosed ambulances, painted grey and built like moving vans The mechanics were working on one out in the yard Three others were up in the mountains at dressing stations” , “I left them working, the car looking disgraced and empty with the engine open and parts spread on the workbench, and went under the shed and looked at each of the other cats They were moderately clean, a few freshly washed, other dusty I looked at these types carefully, looking for cuts and stone bruises Everything seemed in good condition…” Secondly, Henry is a very sympathetic person toward Catherine Barley This characteristic is revealed though the conversation between Henry and Barley in the first meeting He proves to understand the sad story of Barley’s love affair He listens to Barley attentively and sympathetically when she talks about her fiancé, ‘it belonged to a boy who was killed last year’, said Barley - ‘I’m awfully sorry’, Henry said – ‘he was a very nice boy He was going to marry me and he was killed in the Somme’, Barley said – ‘It was a ghastly show’, Henry replied … ‘I didn’t say anything’ In the context of chaotic war, it was very precious when a person spends time and emotion listening to another person’s life story In this situation it is more precious because although Henry and Catherine Barley meet each other for the first time, he already sympathizes with Barley The origin of this sympathy may root from the motives for their participant in the war which are somewhat similar These motives are clearly analyzed in the part 2.2.1 II.1.3 Characteristics of Catherine Barley in chapter IV Catherine goes to the front with her fiancé She nurses the silly idea that one day the boy might come to the hospital where she works with a sabre cut, or a bandage round his head, or the shot through the shoulder But he never does He is killed She says to Henry; “he didn’t have the sabre cut They blew him all to bits.” The couple is called by Hemingway is Romeo and Juliet They are happy But in a sea of trouble, they are alone and their happiness cannot last long In chapter IV, Catherine Barley appears beautiful in Henry’s eyes when she is in the garden with another nurse, “Miss Barley was quite tall She wore what seemed to me to be a nurse’s uniform, was blond and had a tawny skin and gray eyes I thought she was very beautiful She was carrying a thin rattan stick like a toy ridding-crop, bound in leather” Especially, Henry is strongly impressed by her hair, “We sat down on a bench 45 and I looked at her –‘you have beautiful hair’, I said” Barley’s hair not only appears once in this chapter but also in other part of the novel Although it is not a recurring symbol, Catherine's hair is an important one In the early, easy days of their relationship, as Henry and Catherine lie in bed, Catherine takes down her hair and lets it cascade around Henry's head The tumble of hair reminds Henry of being enclosed inside a tent or behind a waterfall This lovely description stands as a symbol of the couple's isolation from the world With a war raging around them, they manage to secure a blissful seclusion (niềm hạnh phúc riêng tư), believing themselves protected by something as delicate as hair Later, however, when they are truly isolated from the ravages of war and living in peaceful Switzerland, they learn the harsh lesson that love, in the face of life's cruel reality, is as fragile and ephemeral as hair In this chapter, Barley is not only a beautiful woman but also a faithful sweetheart towards her fiancé She appears with “a thin rattan stick like a toy ridding-crop” in her hand That is the souvenir of her fiancé He died in the battle of the Somme It reminds her of good memory about love affair with her fiancé She is willing to anything for him, even cut her hair “I was going to cut it all off when he died.” “I want to something for him You see I didn’t care about the other thing and he could have had it all He could have anything he wanted if I would have known I would have married him or anything I know all about it now But then he wanted to go to the war and I didn’t know.” In short, Barley leaves Henry a deeply impression in the first meeting by the beauty and the faith toward her fiancé II.2 The attitude towards war conveyed in chapter IV II.2.1 The motives for the participation of Barley and Henry in the war The motives for the participation of Barley and Henry in the war are somewhat similar Against the backdrop of war, Catherine Barley - an English nurse has an innocent and romantic dream She dreams of nursing her fiancé when he got a “picturesque wound”, ‘since the end of fifteen I started when he did I remember having a silly idea he 46 might come to the hospital where I was With a sabre cut, I suppose, and a bandage around his head Or shot through the shoulder Something picturesque’ Therefore, Barley’s motive is not to fight against enemy but simply meet her fiancé She is very indifferent toward war Frederic Henry is a former student of architecture He has dropped his studies and volunteered as an ambulance driver Henry is one of the many who were made to believe when the war broke out that their participation in the war was “patriotism” and that “their sacrifice was not in vain” He is an American lieutenant who serves in an Italian ambulance corps during World War I The aim of Henry’s