A Farewell to Arms Summary and Critical Analysis

A NOTE ON THE AUTHOR- ERNEST HEMINGWAY
Ernest Hemingway was born on July 21, 1899, in suburban Oak Park, IL, to Dr. Clarence and Grace Hemingway. Ernest was the second of six children to be raised in the quiet suburban town. His father was a physician, and both parents were devout Christians.
Hemingway had an aptitude for physical challenge that engaged him through high school, where he both played football and boxed. Because of permanent eye damage contracted from numerous boxing matches, Hemingway was repeatedly rejected from service in World War I. Hemingway also edited his high school newspaper and reported for the Kansas City Star, adding a year to his age after graduating from high school in 1917.
After this short stint, Hemingway finally was able to participate in World War I as an ambulance driver for the American Red Cross. He was wounded on July 8, 1918, on the Italian front near Fossalta di Piave. During his convalescence in Milan, he had an affair with a nurse, Agnes von Kurowsky. Hemingway received two decorations from the Italian government, and he joined the Italian infantry. Fighting on the Italian front inspired the plot of A Farewell to Arms in 1929. Indeed, war itself is a major theme in Hemingway's works. Hemingway would witness firsthand the cruelty and stoicism required of the soldiers he would portray in his writing when covering the Greco-Turkish War in 1920 for the Toronto Star. In 1937, he was a war correspondent in Spain, and the events of the Spanish Civil War inspired For Whom the Bell Tolls.
During this period following the birth of his first child, Hemingway began to acquire a series of nicknames that eventually culminated in the well-known moniker “Papa. “Papa” came about for a number of reasons, including, according to official biographer Carlos Baker, Hemingway’s desire to be respected, admired, and obeyed. In addition, “Papa” dovetailed with Hemingway’s reputation as a rough-and-tumble outdoorsman and adventurer.
In January 1923, Hemingway began writing sketches that would appear in In Our Time, which was published in 1924.
In 1927 Hemingway published a short story collection, Men Without Women. 1928 was a year of both success and sorrow for Hemingway. In this year, A Farewell to Arms was published, and his father committed suicide. Clarence Hemingway had been suffering from hypertension and diabetes. This painful experience is reflected in the pondering of Robert Jordan in For Whom the Bell Tolls.
In addition to personal experiences with war and death, Hemingway's extensive travel in pursuit of hunting and other sports provided a great deal of material for his novels. Bullfighting inspired Death in the Afternoon, published in 1932. In 1934, Hemingway went on safari in Africa, which gave him new themes and scenes on which to base The Snows of Kilamanjaro and The Green Hills of Africa, published in 1935.
In 1950 he published Across the River and Into the Trees, though it was not received with the usual critical acclaim. In 1952, however, Hemingway proved the comment "Papa is finished" wrong, in that The Old Man and the Sea won the Pulitzer Prize in 1953. In 1954, he won the Nobel Prize for Literature.
On July 2, 1961, he died of self-inflicted gunshot wounds. He was buried in Ketchum. "Papa" was both a legendary celebrity and a sensitive writer, and his influence, as well as some unseen writings, survived his passing. In 1964, A Moveable Feast was published; in 1969, The Fifth Column and Four Stories of the Spanish Civil War; in 1970, Islands in the Stream; in 1972, The Nick Adams Stories; in 1985, The Dangerous Summer; and in 1986, The Garden of Eden.
Hemingway's own life and character are as fascinating as in any of his stories. On one level, Papa was a legendary adventurer who enjoyed his flamboyant lifestyle and celebrity status. However, deep inside lived a disciplined author who worked tirelessly in pursuit of literary perfection. His success in both living and writing is reflected in the fact that Hemingway is a hero to intellectuals and rebels alike; the passions of the man are equaled only by those in his writing.

BRIEF SYNOPSIS OF THE BOOK- A FAREWELL TO ARMS

L IEUTENANT FREDERIC HENRY is a young American ambulance driver serving in the Italian army during World War I. At the beginning of the novel, the war is winding down with the onset of winter, and Henry arranges to tour Italy. The following spring, upon his return to the front, Henry meets Catherine Barkley, an English nurse’s aide at the nearby British hospital and the love interest of his friend Rinaldi. Rinaldi, however, quickly fades from the picture as Catherine and Henry become involved in an elaborate game of seduction. Grieving the recent death of her fiancé, Catherine longs for love so deeply that she will settle for the illusion of it. Her passion, even though pretended, wakens a desire for emotional interaction in Henry, whom the war has left coolly detached and numb.
