Women In Ernest Hemingway's A Farewell To Arms

Ernest Hemingway in his book A Farewell to Arms attempted to portray women as weak and lacking complexity, but did not do so. Many critics believe that Hemingway was a misogynist, but that is not true, he just lived during a time period where women were treated differently than how they are today. The protagonist of the story, Lieutenant Frederic Henry fell in love with his English nurse, Catherine Barkley. When Henry first met Catherine, he commented on how beautiful she was “blonde and had a tawny skin and gray eyes”. It is easy to tell that Henry fell in love with the idea of Catherine long before she reciprocated the feelings, showing that Henry was just as weak as Catherine was. Catherine can not be categorized as a one-dimensional personification of a male fantasy nor a “femme fatale” because she captures the essence of both. In one aspect of the story,
Within the first few chapters Catherine asks Henry “and do you love me?”(16). As a nurse, she was not allowed to get involved with patients, and in doing so, she was giving up her future for Henry. Whereas Henry knew he was not actually in love with his nurse Catherine “I knew I did not love Catherine Barkley nor had any idea of loving her”(16). She was a play toy for him. During the summer, Henry made it clear to Catherine that they were not married, even though Catherine had already declared her love for him. Catherine fell hard in love with Henry, while he planned to leave her in the dusk. This mindset did not change until she told him that she was pregnant, and he decided to stick around. Henry was also never in the right mindset to properly love Catherine, While in the hospital, he drowned himself in alcohol to avoid the pain. Catherine at times said “I never felt like a whore before”(81) showing how she felt gross with Henry. She played along with Henry’s games and allowed herself to be taken advantage