participation in the war is the patriotic action fighting for the welfare of his country He even cannot find a reason or reasonable explanation for his participant: “What an odd thing – to be in the Italian army.” “It’s not really the army It’s only the ambulance.” “It’s very an odd though Why did you it?” “I don’t know”, I said “There isn’t always an explanation for everything.” II.2.2 The attitude of Barley and Henry towards the war As the title of the novel makes clear, A Farewell to Arms concerns itself primarily with war, namely the process by which Frederic Henry removes himself from it and leaves it behind The novel cannot be said to condemn the war; A Farewell to Arms is hardly the work of a pacifist War is the inevitable outcome of a cruel, senseless world Hemingway suggests that war is nothing more than the dark, murderous extension of a world that refuses to acknowledge, protect, or preserve true love For Catherine Barley, the tragic death of her boy friend makes her understand that war was a butchery; the shock made her “a little crazy” She is widowed by the war Therefore, she hates the war and only wants to stop “People can’t realize what France is like If they did, it couldn’t all go on He didn’t have a sabre cut They blew him all to bits”, she said to Henry “Do you suppose it will always go on?” Henry does not lose belief in the war He also does not share Miss Barley’s opinion of the war, “what’s to stop it?” and “We’ll crack We’ll crack here”; “They did very well last summer” 47 Both Henry and Barley not really think that war was theirs, “it’s a silly front But it’s very beautiful’, “this is the picturesque front” In their eyes, front also has soul Both feel the front beautiful and dreamy In general, two characters not have strong feeling about the war What they discuss about the war is general and partly romantic II.2.3 Barley and Henry Henry’’s perception of death Barley knows what death means Death puts an end to everything but only a silly little rattan stick to remind her of fiancé and grief and regret It reminds her of happy past with her fiancé, “it belonged to a boy who was killed last year.”; “he was going to marry me and he was killed in the Somme”; “There isn’t any war of that sort down here They sent me a little stick His mother sent it to me They returned it with his things” and “Eight years We grew up together” Unlike Barley, Henry is not as experienced as she is He doesn’t join the battle in the Somme Moreover, in appearance he joins Italian army but in reality he denies, “It’s not really the army It’s only the ambulance.” Therefore, he has little experience of how destructive the war was One more thing is that Henry hasn’t ever fallen in love with any woman Hence, he doesn’t understand how painful if he lost a lover in the butchery III Conclusion As the title suggests, A Farewell to Arms is in many ways an antiwar novel, but it would not be fair to connect this novel with a literature of pacifism or social protest In the novel's value system, violence is not necessarily wrong Furthermore, the novel glorifies discipline, competence, and masculinity and portrays war as a setting in which those qualities are constantly on display Nevertheless, A Farewell to Arms opposes the thoughtless violence, massive destruction, and sheer senselessness of war It also criticizes the psychological damage that war inflicts on individuals and populations and its brutal upheaval of the lives of survivors In the face of such devastation, the novel posits, victory and defeat are meaningless terms Unlike many novels that glorify courage in battle, A Farewell to Arms attempts to give a realistic portrayal of a terrifying and, at the time of World War I, new kind of war Never before had men fought with machines and artillery capable of bringing about such annihilation Still, the aim of the novel is not 48 to protest war or encourage peace; it is simply to depict the hostility and violence of a universe in which such a conflict is possible In chapter IV, the attitude towards the war is clarified clearly through the motives for main personages’ participation in the war; their attitude towards war and their conception of death It will be a big shortcoming if we not mention the artistic method used in the chapter The most specific art is the author’s style of writing His sentences are short, his words are simple Yet they are filled with emotion A careful reading can show us furthermore that he is a master of the pause Sometimes, his characters say nothing or say simply “No/ I don’t know…” Hemingway realized that this lack of specifics would accomplish two things: firstly, allow his readers to fill in the blanks with their own details, making them active participants in the storytelling experience; and secondly, lend a sense of universality to his characters This style also contributes to portraying the war according to his characters’ assessment War is the inevitable outcome of a cruel, senseless world Hemingway suggests that war is nothing more than the dark, murderous extension of a world that refuses to acknowledge, protect, or preserve true love 49 ... writers who has the same autobiography style such as: To Hoai (The adventures of Cricket), Nguyen Thanh Long (Quite Sapa), Nguyen Minh Chau (The Picture)… Comparison “The advantures of Tom Sawyer”