When Henry is wounded on the battlefield, he is brought to a hospital in Milan to recover. Several doctors recommend that he stay in bed for six months and then undergo a necessary operation on his knee. Unable to accept such a long period of recovery, Henry finds a bold, garrulous surgeon named Dr. Valentini who agrees to operate immediately. Henry learns happily that Catherine has been transferred to Milan and begins his recuperation under her care. During the following months, his relationship with Catherine intensifies. No longer simply a game in which they exchange empty promises and playful kisses, their love becomes powerful and real. As the lines between scripted and genuine emotions begin to blur, Henry and Catherine become tangled in their love for each other.
Once Henry’s damaged leg has healed, the army grants him three weeks convalescence leave, after which he is scheduled to return to the front. He tries to plan a trip with Catherine, who reveals to him that she is pregnant. The following day, Henry is diagnosed with jaundice, and Miss Van Campen, the superintendent of the hospital, accuses him of bringing the disease on himself through excessive drinking. Believing Henry’s illness to be an attempt to avoid his duty as a serviceman, Miss Van Campen has Henry’s leave revoked, and he is sent to the front once the jaundice has cleared. As they part, Catherine and Henry pledge their mutual devotion.
Henry travels to the front, where Italian forces are losing ground and manpower daily. Soon after Henry’s arrival, a bombardment begins. When word comes that German troops are breaking through the Italian lines, the Allied forces prepare to retreat. Henry leads his team of ambulance drivers into the great column of evacuating troops. The men pick up two engineering sergeants and two frightened young girls on their way. Henry and his drivers then decide to leave the column and take secondary roads, which they assume will be faster. When one of their vehicles bogs down in the mud, Henry orders the two engineers to help in the effort to free the vehicle. When they refuse, he shoots one of them. The drivers continue in the other trucks until they get stuck again. They send off the young girls and continue on foot toward Udine. As they march, one of the drivers is shot dead by the easily frightened rear guard of the Italian army. Another driver marches off to surrender himself, while Henry and the remaining driver seek refuge at a farmhouse. When they rejoin the retreat the following day, chaos has broken out: soldiers, angered by the Italian defeat, pull commanding officers from the melee and execute them on sight. The battle police seize Henry, who, at a crucial moment, breaks away and dives into the river. After swimming a safe distance downstream, Henry boards a train bound for Milan. He hides beneath a tarp that covers stockpiled artillery, thinking that his obligations to the war effort are over and dreaming of his return to Catherine.
Henry reunites with Catherine in the town of Stresa. From there, the two escape to safety in Switzerland, rowing all night in a tiny borrowed boat. They settle happily in a lovely alpine town called Montreux and agree to put the war behind them forever. Although Henry is sometimes plagued by guilt for abandoning the men on the front, the two succeed in living a beautiful, peaceful life. When spring arrives, the couple moves to Lausanne so that they can be closer to the hospital. Early one morning, Catherine goes into labor. The delivery is exceptionally painful and complicated. Catherine delivers a stillborn baby boy and, later that night, dies of a hemorrhage. Henry stays at her side until she is gone. He attempts to say goodbye but cannot. He walks back to his hotel in the rain.

Major Themes
Love as a response to the horrors of war and the world
Hemingway repeatedly emphasizes the horrific devastation war has wrought on everyone involved. From the opening account of cholera that kills "only" 7,000 men to the graphic description of the artillery bombardment to the corrupt violence during the Italian retreat, A Farewell to Arms is among the most frank anti-war novels.
But Hemingway does not merely condemn war. Rather, he indicts the world at large for its atmosphere of destruction. Henry frequently reflects upon the world's insistence on breaking and killing everyone; it is as if the world cannot bear to let anyone remain happy and safe.
Indeed, whenever Henry and Catherine are blissful, something comes along to interrupt it - be it Henry's injury, his being sent back to the front, his impending arrest, or, finally, Catherine's death from childbirth. With such misery confronting them at every turn, the two turn to each other. Catherine, especially, plunges almost too easily into love when she first meets Henry. She admits she was "crazy" at first, most likely over the fairly recent death of her fiancé, but Henry, too, succumbs to the temptations of love. Love is a pleasurable diversion (see Games, below) that distracts lovers from the outside world; the two often tell each other not to think about anything else, as it is too painful. Hidden within the shelter of Catherine's beautiful hair, Henry and Catherine feel protected from the cruel outside world.
