Farewell To Arms Essay

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"Tragic Form" in Farwell to Arms "Hemingway has fashioned a new form of tragedy in which the hero acts not mistakenly but supremely well, and suffers a doom which is not directly caused by his actions at all" (Merill 572). Ernest Hemingway's work of fiction also known as Farwell to Arms, continues to be a controversial topic amongst many critics of wither or not it is truly a tragedy. Merill's main argument for it being a tragedy is Frederick Henry has no control over his fate and his life is meant to be a tragedy. The author of "Tragic Form in Farwell to Arms", Merrill believes this to be true and even quotes Ernest's own words: "The fact that the book was a tragic one did not make me unhappy …show more content…

In addition, his believe is that the characters don't have much control over their fate, as this defines a tragedy. Merill confirms this by pointing out, "Hemingway insists on the tragedy of life itself, not merely the insanity of war" (Merill 576). Merill suggests by this that Heming way himself, viewed life as a tragedy and that it is likely he envisioned his novel as a tragedy as well. Provided, this is accomplished by disassociating Fredrick from any past parental guidance, as Merill points out: "Fredrick is so reticent about his family that even Catherine must finally ask have you a father?" (Hemingway 161). Without a solid family foundation, it is often times difficult for Fredrick to make rational decisions and we see him get into situations where he is blown in war because he is eating a piece of cheese. It is a possibility that without ever abiding to his parents guidance, Fredrick never learns the consequences for his actions and is more subject to tragedies. By this, the author meant, since Fredrick didn't pay much attention his parents or their advice, that in result, the probable seemed unavoidable to him. A good example of the probable is Catherine's death. If there is anything that the reader will recall it is how obvious some of the clues are in Farwell to Arms that it is in fact a tragedy. The author of the …show more content…

If there was one thing that I learned it was that Ernest Hemingway actually revalorized the traditional formula for a tragedy. Traditionally, the formula was that a "a hero may be flawed in knowledge or character-depending on one's reading of the Poetics-but his downfall must derive from this "flaw" (Merill 572). To my knowledge, Ernest changed this formula by proving that the hero's knowledge doesn't have to be flawed so much as his actions that reflect him. Fredrick Henry, for example from Farwell to Arms is flawed not because he isn't aware of his background but he is unaware that his decision to marry Catherine would resulted in her dying and him having to deal with her death. In addition, Frederick is flawed in his actions because he wants the best of both worlds, his lover (Catherine) and war. Fortunately, over time Fredrick is able to get over it: "After a while I went out and left the hospital and walked back to the hotel in the rain" (Hemingway 332). In the least we see that Hemingway's concept of love or "faith," as I mentioned earlier, saves Fredrick. Frederick's faith in Catherine even till her death taught him how to become strong without her. This is the thing that truly differentiates Farwell to Arms from other tragedies; in the end the characters do not crumble when their worlds collide, they learn how their actions caused

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