Introduction: A Farewell to Arms is divided into five books. In the first book, Rinaldi introduces Frederic Henry to Catherine Barkley; Frederic attempts to seduce her, and their relationship begins. While on the Italian front, Frederic is wounded in the knee by a mortar shell and sent to a hospital in Milan. The second book shows the growth of Frederic and Catherine's relationship as they spend time together in Milan over the summer. Frederic falls in love with Catherine and, by the time he is healed, Catherine is three months pregnant. In the third book, Frederic returns to his unit, but not long afterwards the Austrians break through the Italian lines in the Battle of Caporetto, and the Italians retreat. Frederic kills an engineering sergeant for insubordination. After falling behind and catching up again, Frederic is taken to a place by the "battle police", where officers are being interrogated and executed for the "treachery" that supposedly led to the Italian defeat. However, after seeing and hearing that everyone interrogated is killed, Frederic escapes by jumping into a river. In the fourth book, Catherine and Frederic reunite and flee to Switzerland in a rowboat. In the final book, Frederic and Catherine live a quiet life in the mountains until she goes into labor. After a long and painful birth, their son is stillborn. Catherine begins to hemorrhage and soon dies, leaving Frederic to return to their hotel in the rain.
Love in the novels of Hemingway is not a sentimental affair where lovers cry and long for one another. His concept of love unlike that of Charles Dickens is realistic and an urgent need of body and mind which explains why lovers in the novels of Hemingway form sexual and emotional intimacy...
... middle of paper ...
...ndeed. The poignace of story is beautiful orchestrated to heart wrenching finale of the novel.
There is contrast in the two themes. But ultimately we feel convinced that it is neither love nor war which is salient feature dominating the novel. It is the concept of man pitted against the unknown who dominates the proceeding be it in the factor of war or love. Be what may the theme of ‘A Farewell to Arms’ touches an emotional chord in the heart of every feeling man and woman. It is the convention that death is the ultimate reality that is left in the minds of the readers.
Works Cited
Hemingway, Ernest. A Farewell to Arms, (New York: Charles Scribner’s Sons, 1929)
Mellow, Jeffrey. Hemingway: A Life Without Consequences. Boston: Houghton Mifflin (1992).
Meyers, Jeffrey (1985). Hemingway: A Biography. New York: Macmillan
One observation that can be made on Hemingway’s narrative technique as shown in his short stories is his clipped, spare style, which aims to produce a sense of objectivity through highly selected details. Hemingway refuses to romanticize his characters. Being “tough” people, such as boxers, bullfighters, gangsters, and soldiers, they are depicted as leading a life more or less without thought. The world is full of s...
Many books contain multiple meanings behind them, and have underlying themes to them. The book All Quiet on the Western Front, by Erich Maria Remarque, is no exception. The plot of the book revolves around a young German soldier by the name of Paul Bäumer. Paul is in the war with his friends that he had gone to school with before war along with other comrades he meets in boot camp. In the book All Quiet on the Western Front there are four main themes which are expressed by Remarque which include: Loyalty and friendship under fire, unbelievable suffering at the hands of other human beings, betrayal by adults, and the beauty of nature in stark contrast to the psychotic experiences of war. In the book there are four different examples which clearly explain how these themes clearly represent the book. All together the themes show the tragedy that war really brings upon people in the least way deserve it.
Erich Maria Remarque develops this theme by utilizing the symbol of army attire, the motif of separation of powers between different generations, and the motif of lost innocence. Remarque visits the many horrors of wars in the field and in their consciences through powerful symbolism that convey the realities they face, readers can see this through remarks of the characters along the story. Readers observe how the loss of youth scars these men and their ambitions, how soldiers seemingly feel like kids without their attire and the great divide and distrust they hold towards their previous generation. It is in these devices readers can fully grasp the horror and tragedy of
Eby, Carl P. "Hemingway's Fetishism: Psychoanalysis and the Mirror of Manhood. Albany: State University of New York Press. As Rpt. in Bauer, Margaret D. "Forget the Legend and Read the Work: Teaching Two Stories by Ernest Hemingway. College Literature, 30 (3) (Summer 2003): 124-37. EBSCOhost.