The major problem with such escapist love is, as Henry and other characters point out several times, one does not always know the "stakes" of love until it is over, or that one does not know about something until one has lost it. Henry hardly allows himself to think of life without Catherine while he is in love, and once he does lose her, it seems unlikely that he will recover.
Grace under pressure and the Hemingway hero
Although less important in this novel than in his 1926 novel The Sun Also Rises, Hemingway maps out what it means to be a hero. Chiefly, the "Hemingway hero," as literary criticism frequently tags him, is a man of action who coolly exhibits "grace under pressure" while confronting death. Henry's narration is certainly detached and action-oriented - only rarely does he let us into his most private thoughts - and he displays remarkable cool when shooting the engineering sergeant. Characters in the novel strive for this grace under pressure in an otherwise chaotic world. Even when the men eat spaghetti (and especially when they eat macaroni in the dugout during the artillery bombardment), they try to exercise mastery over a single skill to compensate for the uncontrollable chaos elsewhere. Dr. Valentini is another example of a skillful, confident Hemingway hero.
The Hemingway hero also eschews glory for a more personal code of honor. Unlike the selfish and boastful Ettore, Henry is not greedy for accolades, nor is he stupidly sacrificial. He judiciously determines what is worth the sacrifice, and decides that the war is no longer worthwhile. Even after he makes his "separate peace," however, he feels slightly guilty over letting his friends continue the battle without him.
Rain and destruction
From the first chapter to the last word, the novel is flooded with rain and other images of water. The rain almost always heralds destruction and death; it impinges upon whatever momentary happiness Henry and Catherine have and turns it into muddy misery. Ironically, rain often signifies fertility in literature but here stands for sterility, as it does in much post-WWI literature.
However, water is positive in other ways. Henry receives symbolic baptisms when he bathes and, more prominently, when he twice escapes from the authorities via a river and a lake. Frozen water is kinder to him and to soldiers in general; snow usually prevents fighting, and Henry and Catherine are happiest during their snowy winter in Switzerland.
Diversions
Nearly all the characters in the novel try to divert themselves with pleasurable activities from the horror of war. The soldiers play card games, drink heavily, and carouse in brothels; Rinaldi is the poster-boy for this hedonistic excess. Henry goes along somewhat, but his biggest diversion is love itself; he and Catherine treat it like a game at first, flirting and teasing each other. Above all, ignorance is prized during the war; if one does not think about the war, then one cannot be unhappy during the ongoing pursuit of games and diversions.
Abandonment
The novel deploys several instances of abandonment, intentional and forced, in the realms of love and war. After the death of her fiancé, Catherine understandably fears abandonment by Henry, and he makes every attempt when separated to reunite with her. Even Helen fears abandonment by Catherine. In the war, we see several cases of abandonment: the engineering sergeants, who abandon Henry and the other drivers; Bonello, who abandons the drivers to give himself up as a prisoner; the Italian retreat, a large-scale abandonment; and Henry's escape from army. However, Henry's abandonment is completely justified (he was going to be executed if he did not), and it is less a desertion that what he calls a "separate peace." Ultimately, he decides that not abandoning Catherine is far more important than not abandoning the war, though he does feel guilty over leaving behind Rinaldi and the others at the front.
Journalistic style of omission
As is typical in a Hemingway work, Henry's narration is spare, detached, and journalistic. Contrary to what the reader might expect, the effect often heightens emotion. For example, Hemingway ratchets up the connotations of death and violence by omitting explicit mention of blood when it drips on Henry in the ambulance.
Hemingway shows his range when he occasionally uses a near "stream-of-consciousness" narration for Henry. In these few cases, Henry's thoughts are ungrammatical, awkwardly worded, and repetitive - much as the mind works, especially under such chaotic circumstances. A notable example is the long second-person narrative passage in Chapter XXXII after Henry has divorced himself from the army. By addressing himself as "you," Henry shows how he has separated from his former self through his "separate peace."

