Archive: A Farewell to Arms

The book takes place in the middle of the First World War, around 1916-1918, in Italy and Switzerland.Hemingway was born in Oak Park, Illinois in 1889. He began his writing career in 1971 for the Kansas City Star.Ernest Hemingway's third novel, A Farewell to Arms (1929), was crafted from his earliest experience with war. A Farewell to Arms is a tragic love story between an American ambulance driver and an English nurse.The main character Fredrick Henry narrators the novel in first person.Hemingway is very declarative and straight forward in his writing. He enables the narrator to be detached from life and not really viewing his or her opinion on important matters, but paints a picture of the war with words. Hemingway uses Henrys point of view in the novel to get his thoughts straight across and not romanticize the plot of the story. He uses words and descriptions to set a mood for the whole novel.Throughout A Farewell to Arms, by Ernest Hemingway, the main characters all search for some form of "anesthetic" to help them deal with the cruelty of the war. Each looks for some way to momentarily dull the pain he or she feels. The book takes place during World War I, a time full of confusion, desperation, and loneliness. The protagonist and narrator, Lieutenant Frederic Henry, is an American ambulance driver serving in the Italian army. Throughout the course of the book, he falls madly in love with Catherine Barkley, a beautiful English nurse. The book chronicles the transformation of their love from a flirtatious game to a deep love during the war

'''Note to students: (delete this note when you've read it)  DO NOT PUT ANYTHING ON THIS PAGE WITHOUT CITING YOUR SOURCE!!! IF YOU DON'T KNOW HOW TO DO THAT, visit the Citing Sources page.'''



Plot Summary
The novel opens up with introduction of Lieutenant Fredrick Henry. Henry serves in the Italian army, even though he is an American, as an ambulance driver. After returning from the front the first time, he meets Catherine Barkley, and they start a secret love affair where neither one truly cares for the other but they pretend to. Henry goes back to war and then returns from the front a second time, only to be more detached and sullen, and injured. He is taken to a hospital and Catherine is transferred to work as a nurse where he is staying, and he heals and regains his strength before having to go back to the front. During his stay in the hospital, Catherine tells him she is pregnant with his child, and they declare their mutual devotion to each other. Henry returns to the front and finds that the war is only getting worse and the allied troops prepare to retreat, he is always thinking of Catherine during this time. The soldiers are angered by the retreat and they began chaos, so Henry decides to board a train back to Milan and leave the war. He reunites with Catherine and together they travel to Switzerland and start a happy life together with the war behind them both. Catherine goes into labor sometime during the spring and it is very complicated and painful for her. She delivers a stillborn baby boy after hours of labor and then becomes deathly ill, because of hemorrhaging and dies with Henry at her side. Henry is devastated and so emotionally distraught that he can not even say goodbye to Catherine and he walks home alone and numb in the rain.

Characters

 * Fredrick Henry -- The main character of the novel and the narrator of the story.Henry is a volunteer ambulance driver in Italy. He is a mans,man and most of his thoughts revolve around women and drinking.
 * Catherine Barkley--Is a volunteer nurse who ends up caring for Henry when he is injured.She is originally from Scotland, emotional, and dependent upon Henry's love for her.
 * Rinaldi--Is Henrys closest friend and the person he relies on the most.He is a physician and enjoys his job very much because he gets to meet so many people. He, like Henry also enjoys women and drinking.
 * The priest--Helps Henry through rough times and is a friend to him during the war and keeps he from going crazy.He is very kind, caring, and sweet to Henry and trys to help him as best he can and gives him spirtual advice.
 * Helen Ferguson--Catherine's friend and fellow nurse, who expresses a strong distaste for Henry, because he impregnated her outside of marriage and during wartime.Is very protective of Catherine and tries to keep her from getting hurt from Henry.
 * Miss Gage--An American nurse who works with Catherine.Cares for Henry in the hospital and becomes his friend and brings him alcoholic drinks when he is in the hospital.
 * Miss Van Campen--Is the head of all the nurses at the American hospital in Milan.Is very cool and ill tempered with Henry and very strict with him in the hospital.
 * Dr.Valentini--He contradicts the other surgeon’s opinion about henrys leg and has his leg surgery moved up to the next morning.
 * Ralph Simmions--Opera singer and friend of Henrys.Gives Henrys civilian clothes so he can go to Switzerland without drawing attention.
 * Emilio--Helps Catherine and Henry reunite and gets them out of jail.