Death is often represented by traditional symbols ranging from the color black to the common tombstone. Besides these icons, other signs can stand for mortality including rain. In A Farewell to Arms, Ernest Hemingway associates rain with death many times. Although rain is not usually considered a symbol of death, the main character Fredric Henry discovers this natural occurrence is a personal theme he relates with death.
Any and all events in one's life may change a person profoundly, but the effect may not always be as expected. For instance, situations of despair may cause feelings of depression and uncertainty to develop in an individual, as would likely be expected. However, those same situations could ultimately lead to a sense of fulfilment or enlightenment. In the novels All Quiet On The Western Front by Erich Remarque, The Wars by Timothy Findley, and A Farewell To Arms by Ernest Hemmingway, the varying possibilities of the effects of war on an individual are clearly displayed. In All Quiet On The Western Front, Paul Baumer finds the war has changed not only the way he views himself in the present, but also the way he views his past and his future. In The Wars, Robert Ross finds himself on a path of uncertainty, questioning the apparent loss of humanity in the world around him. Yet he ultimately uses the war as a medium through which the true essence of his character is able to shine. Finally, in the American classic A Farewell To Arms, Lieutenant Henry recognises that he is losing himself in the war and attempts to find an escape through love. As a result of the horrors and tragedies surrounding them, the characters in these three novels question their sense of self in light of their experiences in the war.
Anton Chekhov and Ernest Hemingway both convey their ideas of love in their respective stories The Lady with the Pet Dog and Hills like White Elephants in different ways. However, their ideas are quite varying, and may be interpreted differently by each individual reader. In their own, unique way, both Chekhov and Hemingway evince what is; and what is not love. Upon proper contemplation, one may observe that Hemingway, although not stating explicitly what love is; the genius found in his story is that he gives a very robust example of what may be mistaken as love, although not being true love. On the other hand, Chekhov exposes love as a frame of mind that may only be achieved upon making the acquaintance of the “right person,” and not as an ideal that one may palpate at one instance, and at the another instance one may cease to feel; upon simple and conscious command of the brain. I agree with Hemingway’s view on love because it goes straight to the point of revealing some misconceptions of love.
When a writer picks up their pen and paper, begins one of the most personal and cathartic experiences in their lives, and forms this creation, this seemingly incoherent sets of words and phrases that, read without any critical thinking, any form of analysis or reflexion, can be easily misconstrued as worthless or empty. When one reads an author’s work, in any shape or form, what floats off of the ink of the paper and implants itself in our minds is the author’s personality, their style. Reading any of the greats, many would be able to spot the minute details that separates each author from another; whether it be their use of dialogue, their complex descriptions, their syntax, or their tone. When reading an excerpt of Hemingway’s A Moveable Feast one could easily dissect the work, pick apart each significant moment from Hemingway’s life and analyze it in order to form their own idea of the author’s voice, of his identity. Ernest Hemingway’s writing immediately comes across as rather familiar in one sense. His vocabulary is not all that complicated, his layout is rather straightforward, and it is presented in a simplistic form. While he may meander into seemingly unnecessary detail, his work can be easily read. It is when one looks deeper into the work, examines the techniques Hemingway uses to create this comfortable aura surrounding his body of work, that one begins to lift much more complex thoughts and ideas. Hemingway’s tone is stark, unsympathetic, his details are precise and explored in depth, and he organizes his thoughts with clarity and focus. All of this is presented in A Moveable Feast with expertise every writer dreams to achieve. While Hemingway’s style may seem simplistic on the surface, what lies below is a layered...
Through the characters' dialogue, Hemingway explores the emptiness generated by pleasure-seeking actions. Throughout the beginning of the story, Hemingway describes the trivial topics that the two characters discuss. The debate about the life-changing issue of the woman's ...