A Critical Analysis To Ernest Hemingway's
“A Farewell To Arms"

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 mankind slowly discovers that what was once sacred is now nothing. In the nineteenth century religion was controlled with a iron fist in that people had to follow a certain set of guidelines or there was no reward in heaven. People began to ignore the ideas of religion and still lead happy peaceful lives. Man acknowledges that life can exist without God. Henry makes evident critic Ray West Jr.’s twentieth-century man theory in that he says, “ In defeat we become Christians”. Hemingway is concluding that religion is the realization of hope and guidance beyond means other than yourself. Defeat in that instead of looking for answers elsewhere, the answers should come from within. Henry goes on to say, “I had gone to no such place but to the smoke of cafes and nights when the room whirled and you needed to look at the wall to make it stop, nights in bed, drunk, when you knew that that was all there was, and the strange excitement of waking and not knowing who it was with you, and the world all unreal in the dark.” The vices or reality of Henry’s world cannot accept the “though it is cold it is clear and dry” town of Abruzzi. As with religion Henry doesn’t accept the idea of God or Christian doctrines. Christian guidelines certainly would not conform to Henry’s lifestyle Henry after explaining to the priest that “He had not had it but he understood that I had really wanted to go to the Abruzzi but had not gone and we were still friends, with many tastes alike, but with the difference between us.” Henry realizes that without religion men can still function in harmony. The priest has his set values and rules defined by Christian doctrines and rules. As in Henry has his own values and rules defined by himself the individual. Henry confides unconsciously to the priest of his fading faith. When at the hospital in Milan talking about the status of the war Henry unaware at the time sums up his view on religion:
“I had hoped for something more.”
“Defeat?”
“No. Something more.”
“There isn’t anything more. Except victory. It may be worse.”
“I hoped for a long time for victory.”
“Me too.”
“Now I don’t know.”
“It has to be one or the other.”
“I don’t believe in defeat. Though it may be better.”
“What do you believe in?”
“In sleep.” I said.
Henry dodging the question of the priest doesn’t know what to believe in anymore. The priest says, ““It has to be one or the other.” Basically the priest is saying either you are a believer or not. Henry believing his own idea that “In defeat we become Christians.” resists defeat even “Though it may be better.” Defeat is better in a sense of giving man a sense of hope and ultimately a reward for a life well spent. The last time religion is given any serious thought is when walking together Henry and Catherine walk past two lovers in the rain next to the cathedral. Henry then begins to ignore temptation and see past the outward forms of religion when Catherine declines his offer to go into the Cathedral:
“I wish they had some place to go.”
“It mightn’t do them any good.”
“I don’t know. Everybody ought to have some place to go.”
“They have the cathedral,” Catherine said.
Henry is still optimistic in that “Everybody ought to have some place to go” but Catherine tells him otherwise. Henry envisions that “some place to go” is finding hope to life through religion. Catherine rejects his notation in that “It mightn’t do them any good.” Catherine had no faith in religion. She exclaims to Henry that, “You’re my religion. You’re all I got.” Henry’s second temptation is that of the outward forms of objects. Critic Ray West Jr. suggests that “When the words became separated from the acts they were meant to describe, then they meant nothing.” What Ray West Jr. is acknowledging is an existential idea of “existence precedes essence”. In other words an object is just that and nothing more. Author Hemingway believes in the existential idea in that there are no outward forms. The character Frederic Henry is also distilled with Hemingway’s theory as he demonstrates an existential view :
I was always embarrassed by the words sacred, glorious, and sacrifice and the expression of vain. We had heard them, sometimes standing in the rain almost out of earshot, so that only the shouted words came through, and had read them, on proclamations, now for a long time, and I had seen nothing sacred, and the things that were glorious had no glory and the sacrifices were like the stockyards at Chicago if nothing was done with the meat except to bury it. There were many words that you could not stand to hear and finally only the names of places had dignity. A sacrifice as Henry puts it as “wasted meat”. An example of that idea is remenscent of ancient
