A Farewell To Arms

1598 Words4 Pages
bulb-icon

Recommended: Theme of love and war in a farewell to arms

A Farewell to Arms hardly ends with a happy ending. We are confronted with such sadness in the harsh reality of how the war has affected Fredrick Henry's life; his past, present, and future. In life though not everything is a Fairytale with grand endings and forever loves, that's just the reality of it. Ernest Hemingway's book is categorized fiction, but in something this complex and sad, we know that there is a biography being told, perhaps a moment of autobiography, because whether we want to like it or not, our heart is invested into the characters just like the author. Our investment makes us defensive, therefore I must justify Ernest Hemingway's ending of A Farewell to Arms by showing the importance of expressing it's theme of loss ness and in the hardships of reality, in his relationships with other characters, and his belief in faith. With this you will see that the ending is well justified as magnificent.

How do we know to truly appreciate something if we don't know that it will come to an end? Can Fredrick Henry appreciate his own life and his relationship with Catherine Barkley without the present reality of death? The joy of all of what Catherine and life represented would be lost if death was not peering from around the corner like it does so much in the constant foreshadowing in this novel. Wallace Stevens, a poet, knew the importance of appreciating physical things because he knew that they would not be there forever, "Death is the mother of beauty, hence from her, / Alone, shall come fulfillment to our dreams / And our desires". Ernest Hemingway knew this as well, and we see that expressed in the loss that Fredrick endures. In the first section of the book he is not affected by the war and seems rather disconnected from the reality that is the war. The story is written in first person narration and this brings us as the audience closer to the action of the story and lets us be emotionally connected or disconnected like Fredrick as well. We are Fredrick Henry: "You do not know how long you are in a river when the current moves swiftly" (116). It isn't until Fredrick is injured that he begins to realize his involvement in the war and its potential to affect him. The naiveté about the war is explicit when Fredrick talks to Catherine about not being killed by the war: "Not in this war.

Show More
Related

  • Comparing Editha And An Occurence At Owl Creek Bridge

    757 Words  | 2 Pages

    Many war stories today have happy, romantic, and cliche ending; many authors skip the sad, groosom, and realistic part of the story. W. D. Howell’s story, Editha and Ambrose Bierce’s story, An Occurence at Owl Creek Bridge both undercut the romantic plots and unrealistic conclusions brought on by many stories today. Both stories start out leading the reader to believe it is just another tpyical love-war senario, but what makes them different is the one-hundred and eighty degrees plot twist at the end of each story.

    Read More

  • Post Traumatic Stress and the Brothers' Relationship in The Red Convertible by Louise Erdrich

    1241 Words  | 3 Pages

    War changes a person in ways that can never be imagined. Living in a war as well as fighting in one is not an experience witnessed in everyday life. Seeing people die every time and everywhere you go can be seen as an unpleasant experience for any individual such as Henry. The experiences that Henry had embraced during the Vietnam War have caused him to become an enraged and paranoid being after the war. It has shaped him to become this individual of anxiety and with no emotions. The narrator says:

    Read More

  • Farewell to Arms

    539 Words  | 2 Pages

    Death is often represented by traditional symbols ranging from the color black to the common tombstone. Besides these icons, other signs can stand for mortality including rain. In A Farewell to Arms, Ernest Hemingway associates rain with death many times. Although rain is not usually considered a symbol of death, the main character Fredric Henry discovers this natural occurrence is a personal theme he relates with death.

    Read More

  • Ernest Hemingway's A Farewell to Arms - Hopeless Suffering

    743 Words  | 2 Pages

    Hopeless Suffering in A Farewell to Arms Near the end of A Farewell to Arms Ernest Hemingway has Fredrick Henry describe the time he placed a log full of ants on a fire. This incident allows us to understand a much larger occurrence, Catherine's pregnancy. Combined, both of these events form commentary on the backdrop for the entire story, World War One. After he finds out his son was stillborn, Lt. Henry remembers the time when he placed a log full of ants on a fire.

    Read More

  • Farewell To Arms

    560 Words  | 2 Pages

    The novel A Farewell to Arms, (1929) by Ernest Hemingway, takes place on the Italian front of World War I. Fredrick Henry is an American Lieutenant who drives an ambulance for the Italian army. On his leave time he often visits whorehouses and gets drunk. While fighting in the war, his knee gets injured and he has to go to the hospital in Milan where he meets a British nurse named Catherine Barkley and falls in love with her. During one of their many sexual affairs, Catherine gets pregnant. Fredrick greatly wants to desert the war because he is tired of seeing Italian solders killing each other. Fredrick and Catherine then escape to Switzerland by rowing across a lake. After they escape to Switzerland, Catherine has the baby, but during labor there are complications and she must deliver by having cesarean section. Other problems arise, she begins hemorrhaging, and dies. The baby also dies from the birth. Although this novel is not perfect, he uses very elaborate writing, and also shows how important it is to have good morals.

    Read More

  • Hemingway

    475 Words  | 1 Pages

    The similarities between the people of Hemingway’s life and his fictitious characters can also be found between Lieutenant Henry, the main character of “A Farewell to Arms”, and Hemingway himself. Once again, the similarities between these characters is astonishing; so much that Lieutenant Henry seems to be Hemingway’s idea of his younger self rather that a fictitious character.

