A Farewell To Arms
by Ernest Hemingway
Table of Contents
Key Facts
Title: A Farewell to Arms
Author: Ernest Hemingway
Type of book: Novel
Genre: Literature, war novel
Original Language: English
Written in: America and Europe, between 1926 and 1928
First published: 1929
Narrator: Lieutenant Frederic Henry
Protagonist: Lieutenant Frederic Henry
Point of view: first-person limited, from Henry’s perspective
Tense: Past
Time in which the novel is set: during World War I, 1916-1918
Places in which the novel is set: Italy, Switzerland
Rising action: Henry and Catherine meet and are attracted to one another; they begin a flirtation as a way of escaping reality; Henry is badly wounded; Catherine tends to him in the hospital, and they fall in love; Catherine finds she is pregnant; Henry has to return to duty and they are separated; the Italian army retreats from the border in constant rain.
Climax: Henry is captured by Italian police who believe he is an enemy and plan to execute him. He jumps into the river and swims to freedom.
Falling Action: Henry decides to desert the army for good and goes to find Catherine; they flee from Italy to neutral Switzerland and enjoy several months of happiness; Catherine delivers a stillborn son and bleeds to death; Henry leaves the hospital, alone, in the rain.
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