Analysis

 * Hemingway's signature declarative, terse prose serves him well in this novel. It enables the narrator, Fredrick Henry, to be initially detached from life, and also serves to paint an picture of the war for the reader. It is also used to produce a realistic narrative from Henry's point of view, shying away from elaborate schemes and descriptions. Because of it, nothing in the novel is romanticized. The love between Henry and Catherine is an elegant one, and in Hemingway makes it become more of a function of existence rather than the primary focus of the novel. The reader will aslo notice that Hwmingway uses humor in his novel despite the seriousness of war.The author is finding something to laugh about in life, much as his characters are discovering meaning in an indifferent way.Finally, Hemingway is well-known for his use of objective correlatives and this novel is no exception. The vivid details, from crowded trains to gaudy hotel rooms, oftentimes serve no purpose other than to paint a mood for the reader.

Themes

 * The Reality of War--That war is not just about winning medals and fighting for honor that some people don’t just fight in war because they are brave, that fighting is bad and should be avoided and everyone should be in peace.The majority of the characters in the novel are resentful of the war and the terrible destruction and pain it causes people.They are all doubtful of the glory the war supposedly brings.
 * The Realationship between Love and Pain--That people distract themselves from loss and pain by finding a void to fill their empty space, such as love,even though they don’t truly care about that person they just need them to make them happy again.
 * Good and Evil--That not everything in the world is a good and happy place, that there is pain, heartache and loss, and you are lucky if you are one of the few who don’t experience that.

Motifs

 * Masculinity--the novel gives many examples of men in the story showing fine manhood.They are all thinking about women and most can not sontrol their sexual desires very well. They are also drinking and havinf alcholic beverages throughout the novel.The success of each of these men depends, in part, on the failure of another.
 * Games--Throughout the novel everyone plays games with each other whither they are physical or emotional games.Henry and Catherine flirt with each other and act as if they are married even though they are not, Catherine jokes about being the best wife ever.They flirt and act happy so that the can both forget about the war and only think about each other.Catherine reminds Henry several times that their courtship is a game, sending him away when she has played her fill.
 * Allusions and Fantasies--Catherine and Henry rely upon a grand illusion of love and seduction for comfort. While the couple acts in ways that confirm the genuine nature of their passion, however, they never escape the temptation of dreaming of a better world. In other words, the boundary between reality and illusion proves difficult to identify.

Symbols

 * Rain- it symbolizes bad things to come and foreshadows events that will break-ups the couple’s happiness
 * Catherine’s hair- it shows how isolated they were from the rest of the world when they are together, and she has her hair cascading down around them both.
 * Riding crop-the riding crop that Catherine carries represents how she can let go of her fiancé she lost in the war.

Significant Quotes

 * “There isn’t any me. I’m you. Don’t make up a separate me.”Catherine says this to Henry when he brings up the idea of marriage. She has not desire to be actually legally married, but she tells him they are married in every other way and are basically one and the same
 * “I had not wanted to fall in love with any one.”Henry wasn’t looking for love, he was just looking for a girl to keep him company and have fun with, and he ended up truly falling for her after all.
 * “We are all gentler now because we are beaten.”That when you get defeated in a war or in just everyday life, you come out the wise one, unlike the people who always win and want power, they are not wise at all.
 * “I know that night is not the same as day: that all things are different.”Henry is comparing his love to Catherine to night and day, and how she is neither but both at the same time. He views there love as being just as strong in the day as it is at night, and that he doesn’t just use her for his own pleasure but that it is true love.
 * "But at my back I always hear Time’s winged chariot hurrying near,”Henry quotes these lines in a poem he knows because he feels like what the poem is about, which is that a girl who wouldn’t live with a man. Catherine will not come live with him even though she is pregnant with his child and it hurts him.

