Hemmingway Catherine as a Code Hero - 1708 Words

Catherine: A Manipulative Caretaker In A Farewell to Arms, Frederic Henry is characterized initially by a sort of detachment from life-though well-disciplined and friendly, he feels as if he has nothing to do with the war. These feelings of detachment are pushed away when Henry falls in love with Catherine and begins to realize the hostile nature of the world. In this way, Henry serves the function of a character that becomes initiated in Hemingways philosophy of an indifferent universe and mans struggle against it. Due to the untimely death of a fiancà © previous to the events of this book, Catherine is initiated into Hemingways philosophy, and exemplifies the traits of the Hemingway code hero throughout the novel. She is†¦show more content†¦Ã¢â‚¬Å"I’m not brave anymore, darling. I’m all broken. They’ve broken me. I know it now† (Hemmingway 323). Catherine is clearly in fear of death, but she is not trying to run or hide from it. She faces death and tries to console Henry by telling him she is not going to die. After undergoing a caesarian section and giving birth to a stillborn baby boy, Catherine proves just how brave she is. Though she knows she is dying, she still has the dignity and strength to accept such a fate. In face, she finds herself trying to comfort her distraught lover once again. With death approaching, Catherine’s final words to Frederic Henry suggest she possesses some sense or understanding of her own mortality and of what is soon to come. She says, â€Å"I’m not a bit afraid. It’s just a dirty trick† (331). The â€Å"it† Catherine refers to is presumably death, but in fact, the indefinite may be referring to life, a process Catherine views as a â€Å"rotten game† (31), since so much about it is left to chance and death is always the end. Catherine stood brave in the face of a battle with her own body. Like the soldiers, neither her bravery, nor Henry’s l ove, could save her from death. In Henry’s mind, the death of the soldiers and the death of Catherine are parallel tragedies, which cannot be separated from each other. By weaving the tragedies together, he memorializes both such tragedies, and can perhaps hope to heal a bit of his pain. CriticsShow MoreRelatedErnest Hemingway Essay1365 Words   |  6 Pages ERNEST HEMINGWAY nbsp;nbsp;nbsp;nbsp;nbsp; Ernest Hemmingway is a masculine writer of immense emotion. He writes off of his life experiences and his feelings towards different subjects. Ernest Hemingway’s themes are virile on the surface, but when analyzed, one will find them to be romantic and sentimental. nbsp;nbsp;nbsp;nbsp;nbsp;As one will find through the reading of Hemingway’s works he is a very masculine writer. Says one critic: â€Å"Hemingway fans have long made reference to the

Samskara Evolution of Self Free Essays

Samskara: Evolution of Self The novel Samskara: A Rite for a Dead Man, by U. R. Anatha Murthy, tells the story of a Brahmin village community, an agrahara, and the revered Brahmin man Praneshacharya who lives there. We will write a custom essay sample on Samskara: Evolution of Self or any similar topic only for you Order Now Central to the novel is its namesake, the concept of samskara. Adjacent to the title page, the author supplies the many definitions of the samskara, including: â€Å"making perfect†, â€Å"refinement†, â€Å"the realizing of past perceptions†, and â€Å"any rite or ceremony† just to name a few. Throughout the novel, these various understandings of samskara play into the lives of the Brahmins living in the agrahara of the protagonist. Particularly for Praneshacharya, he goes through a sort of rite of passage throughout the novel, in a way his own samskara. The novel begins immediately with the death of Naranappa, a Brahmin member of the agrahara who had long abandoned his orthodox Brahmin dharma. Naranappa, though deceased at the outset of the novel, is a major character, who acts as a polar opposite to Praneshacharya. Naranappa breaks all tradition from the Brahmins of the agrahara. He eats meat, he drinks alcohol, and he even disregards the caste system, sleeping with Chandri, a lowcaste woman. In his life, Naranappa defied the rigid moral code of the Brahmins, and then in death through his samskara, his death rites, he challenges the traditions of the agrahara, and in doing so exposes the samskara of the local Brahmins, or lack thereof. Naranappa’s death triggers a comical confusion of Brahmin traditional funeral rites. Having essentially renounced his brahminhood through his conduct and going so far as threatening to become muslim, Naranappa could well have been excommunicated from the Brahmin community; however, since he was not, it was understood that he must be cremated by Brahmins, lest any pollution enter upon the ceremony. This was problematic for two men, Lakshmana and Garuda, who wanted to acquire the gold jewelry donated by Naranappa’s wife Chandri towards the death rites. In this way, the samskara, or refinement, of these Brahmin men is called into question through Naranappa’s samskara. Praneshacharya is affected in a very different way by Naranappa’s death. Having lived the life of an orthodox Brahmin all his life, studying the scriptures and such, Praneshacharya knows only of the ascetic lifestyle of purity, avoiding pollution at all times, learned from scriptures and tradition. His samskara, his perfecting, involved not lived experience but recitations of scripture. He even reads erotic scriptural passages yet understands not of the sexual compulsions they relate to. However, through his stressful dealings with Naranappa’s death rites, he has a sudden reversal moment of his thinking in his experience with Chandri. This moment is the beginning of his samskara, which takes his through various stages of self-reflection, thinking through his past (samskara), until he ultimately decides to return to the village, yet it is unclear what he plans to do once there. By the end of the novel, Praneshacharya does not entirely change his way of thinking to that of Naranappa’s. Indeed, he is still very different in personality, however there are many overlaps. Praneshacharya does many things which are strictly forbidden by his orthodox Brahmin Mahdva background. He sleeps with a lowcaste woman, Chandri, also the widowed wife of Naranappa, herein lying one major connection between the two men. He also frinks coffee in town with Putta, and even eats food at the temple during the time he should be fasting after his wife’s death. Praneshacharya seems to accept these violations as his decisions, and therefore his identity. By identifying with these experiences, he is confirming his experience as samskara, a rite of passage. He does however still fear many aspects of his anti-brahmin lifestyle as reflected through his experiences with Putta in the town. He fears the cock-fighting ring and the demoniac attitudes of those involved. He also still cannot bear the pollution of his unwashed hands after leaving the temple meal. Clearly, Praneshacharya is in a state of transition in the novel, and indeed it is part of his samskara. The final line of the novel suggests even he does not know where he stands, just that it isn’t as before. How to cite Samskara: Evolution of Self, Papers

The Human Genome Program and Me free essay sample

This paper looks at the U.S. Human Genome Project and the impact that it might have on the individual. This paper analyzes the U.S. Human Genome Project and how this technology might effect the individual in the future. It looks at the plans of this project, the benefits it claims to have on medical and scientific research and how these advances might impact on humans in the coming years. From the paper: The Department of Energy (DOE) Human Genome Program and the National Institutes of Health (NIH) National Human Genome Research Institute (NHGRI) together make up the U.S. Human Genome Project. It commenced in 1990 and originally planned to continue for fifteen years. This project will accomplish six objectives. These are to 1) identify all (approximately 30,000) genes in human DNA, 2) determine sequences of the 3 billion chemical base pairs that make up human DNA, 3) store this information in databases, 4) improve tools for data analysis, 5) transfer related technologies to the private sector, and 6) address the ethical, legal, and social issues (ELSI) that may arise from the project. We will write a custom essay sample on The Human Genome Program and Me or any similar topic specifically for you Do Not WasteYour Time HIRE WRITER Only 13.90 / page