Doubt in a Farewell to Arms by Hemingway

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Recommended: Discuss Hemingway’s attitude to war as reflected in A Farewell to Arms

There were nearly 10 million men dead of the 65 million men who fought in World War I (Harden). Frederic Henry is the driving code hero in A Farewell to Arms through the war as he shows much courage through the warzone, powers courageously through a struggle to validate himself, and acts in a realistic manner through his struggle with Catherine.
Through his injuries from the blast, Frederic Henry shows that he is the main code hero as he exhibits courage by being eager to rush out of the hospital. After being hit by the blast, the doctor in the hospital inquire of Frederic, "'Do you want to keep your knee, young man?' 'No,' I said" (Hemingway 83). Through this quotation, Frederic shows courage, action, and the need to prove himself with action. He shows courage when he does not stagger when he does not want to wait to be operated on. This leads into the action and the need to prove himself with action as he wants to return to the battlefield and recuperate his honor after being hit with the bomb and losing a fellow mechanic. Frederic shows he is brave by being willing to lose a limb to return to combat quickly. While Frederic and Catherine contemplate their relationship, Frederic asserts, "'They won't get us,' I said. ’Because you're too brave. Nothing ever happens to the brave.' 'They die of course.' 'But only once.' 'I don't know. Who said that?' 'The coward dies a thousand deaths, the brave but one?'" (Hemingway 121). This quotation that Frederic uses and the expansion of it in the first line represents the code hero's courage and a fight for impossible values. It represents courage because it he straight up states that nothing happens to the brave and talks about their relationship and how no one will split them up if they pu...

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...of Imagination." Sewanee Review 79.4 (1971): 576-97. JSTOR. Web. 5 Feb. 2014. .

Glasser, William A. "A Farewell to Arms." Sewanne Review 74.2 (1966): 453-69.JSTOR. Web. 5 Feb. 2014. .

Hatten, Charles. "The Crisis of Masculinity, Reified Desire, and Catherine Barkley in "A Farewell to Arms"" Journal of the History of Sexuality 4.1 (1993): 76-98. JSTOR. Web. 22 Feb. 2014. .

Hemingway, Ernest. The Sun Also Rises. New York: Scribner, 1996. Kindle.

Matthews, T.S. "New Republic" 1929. Ed. Jeffrey Meyers. Ernest Hemingway: The Critical Heritage. London: Routledge, 2002. 121-26. Print.

Seelye, John. "Hyperion to a Satyr: "Farewell to Arms" and "Love Story"" College Literature10.3 (1983): 307-13. JSTOR. Web. 4 Mar. 2014. .

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