Ernest Hemingway in Farewell to Arms has the main character (Frederic Henry) mature throughout the duration of the story, which would establish the novel as a coming of age story. In the beginning of the story Henry is extremely immature. He seems most concerned with furthering his own gains – even if it involves harming others. Early on in the novel Henry meets Catherine (a nurse). She has lost her fiancé (her childhood sweetheart) earlier in the war and has yet to recover from the tragedy. Frederic doesn't realize that she hasn't recovered, so he tries to use her. After meeting up with her for the second time Catherine asks Henry if he loves her and if he had told her beforehand. ""Yes," I lied. "I love you." I had not said it before" (30). He is under the impression that if he plays along with her he'll obtain what he wants. Henry perceives that something isn't right but, he doesn't care if she isn't emotionally recovered form the fiancé's death. Henry only is concerned about acquiring what he wants — the ability to use her. Another reason Henry is immature in the earlier …show more content…
He now desires a mature relationship with Catherine not just a fling. After they escaped war-torn Italy and gone into neutral Switzerland they begin to enjoy a normal lifestyle. They spend time together without worrying about becoming caught and they don't concern themselves with what is occurring in the war. Henry no longer solely cares about being with her; he wants to spend time with her and relax. At one point Catherine asks him to come to bed, he says, "No. Let's play chess" (300). He is now the one saying no, he would rather spend time with her. This reveals that the relationship and Henry have vastly matured. Earlier all he was concerned with was using her, now he is desiring a more serious
Even though Henry never expressed his fears to Tom Wilson or Jim Conklin. the audience could tell by the expressions on his face that he was scared. While he was writing a letter to his parents he wrote about how he is going to fight for the first time and he wants to make the proud. After Henry runs away from the first battle. He feels embarrassed because he didn't have a wound.
The second time Henry's flaw is evident is in chapter 12 when Henry tries to stop a man to ask what is going on with the battle since he ran away. The man was also trying to get away and hit Henry on the head with his rifle. This is evidence of his flaw because if he hadn't run away then he wouldn't have to bother this man. Henry is also too afraid to go back without any knowledge of what happened.
Henry and Catherine hold a steady, loving and trustworthy relationship even through the tough times of war. Even though there are disputes on whether Henry and Catherine really loved each other, they held a good relationship. They tended to each others needs. Catherine took it slow while Henry wanted to rush into things to quickly. "Hello," I said. "When I saw her I was in love with her. Everything turned over inside of me." (91) Catherine and Henry were inseparable. Throughout the novel, their relationship became more serious and Henry had finally decided that he was in love with Catherine Barkley. "I really love you. I'm crazy about you." (92) This quote displays how Henry just can't get enough of Catherine how he wants to rush into things to quick. Henry doesn't like Catherine for who se really is but is taken over by the power of her looks.
Henry crosses the line to insanity he has flirted with for so long, merging with the players in his novel, and leaves no indication that a world outside the game exists. However, the possibility does exist that Henry has not merged with his players, but rather the game has taken on a life of its own.
Henry suffers from retrograde amnesia due to internal bleeding in the part of the brain that controls memory. This causes him to forget completely everything he ever learned. His entire life is forgotten and he has to basically relearn who he was, only to find he didn’t like who he was and that he didn’t want to be that person. He starts to pay more attention to his daughter and his wife and starts to spend more time with them.
One of the key words in his dialogue is 'honour' because in Elizabethan times honour was bound up with ideas of nobility and manliness. Henry has constant reference to the divine, to get permission for his actions, 'God's will.' Additionally there is various uses of semantic fields, associated with religion, God, covet, honour and sin; all taken from the bible. Henry applies a very close relationship term, 'cuz.'
Throughout this novel, Frederick Henry's behavior matures to the code hero in which Hemingway desires to be.
The second section of the book deals with her role as a Queen. She manages the household, runs her own estates, and takes care of the poor. She tries to help the poor as much as she can by providing them with food and shelter. She helps Henry out a lot with his role as king in matters of concern. For example, while Henry was off at war in France, Catherine held off Scottish rebellion in England).
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.
The first, most obvious trait of Catherine’s heroism is that she values human relationships above materialism. Nothing is more important to Catherine than her lover, Henry, and as the novel goes on, her baby. When Henry is injured and sent to Milan, she has no trouble transferring to the new hospital there. Catherine loves Henry and would drop anything to be with him. Nothing material holds her back from being with him. Even when they live in Switzerland, they don’t have many material possessions. They live very simple lives because all the couple really needs is each other. In chapter forty, Henry describes their time together with this quote, "When there was a good day we had a splendid time and we never had a bad time. We knew the baby was very close now and it gave us both a feeling as though something were hurrying us and we could not lose any time together." Catherine obviously values her time with Henry more than anyone else, but it isn’t the physical aspect of getting out and doing things that satisfies her. What satisfies Catherine is the extra time she gets to spend with the love of her life b...
King Henry was not very proud or accepting of his son. This is shown very early in the play when he speaks about him to Westmoreland. The king states:
He finds Catherine, and fate allows them to stay safe while they run to Switzerland. However, the fate that rules Henry’s life is rather ruthless for the couple. Fate decides to give Catherine a rough childbirth that ends in a stillborn and the death of Catherine.... ... middle of paper ...
Clare walked in thinking about how handsome Henry was and how they had met earlier in her lifetime. However, on the flip side of things, Henry does not know who she is. He has no memory of ever meeting her and he is now panicking at the thought of him promising something that he is now unaware of. After some
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... ...
In Book I, the army is still waiting for action, and the world is one of boredom with men drinking to make time go by and whoring to get women. War itself is a male game; ”no more dangerous to me myself than war in the movies” (34). Love is also a game. When Henry meets and makes his sexual approach to Catherine Barkley he is only trying to relieve war’s boredom; ”I knew I did not love Catherine Barkley or had any idea of loving her. This was a game, like bridge, in which you said things instead of playing cards” (28).