Critical Analysis of " a Farewell to Arms" by Earnest Hemingway

Frederic Henry, in Ernest Hemingway’s “A Farewell To Arms,” undergoes a self-awakening into the ideas of existentialism. In the beginning of the novel, Henry is a drifter unconsciously searching for a meaning in life. As Henry is slowly discovers the trivialities and horrors of life, he becomes “authentic.” Which means discovering the existential idea that life has no meaning and learning to deal with it. Religion, patriotism, love, and several other outward forms pose as temptations that Henry must conquer in his quest to become authentic.

Henry’s first temptation is that of religion and what it means. Henry flirts with the idea of religion with a series of doubts and questions. What appeals to Henry and religious followers is that religion gives man a set guideline on how to live and hope. Henry is a drifter unconsciously looking for fulfillment. Henry’s first temptation with religion was the Priest’s home town of Abruzzi.
The priest persuades Henry with the idea of going to his hometown. The Priest explains to
Henry, “There is good hunting. You will like the people and though it is cold it is clear and dry.”
Abruzzi is more than a town in that it represents religion. Henry throughout the novel really wants to give religion a chance but is held back by reasons beyond his control “I had not gone. It was what I had wanted to do and I tried to explain how one thing had led to another and finally he saw it and understood that I had really wanted to go and it was almost all right.” Critic Ray West Jr. explains that Henry’s lack of acceptance towards faith as “A parable of twentieth-century man’s disgust and disillusionment at the failure of civilization to achieve the ideals it had been promising throughout the nineteenth century.” Author Hemingway’s character Frederic Henry represents twentieth-century man. Twentieth-century man rejects religion in that religion does not keep its promises. After centuries of unchallenged doctrines of religion