Death Drive in the Unconscious of the Protagonist Frederic Henry in Ernest Hemingway’s A Farewell to Arms

Abstract

The research explores the psyche in the narrative of the protagonist Frederic Henry in Ernest Hemingway’s A Farewell to Arms. The narrative raises curiosity in the mind of the reader with frequent reference to symbols of death, injury, pain, loss, love and repetitiveness. The research hypothesizes that the psyche of the Henry carries death drive within. The researcher uses ideas of psychoanalytic approach to analyse the text for examining the hypothesis. Several critics have postulated their arguments regarding the experiences of the protagonist and have explored those experiences dealing with his unconscious. The comparisons of those arguments help the research to examine the hypothesis. The mechanisms of psychoanalytic approach such as repetition, nostalgia, narcissism, aggressivity, trauma and jouissance play significant role to analyse the text. The narrative of the protagonist is full of nostalgia. It also contains several repetitiveness in the description. The suicidal tendency of the protagonist indicates narcissism in his psyche. The romance between the protagonist and his beloved induce the prevalence of jouissance within. The narrative as a whole is a description of several traumatic events. Hence, the psyche of the protagonist carries death drive in his unconscious. Death drive in his unconscious influences his behaviour such that it is self-destructive. The researcher explores death drive in the protagonist to recognize the state of death drive in the psyche of a character affected by tragedy of love and war. Keywords: unconscious, death drive, repetition, narcissism, nostalgia, trauma, jouissance