Mayan civilization’s human sacrifices that accomplished nothing. Virgins were sacrificed to false Gods with no reciprocation from the Gods above. According to Henry only things such as directions, names, and places had any dignity. They represent only one thing with no false hopes or pretenses. A sign that is written with the words “California 50 miles” is just that. There is nothing glorious or sacred painted on that sign. The sign merely illustrates a fact and nothing more without any false pretenses. Another example of Henry demonstrating that he does not believe in the outward forms of things is when escaping arrest from the carabinieri Henry notes, “I would like to have had the uniform off although I did not care much about the outward forms. I had taken off the stars, but that was for convenience. It was no point of honor.” Author Hemingway is commenting about the false representation of medals. The medals or as Henry puts it as “decorations” had anything but honor. The medals in their psychical form represent nothing. Critic James F. Light summarizes this point brilliantly in that the character of “Ettore, who sees war as an accident suitable for promotion and self-glorification.” Ettore cares not of patriotism or honor. Ettore uses his medals only for sake of opportunity and to boost his super ego. Upon learning that Henry is going to get some decorations Ettore enviously comments, “Your going to get it. Oh boy, the girls at the Cova will think you’re fine then. They’ll think you killed two hundred Austrians or captured a whole trench by yourself. Believe me, I got to work for my decorations.” Ettore sums up exactly what he works for- decorations. Having one medal or ten makes not a braver man. A true patriot is not measured on decorations or rewards. Patriots care not of these things as they love their country enough to die for it. Henry doesn’t see Ettore’s pretentious behavior as plainly as Catherine. Catherine explains that “We have heroes too, but usually they’re are much quieter.” Henry’s final temptation is that of love. Henry no longer becomes a drifter and wants to share his life and within love there are always hopes and compromises. Rinaldi one of “the initiated” as critic Ray West Jr. calls them tries to summarize Henry’s false convictions of love:
Truly? I tell you something about your good women. Your goddesses.
There is only one difference between taking a girl who has always been good and a woman. With a girl it is painful. That is all I know. And you will never know if the girl will really like it. Rinaldi is one of “the initiated” in that he is an existentialist. Rinaldi’s description of the virgin is rather crude but important. Rinaldi is trying to persuade Henry not to be fooled by love in getting in the way of life. Rinaldi is a man as he defined himself, “with simpler pleasures.” Rinaldi goes on to say “Now you see. Underneath we are the same. We are war brothers.” Rinaldi knows that Henry is undergoing changes. Henry’s temptations are hindering the “initiation”. After the novel progresses and Henry is separated from his “war brother” the temptations must be faced alone. Henry is still learning to have hope and the outward forms of love hinder his progress. Henry also at the beginning of the novel was a man “with simpler pleasures” as critic Peter Hays surmises “He makes it clear that his initial interest in Catherine is sexual only; he is seeking no commitment.” Henry was a lieutenant for three years with no idea on which direction life takes until he met Catherine. All of a sudden it becomes clear to Henry himself while in the hospital in Milan he acknowledges “I had not wanted to fall in love with anyone.” Upon being reunited with Catherine, Henry confesses to himself that “When I saw her I was in love with her. Everything turned over inside of me.” The next temptation that love brings forth is Henry’s request of marriage upon learning of Catherine’s pregnancy. Catherine defends her view in responding, “What good would it do to marry now? We’re really married. I couldn’t be any more married.” Catherine after rethinking the situation then pops the question during the final months before the pregnancy “I suppose if we really have this child we ought to get married.”
Henry accepts the notation as the right thing to do but what does it mean? Being married before or after doesn’t effect the child physically or delays its birth. Marriage in this sense is the outward form of their love. Marriage in the physical sense before or after the fact means nothing as with Catherine’s early comment of “I couldn’t be any more married.” Henry and Catherine surely learned that they were in love no matter married or not. Having a ring on the finger doesn’t make the love any stronger it just a psychical representation of their love. Henry ignores the temptations of the outward forms of religion, love, and symbols as he achieves becoming authentic. The conclusion of “A Farewell To Arms” with all its death is marked by a rebirth. Henry looses his child and his lover. He finally achieves the status of being authentic in the final scene “It was like saying good-by to a statue. After a while I went out and left the hospital and walked back to the hotel in the rain.” Henry prior to Catherine death was seeking hope. During Catherine’s final hour Henry prayed to God once more only to go unanswered:
Please, please, please, dear God, don’t let her die. Dear God, don’t let her die. Please, please, please, don’t let her die. God please don’t make her die. I’ll do anything you say if you don’t let her die. You took the baby but don’t let her die. That was all right but don’t let her die. Please, please, dear God, don’t let her die.
He now knows all the things around him are false. Henry now knows the true forms of religion, patriotism, and love are empty forms of hope. He know knows that any hope must only come from within. Henry is now an authentic in that “He walks quietly back to the hotel in the rain.” and knows that only he can shape his destiny.