Farwell To Arms Essay

"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 fascinating work of tragic 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. The main argument for it being a tragedy is Federick Henry has no control over his fate and his life is meant to be a tragedy. The author of this article, 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 since I believed that life was tragedy and know it could only have on end"

Even Merill, the leader author of "Tragic Form in Farwell to Arms" believes that this is the case. In fact, Merill says: "Why then have Hemingway's critics denied this classification?" (Merill 572). He realizes that the average reader is fairly neutral but he would like him to understand how evident it is that Farwell to Arms is in fact a tragedy. In order to achieve this, Robert takes a passage from the story regarding the Italian patriot awaiting Catherine's death:"You did not know what it was about. You never had time to learn. They threw you in and told you the rules and the first time they caught you off base they killed you" (Hemingway 338). This piece of evidence is chosen by Robert because it emphasizes the fact the characters are unaware of the impact of their actions. The person speaking to Catherine almost acts as a catalyst for this by saying I told you what would happen, why didn't you listen? Clearly Catherine wasn't listening to the deliberate rules that she was told and in result she was killed for not being aware of her actions. With all this considered, one may consider this one of the most significant examples of proof for Farwell to Arms to be