A Farewell to Arms

A Farewell to Arms

1. In the novel A Farewell to Arms, Catherine Barkley is portrayed as a beautiful and kind woman. First, Hemingway conveys to the reader that she has experienced sorrow because she has lost her love. This is shown through her keeping a stick belonging to her dead fiancée, “It belongs to a boy who was killed last year. He was a very nice boy.  He was going to marry me and he was killed in Somme.” (18). Next, she is serving as a nurse for the Italian Army. On page 18 it is said that “She wore what seemed to me to be a nurse’s uniform, was blonde and had tawny skin and gray eyes.” On the other hand, Frederic Henry’s life prior to coming to Italy revolved around the pursuit of women and indulging in the pleasures that followed. Evidence for this is that Henry is always yearning for women as shown on page 12 “That’s nothing. Here now we have beautiful girls. New girls never been to the front before”. Henry is serving as an ambulance driver in the Italian Army.

1. After Frederic first meets Catherine his feelings for her are insincere and self-seeking. First, Frederic’s multiple attempts of convincing Catherine that he loves her have proven unsuccessful which indicate his feigned attitudes developed towards her. “You don’t have to pretend you love me. That’s over for the evening. Is there anything you’d like to talk about?” (31). Henry realizes that he genuinely loves Catherine when she pays him a surprise visit in the hospital he is recuperating at, “I heard some one coming down the hallway… It was Catherine Barkley…When I saw her I was in love with her.” (91). This quote is indicative of the fact that Frederic’s feelings for her involuntarily transformed as he “had not wanted to fall in love with any one.” (93).

1. Frederic is wounded as he gets hit by “A trench mortar shell.” (59). The impact of the mortar shell on Henry devastated his legs. Evidence for this is that on page 58 Hemingway says “His legs are very painful.”. Following his knee injury, Frederic behaves heroic and altruistic by refusing to be assisted before the others. “I’d rather wait…There are much worse wounded than me. I’m all right.”  

1. The Italian retreat from Caporetto was “orderly, wet and sullen.” (188). First, it was orderly as there was no more confusion in the march of the Italian Army. Evidence to support this can be found on page 188 “There was no more disorder than in an advance.”. Next, the retreat was indeed wet as it was raining on the troops. On page 188 it said “we passed troops marching under the rain… It rained steadily and the army of the Bainsizza moved down off the plateau in the October rain …”. Finally, the retreat was sullen and Hemingway gives an insight on the aftermath of the retreat on page 188 by saying “That night we helped empty the field hospitals that had been set up in the least ruined villages of the plateau, taking the wounded…Two of them were crying…The two girls kept on crying.”

1. The love affair between Frederic and Catherine culminates with the death of Catherine after having just given birth to a stillborn. “So he’s dead… Yes. It’s such a shame. He was such a fine big boy. I thought you knew.” (327). Afterwards, Frederic exits the hospital emotionally-wrecked and without any beams of hope due to this tragic misfortune. “I do not want to talk about it… You get out… But after I got them out and shut the door and turned off the light it wasn’t any good. It was like saying good-by to a statue. After a while I went out and left the hospital and walked back to the hotel in the rain.” (332).

1. Hemingway’s style of writing in A Farewell to Arms can be seen as effective as he uses the iceberg theory. This specific style of writing may be deemed implicit as it leaves many events open for interpretation by the readers, thus, the readers are obliged to formulate their own opinions and perspectives on the story. Evidence for this is that Hemingway thought to convey the lives of the WW1 soldiers through the adventurous life of Frederick Henry. Moreover, Hemingway describes Henry’s emotions as limited as possible but in reality, there is an entire iceberg of emotions under the surface. On page 331 Hemingway says “It seems she had one hemorrhage after another. They couldn’t stop it. I went into the room and stayed with Catherine until she died.”    

1. Frederic deserts his post because he learns that he must either escape or be killed after having killed a man. This measure is taken due to the fact that the two men accompanied by him were disruptive to Frederic’s ultimate escape plan. First, Frederic’s desertion is justified as his sole intention in killing that man was to save himself as he had no other alternative than to die. Next, he was completely justified in killing the sergeant as he was the one that refused to cooperate. Finally, Frederic was justified in killing the sergeant as it was a life or death situation for him and potentially his friend Aymo.      

1. The Priest is an amiable and warmhearted man that lives to provide spiritual guidance to the soldiers. He speaks with Henry every once and a while. He has sound intentions in life; to please God and help others. In conclusion, his ideals are worthwhile. Gino is a young Italian soldier who is fond of his country and will do anything to honor Italy. This attitude is reflected on page 184 when he says “I am a patriot”. He seems to be worthwhile considering he is a true nationalist of his country. Catherine’s happiness lies in the hands of Frederic as she is heavily dependent on him and treats him as a newfound love. She would do anything to maintain her relationship with Henry, it’s almost as if she worships him. “You’re my religion. You’re all I’ve got.” (116). Rinaldi lives to seduce pretty women. He is a desiring seducer. He has never devoted himself to a serious relationship with a woman ever before. He appreciates women only for sexual and immoral purposes. “That’s nothing. Here we have beautiful girls. New girls never been to the front before.” (12). This is indicative of the fact that Rinaldi is not worthwhile judging from his immoral ideals.

1. The symbolic significance of the rain is grief. “I'm afraid of the rain because sometimes I see myself dead in it, “And sometimes I see you dead in it.” (126). In this quote Catherine tells Henry about how she is afraid of the rain because she sees herself dead in it, and in the end of the novel Catherine dies in the rain. “But after I got them out and shut the door and turned off the light it wasn’t any good. It was like saying good-by to a statue. After a while I went out and left the hospital and walked back to the hotel in the rain.” (332).  The symbolic significance of the mountains is death and war while the symbolic significance of the plain is an opportunity for prosperity. In the novel’s first chapter there is a reference to the mountains and plain “The plain was rich with crops; there were many orchards of fruit trees and beyond the plain the mountains were brown and bare. There was fighting in the mountains and at night we could see the flashes from the artillery.” (1). In the plain there were crops, fruit and trees; this symbolizes life even in the midst of war and violence, there was still a chance for prosperity. While in the mountains there was war, death; people were dying and families were being disintegrated.

1. Judging from the title, A Farewell to Arms can pass as an antiwar novel. First, the notion of violence does not automatically render itself wrong as neither Frederic nor Bonello feels any remorse for shooting the engineering sergeant. Moreover, the reader believes Frederic when he tells Catherine that he will kill the police if they attempt to arrest him. Nonetheless, the novel opposes the violence and mass destruction as Hemingway tried to portray the WW1 as a bloody, costly, and deadly war. All in all, the attitude of the novel towards war is more so indifferent as Hemingway mentions war as though a regular occurrence as opposed to a rare occasion.

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