A Farewell to Arms, Ernest Hemingway

Essay by sportndatcrombieHigh School, 11th gradeA+, April 2004

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Ernest Hemingway?s novel A Farewell to Arms is the tale of a young American man who joins the Italian army for the rush; he later finds love and ends up regretting it all. The American Fredric Henry is a diverse character that seems to merely react to the other characters and is only through his own experience that he learns anything.

?It did not have anything to do with me. It seemed no more dangerous to me that war in the movies?(Hemingway 37). When Fredric first enters the war he thinks it will be like what he sees in the movies, but later finds out it was not, it was much worse. ?I believe we should get the war over; it would not finish if one side stopped fighting. It would only be worse if we stopped fighting?(Hemingway 49). Warfare makes an impact that goes deeper than physical damage; it is also on a mental level.

In the quote above Fredric is speaking on both sides, in the sense that war is never over just slowed down by temporary solutions.

?I?d rather wait; there are much worse wounded than me. I?m all right?(Hemmingway 58). Fredric was injured badly but chose for his other comrades to go on to receive medical treatment. This shows his courage and liberality. Due to this Fredric was awarded a medal for his decision.

Fredric was transferred to an American hospital. While there he spends most of his time with a woman named Catherine Barkley. There relationship starts out as a flirtatious game but later Fredric goes on to say: ?God knows I had not wanted to fall in love with her. I had not wanted to fall in love with anyone?(Hemingway 93)

Due to the situation Catherine and Fredric had to keep their...