Destruction of Landscape: An Ecocritical Study of Hemingway’s Major Novels (A Farewell to Arms, For Whom the Bell Tolls and The Old Man and the Sea)

Abstract

New critical approaches to literature reveal hidden themes which improve our understanding of literary works. Ecocriticism is a combination of ecology and literature. It is an interdisciplinary field in which literary works are analysed in the light of ecological discourses. According to Aristotelian theory, settings play a vital to understand a literary work. Ecocritics explore literary works to explain environmental conditions in literature. Earnest Hemingway presents wars and intrusion of machines on panoramic meadows. He depicts macho animal killers in his work. He presents outdoor activities through fishing, bullfighting and hunting. These activities create environmental degradation. His primitiveness creates eco-ambiguity. Warships in his two novels, A Farewell to the Arms and For Whom the Bells Tolls highlight destruction of environment because of human activities. In panoramic meadows, soldiers fight each other which creates destruction for humans as well as for ecosystem. In The Old Man and the Sea, Hemingway depicts marine life. Young fishermen exploit seascape with their modern fishing techniques in the sea. Bullfighting, hunting and fishing are blood sports. These games exploit non-human world. Hunting and fishing might be presented as search for wilderness. Hemingway’s primitivismprojects his characters’ contradicting fight against natural environment. This study attempts to understand the interplay of human activities, like war and hunting, and their destructive impact on the landscape through the lens of ecocriticism.