A Farwell to Arms takes place during the late summer in Italy, in the midst of World War 1, and Italy at this time is at war with Germany and Austria. Frederic Henry, the narrator of the story as well as one of the primary characters, is an American serving in the Italian armed force as an ambulance driver. He finds himself falling profoundly in love with a gorgeous English nurse, Catherine Barkley. At the point when Frederic and Catherine meet, Catherine is in an entirely defenseless and vulnerable state due to the passing of her husband-to-be during a war in the previous year. This may be a reason for her falling in love too quickly with Frederic as an approach to free herself of the despair and sorrow that she is feeling. Henry gets wounded
Hemingway synthesizes the theory that because of the pain that is brought about, love is not able to survive. The feeling of love is felt by both Henry and Catherine, but it is hard to realize that when pain always surrounds the couple. Hemingway’s creative mind creates a frustrating love story for the reader – one in which ends in devastation. Love is present but will not last. Human nature is to be attracted to love, but humanity may be destined for pain because of the tragedy brought about by love.
Escape from Reality in A Farewell to Arms & nbsp; In Ernest Hemingway's A Farewell to Arms, Fredric Henry gets involved with Catherine Barkley to escape the insanity of war. Frederic loves Catherine. Catherine loves Frederic. The extreme situation of war and fate allowed both of them to be thrown together and fall in love.
A Farewell to Arms is clearly an anti-war novel; the story swifts from naive game playing, through the stages of love and hope, to pure despair and an understanding that a war can lead to no winners. The passionate love story of the novel strengthens the message still more by showing the ironic similarity, but also its discrepancy, with the war. The discrepancy is to be taken into serious account, this discrepancy is the important message of this novel; make love not war.
Theme is a literary element used in literature and has inspired many poets, playwrights, and authors. The themes of love and war are featured in literature, and inspire authors to write wartime romances that highlight these two themes. Ernest Hemingway’s A Farewell to Arms deals with the collective themes in the human experience such as love and the reality of war. A Farewell to Arms is narrated from the perspective of Fredric Henry, an ambulance driver in the Italian army, and pertains to his experiences in the war. The novel also highlights the passionate relationship between Henry and Catherine Barkley, a British nurse in Italy. Henry’s insight into the war and his intense love for Catherine emphasize that love and war are the predominant themes in the novel and these themes contribute to bringing out the implicit and explicit meaning of the novel. Being a part of the Italian army, Henry is closely involved with the war and has developed an aversion to the war. Henry’s association with the war has also made him realise that war is inglorious and the sacrifices made in war are meaningless. Specifically, Henry wants the war to end because he is disillusioned by the war and knows that war is not as glorious as it is made up to be. The state of affairs and the grim reality of the war lead Henry towards an ardent desire for a peaceful life, and as a result Henry repudiates his fellow soldiers at the warfront. Henry’s desertion of the war is also related to his passionate love for Catherine. Henry’s love for Catherine is progressive and ironic. This love develops gradually in “stages”: Henry’s attempt at pretending love for Catherine towards the beginning of the novel, his gradually developing love for her, and finally, Henry’s impas...
Ernest Hemingway was a man who was intrigued by the complexity that love and war brought to intimate relationships. Not only was Hemingway intrigued by love and war, he once also lived it. During WWI Hemingway served as a Red Cross ambulance driver; after being seriously wounded he spent six months at the Red Cross hospital in Milan where he fell in love for the first time. Falling in love with the nurse also resulted in Hemingway’s first heartbreak. Hemingway was a “damned good looking man”, which allowed him to have plenty of relationships with women. Having been married four times to four different women also gives light as to why the relationships he writes about always fail in his stories. Although Hemingway never served as a soldier in war, as much as he wanted to, he knew that the burdens of war always resulted in a failed love. Ultimately, Hemingway uses the war to attack the romantic delusions individuals had prior to WWI to signify the affects war cast on romance.