Frederic Henry: A Hemingway Hero

Frederic Henry, the main character in A Farewell to Arms, is a Hemingway Hero. Throughout the novel, he portrays many different aspects of a typical Hemingway Hero. For example, Frederic is a man of action, not talk, “‘Do you want to keep your knee, young man?’ ‘No,’ I said…’I want it cut off, so I can wear a hook on it.’” (Hemingway, 84). Frederic did not want to wait to have surgery on his leg, he wanted the procedure done immediately. This shows that he is a man of action. He doesn’t want to talk about what could be done, he wants to do something to fix the issue. By putting this conversation between Frederic and the doctor in the text, we learned something about his character. We see that he is an independent man and he likes to be in control at all times.

At one point in the text, Frederic says “I had the paper but I did not read it because I did not want to read about the war. I was going to forget the war. I had made a separate peace.” (211). He says that he was going to forget about the war. Frederic isn’t going to be sad and and always think about the war, he is going to forget about it completely. Frederic is a strong man and he doesn’t ever let his emotions get the best of him. Many other characters in the novel we sad or angry about the war but Hemingway makes it clear that Frederic can control his emotions. Hemingway also provides another example of when Frederic controls his emotions, “‘Let’s go then,’ I said. I was sick of Fergy.” (215). Fergy was sobbing and angry at Frederic because he was taking Catherine away from her. Frederic controlled himself and didn’t become impatient with her. Hemingway clearly demonstrates, through Frederic, a sense of self control and patience. It is better to be patient and understanding rather than rude and