Character Analysis of Catherine Barkley from A Farewell to Arms

Catherine Barkley Catherine Barkley is the chief female character in the novel. She is an English volunteer nurse who serves in Italy. When we first see her, she is ‘a little crazy.’ She is hit by the war even before she meets Henry. Her fiancé of eight years was blown to pieces in the Battle of the Somme. It was an experience that has affected her mental health. Perhaps that is the reason why she appears emotional, excitable, and anxiety-ridden when we first meet her. She does not think much of the Italian front or of the Italian army, but she falls in love with Frederic who soon thereafter falls in love with her. When Henry first meets her she laments that she didn’t marry her fiancé before he died. She decided to wait to marry her fiancé until after the war. Then he was killed. This shock unnerves her. It makes her dismiss conventional morality. She feels a keen sense of remorse because she and her fiancé never consummated their love prior to his leaving for battle. She tells Frederic she didn’t marry her fiancé because she "thought it would be bad for him," that it would trap him.
Catherine rejects organized faith, and yet she is no nihilist (rebel). She lives by a definite, unshakeable value system, and what she values is love. During one of the many nights they spend together in Milan, the couple discusses marriage. Frederic does want to be married but Catherine thinks this would necessitate their separation during the war. She reminds him of her having been formally engaged to the soldier who died. When he pressures her, she says, "We’re really married. I couldn’t be any more married." She keeps up this attitude until near the end of her pregnancy, when she says, "I suppose if we have this child, we should really get married" (38.17). Frederic says, "Let’s get married now" (38.18). But Catherine tells him to wait until she is nice and skinny again after the baby is born. She wants the commitment of marriage, but is very suspicious of