1。2 Significance of the Study 论文网

Many critics are interested in analyzing the code heroes created by Hemingway。 When the novel A Farewell to Arms is referred to, the narrator and definite male protagonist Frederic Henry will be naturally mentioned as another code hero created by Hemingway。 Scholars have different arguments as follows。 Frederic’s tragic spirit is revealed from his passive battle with fate (苗永敏, 2005)。 The code hero spirit of Frederic is shown in his loyalty within his relationship with Catherine (于晓华, 2014)。 And Qi proposes that though Frederic is a loser in the arena of human life, his battle with his fate is quite inspiring。 Interestingly, then she adds that the battle is negative and unfinished (齐林芳, 2002)。 The evidences listed by the scholars are not so convincing and precise。 So we can come to the conclusion that Frederic Henry is roughly labeled as a tough guy。 Nothing solid and accurate can be found in critics’ arguments to prove that Frederic is a true code hero。 

On the contrary, with the increasing attention paid on the character Catherine, some totally new ideas sprout。 As I have mentioned before, some critics agree that Catherine does better than Frederic in some ways。 It is stated that if readers understand the principles of heroes in A Farewell to Arms, they will find out that Catherine is a real hero (范能维, 2009)。

So there comes a question: who on earth is the real code hero in A Farewell to Arms? Is Catherine Barkley the real code hero in this novel? This study aims to demonstrate that the real code hero in A Farewell to Arms is Catherine by analyzing the fact that she does have the central traits of code heroes。 

2。 Central Traits of “Code Hero”

Hemingway has created a bunch of tough guys in his works。 These tough guys are known as code heroes。 It is universally accepted that the code heroes are a group of people who can be destroyed but never be defeated。 What’s more, they are a group of fighters who keep calm and elegant even under harsh pressures。 Though scholars have reached an agreement on the general definition of the literary figure “code hero”, they reserve different opinions when more detailed information about code heroes is discussed。 

Some critics propose that the image of code heroes isn’t fixed。 Some of them give a name to the core of the code hero’s spirit and propose the core undergoes changes with the passage of time。 For example, Miao argues that the tragic spirit which makes up the main part of code heroes undergoes three different stages of development: brave and dignified acceptance of tragedy, conscious escape from it and active resistance to it (苗永敏, 2005)。 Others focus on Hemingway’s characterization of code heroes and state their opinion that Hemingway gradually completes the traits of his code heroes (齐林芳, 2002; 袁曙光 and 车向前, 2002)。 And Santiago, the protagonist of Old Man and Sea, is regarded as the most outstanding and mature one of all code heroes created by Hemingway (齐林芳, 2002)。

But some critics have different ideas。 They think the definition of code hero is fixed。 For example, Yu states that being an extremely brave, persistent and adventurous man is the life philosophy of a code hero (于晓华, 2014)。 Thus, though code heroes are tortured by the powerful fate again and again, they still can pull themselves together。

For me, I think the definition of code heroes is specific, or in other words, the central traits of code heroes are specific。 Whether the roles are code heroes or not depends on the traits they have shown。 So what are the most important traits of code heroes? 文献综述

First of all, true code heroes are the ones who can correctly deal with the perception of death。  Hemingway has portrayed many kinds of code heroes, but they all in some way or the other, deal with the perception of death。 And Hemingway who has admitted that he has a propensity to create such kind of figures once states “My favorite characters are men who deal with death and accept its risks” (qtd。 in Debata and Kumar, 102)。 Thus it can be concluded that code heroes usually deal with the conception of death。 And they can accept the risk of death, so they can fearlessly face the death and even can dig out the truth behind the conception of death。