Background

 * A Farewell to Arms is a war novel based in Italy and Switerland during World War 1 between 1916-1918.Ernest Hemingway began writing it in 1928 in Piggott, Arkansas and it was published in May-October of 1929.An oft-cited model for A Farewell to Arms is Stephen Crane’s The Red Badge of Courage (1895), a Civil War novel that also features a protagonist named Henry who deserts from his army. Crane’s Henry sees the war as a lost cause, but eventually returns and is redeemed through heroism in battle, something Hemingway did not allow his protagonist to do. World War I (1914–1918) was fought between the great powers of Germany and Austria on one side and Great Britain, France, Russia and the United States on the other. It is estimated to have caused 20 million military and civilian deaths, and astonished people with its unprecedented bloodshed. Italy, the nation whose army Frederic Henry is involved with, joined the war in 1915. The Italians’ main strategic goal was to prevent German troops from reinforcing Austrian troops on the eastern front. The most historically significant event depicted in the novel is the Italian retreat that took place following the Battle of Caporetto on October 24, 1917. However, in October 1918 the rejuvenated Italian army mounted an offensive that resulted in the surrender of 300,000 Austrian soldiers, and hastened Austria’s defeat in the war.

Allusions

 * Ernest Hemingway alludes to many different things in A farewell to Arms,some being biblical,historical,and literary allusions.
 * Julius Caesar--Hemingway uses this allusion about Julius Caesar because he wants you to make a connection about how Fredrick Henry feels about death and how Julius Caesar views death. They both say it is like dying a thousand or many times, over and over again. The purpose for this allusion is that if the reader realizes its existence, it can shed some light on the truth of Catherine’s words. In “Julius Caesar”, Caesar is stabbed multiple times, and it can therefore be said that he dies a thousand deaths.
 * Othello--Hemingway uses this allusion to show that the woman speaking is saying that the man is like Othello, who is known for his jealousy. They are arguing and the man says no he is not like Othello because he is neither black nor jealous. This allusion is very effective because the reader makes s a automatic connection and understand in a better way how the women views the man. It paints an image that relates to other works of literature you have read and connects them into one image in your mind.
 * Sweet and Low--Hemingway uses this allusion to show how Fredrick Henry is trying to comfort Catherine and reassure her that everything is going to be okay. He alludes to the poem by Alfred Lord Tennyson so you will make a connection to that poem and understand why he wants Henry to comfort her because she is with child and worrying and he is foreshadowing to not so pleasant events that are going to be taking place with Catherine and the baby. I think this allusion is not very effective because not many people make the connections because they have not read the poem and so therefore the allusion goes right past them and they think nothing of it.
 * Adam and Eve--By alluding to the biblical story of Adam and Eve, Hemingway is showing you how Rinaldi and Fredrick Henry are at war between themselves, just like eve was when she couldn’t decide to take the fruit from the tree or not. Rinaldi is trying to get his point across and argue that what he says is true and should be listened to, that he is the reason or purpose and he is siding with the evil way of thinking, where as Fredrick views the apple as having more reason and is neutral in deciding between good and evil.

Adaptations

 * A Farewell to Arms was made into film twice — in 1932, with Gary Cooper and Helen Hayes playing Frederic and Catherine, and again in 1958, with Rock Hudson and Jennifer Jones.
 * A Farewell to Arms was made into a movie by Paramount pictures in 1932. The lead role of Lt. Frederic Henry was played by Gary Cooper. The heroine of the tale, Catherine Barkley, was played by Helen Hayes. Directed by Frank Borzage, the film won several Academy Awards including Best Cinematography (Charles Bryant Lang, Jr.), Best Sound (Harold C. Lewis), and received nominations for Best Art Direction and Best Picture.

Reviews

 * "Out of his experiences came A Farewell to Arms. Hemingway's description of war is unforgettable. He recreates the fear, the comradeship, the courage of his young American volunteer and the men and women he meets in Italy"
 * "I first read this book in high school. Maybe because I was young, maybe because it was summer reading, or maybe because I read it immediately following The Invisible Man (intense!), I more or less just slid through the book, enjoying the love story and not dwelling long enough in the war episodes to feel much of anything."
 * "I'm not a Hemingway guy. I yearn for internal dialogue, various and ladened spiritual questioning, and deep psychology in my characters. I prefer writing that is smooth and philosophical. Hemingway gives me little of this."