ENG 102
S.E. Lewis
April 14, 2012
A Farewell to Arms & The Grapes of Wrath
The two novels The Grapes of Wrath & A Farewell to Arms both contain a main character who shares some of the same qualities depicting how they live their lives. The Grapes of Wrath, written in 1939 involves the character known as Tom Joad; A Farewell to Arms has a very similar character in ways that might not be open to the public eye known as Frederic Henry. Written by Ernest Hemingway in 1928, A Farewell to Arms discusses the reality of war, the relationship between love and pain, and the feeling of losing someone whom which you care for greatly. Written by John Steinbeck, The Grapes of Wrath describes a man’s ability to want to survive. The book also talks about how Tom Joad transforms throughout the book into a different man. Tom Joad and Frederic Henry I believe both have a sort of unselfishness to …show more content…
them and how they go about life. After Tom was released from jail after 4 years he began devoting his time and energy to the present moment in every single and separate day. Tom began caring for other people first and always putting himself second. Henry exhibits the same type of characteristic I feel because after his experience in war he felt as if all he was doing was completing his duty for which he should get no type of praise or recognition for it. Tom and Frederic both share an unconditional feeling of love for someone.
You can see how much Tom truly loves his family because he did anything he could to keep everyone together and to get the whole family to where they were trying to get to. Frederic on the other hand is deeply in love with Catherine. Because of how Hemingway narrates Henrys feelings for Catherine you can really see that his feelings are pure and honest.
Both Tom and Frederic had to deal with the loss of a loved one. When Casy was murdered by a policeman, Tom turned around and killed the policeman. What he did was not necessarily the right thing to do nor was it the wrong thing to do. But in his situation he didn’t know how else to deal with it, so he did what came natural to him. Frederic however lost the women of his dreams and went into a state of depression you might say. He had no friends or family and he was caught in a time of extreme loneliness. They Both lost someone who they cared the world of and still managed to stay on path even if it took them a little while to do
so.
The Grapes of Wrath and A Farewell to Arms contain two characters who I believe are very similar protagonist. They are both characters whom which the reader can feel for no matter who the reader is. Tom and Frederic are unselfish, caring men, who have the mentality to keep their eyes on the prize and keep doing what they set out to do.