Ernest Hemingway's A Farewell to Arms captures the inspiring trials and
tribulations of a disillusioned man caught between love and war. Driving an ambulance on
the Italian front of World War One Frederick Henry discovers his values as he realizes his
love for Catherine Barkley, a innocent English Nurse.
An American Second Lieutenant in the Italian Army's Ambulance Corps, Frederick Henry is
depicted as an average man in search of a set of values. Initially Frederick is lonely,
lustful, confused and restless, but as he becomes involved with Catherine Barkley he finds
his niche, and a meaning to life. Frederick can be considered heroic in that he is
honorable, not interested in material commodities, and puts his fellow soldier before
himself. When the entire mess hall teases the priest Frederick defends him and is his only
true friend. Also, when offered an award, Frederick refuses. Additionally, when he and the
other drivers were bombed, he ignores his own injuries to assist the others and insists
that the doctors treat others before himself. Catherine Barkley is a young English nurse
who has already lost a fianc� to the war and is introduced as partially crazy. She begins
her relationship with Frederick pretending, he is her lost fianc� who has returned, but
soon falls! in love with him and regains her sanity. Throughout the story Catherine
remains static, and represents the ideal Hemingway character that Frederick is to become
as the novel comes to an end.
The basic plot of the novel revolves around Frederick's relationship with Catherine.
Frederick experiences the war in the Italian Alps and sustains a leg injury that
hospitalizes him for several months. Although he knew Catherine before his
hospitalization, their relationship blossoms during this period when he is away from the
front. Soon after his return to the front, there is a huge retreat and he takes his
ambulance crew on a back road to get around traffic. When he finally does make it back to
the army he is forced to desert in fear of execution. He finds Catherine and they begin a
new life together in Switzerland. Ultimately, Frederick learns his basic values through
Catherine in their adventures of love, war, and death during World War One. The theme
shown is that love can come from even the strangest places, also there is a basic good
versus evil shown by the dramatic tragedy at the end.
A Farewell to Arms is a very emotional and understanding story. Throughout the
book Frederick acted as a confused hero with Catherine as his guidance. Frederick is very
realistic and while he is a better man than the average he has several flaws. Catherine on
the other hand is entirely too perfect. She seems almost supernatural, like an angel at
times. Initially when she is a little insane her character was more believable. The story
is written in the first person narrative where Frederick is the narrator and sometimes
refers to future events. Overall, A Farewell to Arms is an excellent book that
while not always action packed kept me reading and surprised me many times.
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