preview

Sacrifice Of A Soldier In Fitzgerald's Tragic Hero

Decent Essays

Because of this brotherhood, Jordan finds further purpose in helping his friends. Even at the end of life, Jordan sacrifices himself to save his comrades. For example, he states, “Think about them being away, he said. Think about them going through the timber. Think about them crossing a creek. Think about them riding through the heather” (FWTBT, 470). Jordan spends his last moments thinking about his friends and even sacrificing his own life. According to this thought, Killinger explains, “The first and basic sacrifice of a soldier is of his own freedom of thought and action.” Although he wished to live, Jordan gave up his life for other people; however, this sacrifice renews his spirit, spending his final moments “waiting until the officer reached the sunlit place where the first trees of the pine forest joined the green slope of the meadow” (FWTBT, 471). He creates purpose within himself to fight against hopeless odds. In his final moments, Jordan shows the existential tenet of creating new meaning.
Furthermore, Jordan rejected the possibility of suicide. For example, he states, “I don’t want to do that business that my father did. I will do it all right but I’d much prefer not to have to. I’m against that” (FWTBT, 469). Despite his …show more content…

Although both men stare into the Absurd, they engage it and manage to find their own meaning. Neither men give up, despite life fighting against them. Both men come out of their conflict reborn with new inner meaning and purpose, suffering existential angst to reach their rebirth. On one side of both novels, Hemingway creates characters that have meaning within themselves. These characters both wish for purpose, both renew themselves in the face of death, and both have a sense of meaning found within and without themselves. These are all basics tenets found in existentialism and clearly demonstrated in both

Get Access