    Read More

  • Hemingway Code Hero

    904 Words  | 2 Pages

    In this novel A Farewell to Arms by Ernest Hemingway, Hemingway brings about the evolution of Frederick Henry being converted into a code hero in realistic ways.

    Read More

  • Free Essays - Escape from Reality in A Farewell to Arms

    790 Words  | 2 Pages

    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.

    Read More

  • In Another Country of Hemingway

    604 Words  | 2 Pages

    ...is story, Hemingway brings the readers back the war and see what it caused to human as well as shows that how the war can change a man's life forever. We think that just people who have been exposed to the war can deeply understand the unfortunates, tolls, and devastates of the war. He also shared and deeply sympathized sorrows of who took part in the war; the soldiers because they were not only put aside the combat, the war also keeps them away from community; people hated them as known they are officers and often shouted " down with officers" as they passing. We have found any blue and mournful tone in this story but we feel something bitter, a bitter sarcasm. As the war passing, the soldiers would not themselves any more, they became another ones; hunting hawks, emotionless. They lost everything that a normal man can have in the life. the war rob all they have.

    Read More

  • Ernest Hemingway’s Life Compared to A Farewell to Arms

    1212 Words  | 3 Pages

    A Farewell to Arms has many similarities between Henry and Hemingway; the first noticeable one is that Henry, like Hemingway, was an American in the Italian army. Henry was an ambulance driver for the Red Cross, just like Hemingway was. Thomas Putnam stated in his article on Hemingway that "during the First World War, Ernest Hemingway volunteered to serve in Italy as an ambulance driver with the American Red Cross. In June 1918, while running a mobile canteen dispensing chocolate and cigarettes for soldiers, he was wounded by Austrian mortar fire." This is comparable to Henry’s experiences in A Farewell to Arms. Anders Hallengren drew the connection that both men, real and fictional, were one of the first Americans wounded in World War I. "There is a parallel in Hemingway's life, connected with the occasion when he was seriously wounded at midnight on July 8, 1918, at Fossalta di Piave in Italy and nearly died. He was the first American to be wounded in Italy during World War I." A...

    Read More

  • The Symbolism of Water in A Farewell to Arms by Ernest Hemingway

    599 Words  | 2 Pages

    The trip down the river gives him time to think about his future life with Catherine, even though he is uncertain if there will ever be a future between them again. The river eventually takes him to a railroad where he makes the decision that he is done with the war and that he made his "farewell to arms". Hemingway uses water as a metaphoric cleansing for Frederic’s past experiences. When Henry emerged from the river, it was as if he was reborn.

    Read More

  • Use of Heroes in A Farewell of Arms by Ernest Hemingway

    644 Words  | 2 Pages

    Hemingway characterizes his heroes as people with strength, courage, and bravery, but even heroes have their flaws. For example, Frederic Henry, the protagonist of A Farewell to Arms, survives an artillery bombardment that kills one of his own men and badly injures him. Hemingway shows the strength of this character through his survival of the bombardment and full recovery of his wounds. Hemingway portrays Frederic as a hero through this strength. In addition, Fredric, being fully aware of the dangers from both the enemy and the Italian's, who mistake him and his drivers for German's, kill one of them, and then threaten to execute Frederic, who escapes. In this daring escape, Frederic presents his courage and bravery in a dangerous situation. Hemingway demonstrates that although one of Frederic's men dies, he is still courageous in that his escape was successful. Frederic Henry's potential as a hero is shown by Hemingway's illustration of events that depict Frederic's use of his strength, his courage, and his bravery (Lewis 46).

    Read More

  • Analysis Of Ernest Hemingway's A Farewell To Arms

    1395 Words  | 3 Pages

    Hemingway was a firm believer in men volunteering and supporting the war, claiming that it was “simply my [his] duty” to serve the country not only because he was fit to serve, but as an act of moral conduct (Piep). Hemingway’s acts of selflessness can be seen repeatedly through Henry’s actions, suggesting Hemingway supports and values the conscious decision making the Superego plays a role in.

    Read More

  • Analysis Of The Sun Also Rises By Ernest Hemingway

    1133 Words  | 3 Pages

    Hemingway’s involvement in warfare provided many of his works with a central—or at least a supporting—theme. In The Sun Also Rises, A Farewell to Arms, and For Whom the Bell Tolls, Hemingway used war as a major theme such as the effects of World War One, the gruesome reality of war, and the loss of innocence during the war, respectively. He devoted his life to write authentically on every piece of his work including and particularly the subject of warfare and its effect during his time period. Although his literary works are not primary sources of the war experiences during the early half of the Twentieth century, they provide close to the truth surrounding those wars as accurately as possible.

    Read More

  • Themes of Love and War in A Farewell to Arms

    2035 Words  | 5 Pages

    The novel also highlights the passionate relationship between Henry and Catherine Barkley, a British nurse in Italy. Henry’s insight into the war and his intense love for Catherine emphasize that love and war are the predominant themes in the novel and these themes contribute to bringing out the implicit and explicit meaning of the novel. Being a part of the Italian army, Henry is closely involved with the war and has developed an aversion to the war. Henry’s association with the war has also made him realise that war is inglorious and the sacrifices made in war are meaningless. Specifically, Henry wants the war to end because he is disillusioned by the war and knows that war is not as glorious as it is made up to be.

    Read More

More about A Farewell To Arms

Open Document