Message of a Farewell to Arms

Message and Relevance in 2013 Hemingway had a very interesting message throughout A Farewell to Arms. Hemingway’s message is that in both love and war there is loss and an end to everything. The end cannot be avoided and will happen eventually, so enjoy the good things you have while you have them, but when that time ends you must move on. Hemingway himself had to face this reality in his personal life with the pain of four marriages, eleven concussions, death of family members and many more traumatic events. Hemingway’s personal grievances are reflected all throughout the novel. Lt. Henry is faced with many obstacles and deals with them the same way each time. When he faces death in the war he buries his pain and moves on. When he realizes he will never see his friends again, he moves on. When he loses the love of his life, he moves on. Lt. Henry is always moving on waiting for the next thing to happen until he finally reaches the end. His love came to an end when Catherine died, and he accepted that. In the war, he dealt with multiple deaths every single day and he became immune to the pain that would cause a normal civilian. All of these things ended one way or another and it could not be avoided. But, during the time that he did have good things, like Catherine in his life, he had to enjoy them. This message still somewhat holds significance in 2013 today. Things do still have to come to an end nowadays and there is no stopping it. There is still war, and that brings numerous amounts of loss. But, we have to move on with our lives even with those people gone. And in love there is still loss, people get their heart broken every single day, but life does go on afterward. And one day we will come to an end and there is no way for us to stop it. We just have to accept that fact and move on. Hemingway definitely shed a light on the harsh realities of love and war and what it does to our world.