A Farewell to Arms by Ernest Hemingway Essay

    There are two major themes in A Farewell to Arms that Hemingway clearly conveys: war and love. The war theme is obvious because the book is set during the World War. The theme of love is less obvious, it begins faintly because of the uncertainty between Frederick Henry and Catherine Barkley. Neither desire love or commitment to anyone, but act upon their desires of passion. As the story progresses, so does their love. The strength of their love is enforced by various understandings and agreements. Love is the theme that closes the book, leaving a final allusion of what their love is about.

In the beginning of the book, the author describes Henry’s beliefs about the war. He thinks war is about the glory soldiers receive or dying a hero’s death. As he gets into the first battle, he is suddenly faced with the reality. Passing be dead soldiers and watching the battle before him causes Henry to flee. As he is running away, he happens to stumble upon a rotting corpse, this makes the realities become even more clear. Shaken from the encounter, he moves on.

When faced with adversities early into his first battle, he quickly reconsidered his views on war and courage. By running away from the face of battle, Henry “saw his vivid error, and he was afraid that it would stand before him all his life” (Cane 24.30).  This pushed him into believing that he would never be a man of courage of masculinity. This “error” of running away caused Henry to be angry at himself for mistakenly thinking the battle was over and abandoning his fellow soldiers. While away from the battle Henry discovers “that he had a scorching thirst” and “his body was calling for food” (Cane 11.21). From the struggle of war and the experience of Wilson, Henry learns to reflect upon his life and learn from his mistakes, rather than being angry at himself. This allowed Henry to be influenced by the culture around him, shaping him into acknowledging that courage was not depicted by a gunshot or a wound, but by the act of adhering to the line of duty and learning from your

In the beginning of the book Henry is some what eager to be fighting in the gory scenes of battle. “He had, of course, dreamed of battles all his life – of vague and bloody conflicts that had thrilled him with their sweep and fire.” Henry was smitten with the idea of being engaged with killing other people like a wild animal, but when the time came it became known to him that his reactions to the scenes of war was not at all what he thought it would be. When one thinks about the idea of war one thinks highly about it and glorifies it, but in the actual chaos and confusion of war men become petrified, delusional, and lose their sanity. “He had rid himself of the red sickness of battle. The sultry nightmare was in the past. He had been an animal blistered and sweating in the heat and pain of war.” This quotes shows how Henry learned that his longing for war attitude was a incorrect attitude to have. Also that his war thirsty attitude got him into a scenario of war which made him lose his identity and rationality. To conclude, fighting against one another is not something someone should be gleeful about but

Henry wants to be the hero but he doesn’t think the war is really coming.He thinks that join the army has proved his bravery already,sometimes the people makes him think he is a hero now.He had, of course, dreamed of battles all his life--of vague and bloody conflicts that had thrilled him with their sweep and fire. In visions he had seen himself in many struggles. He had imagined peoples secure in the shadow of his eagle-eyed prowess,…but it, he thought, had been long gone over the horizon and had disappeared forever(chapter

“The Youth,” which Henry is referred to as, dreamt of glory in battle and being a hero (Crane 2). That is the reason why Henry enlisted himself; even though he told his comrades he was forced to be in the army. His mother’s farewell speech is ironic because he thought that she would give him a tearful and long speech, but all she really said was to “Watch out, and be a good boy” (4). She does not want Henry to be a hero even though that is what he went to war for. She told Henry that she will be fine if he does not return home. Henry tries to pull off being a confident and good soldier, while in the reality he is very nervous about what will happen in battle. Throughout the novel, he questions his courage and if he would run from battle. At an early battle, Henry continuously fires at the enemy line and feels like he is a courageous soldier. However, soon after this battle, another one erupts and Henry runs from it. This is

This shows that Henry allows himself to now be a part of something bigger. This also shows that Henry lets himself become sucked in a bigger cause, to not to save himself but to but to save and help his other comrades. He loses his sense of being an individual completely, which cuts self-preservation out of his picture.

Henry felt unhappy that the tale was false and now was more concerned about himself and it leads him to be depressed because he had done nothing for the last few months when waiting to go to war. He comes to the point that he feels like he cannot do anything at all, and can't be the hero he wants to be. He also comes to the point that he finds out that math and science cannot help him in everything, such as determining if he is a coward or not. Having noticed that he cannot determine on math and science to help him find out if he is a coward or not, he decides to go find an opportunity to help him prove if he is a coward or not. Trying to find an opportunity, he tried to measure himself to the other soldiers of his camp and tried to understand what the other soldiers was thinking about. He explains that he also afraid to show the other soldiers his concern about the war. He then thinks about two theories about his own camp as a whole. His first theory is that he believes that all the soldiers in his camps are heroes. However, at some times, he ignored the positive theories he had about them and saw them instead as a wandered someone who is afraid to do something. His emotions about them made him feel strange, especially about the people who talk about the excitement of the battle that is going to occur right in front of their

grows up during the war. Henry faces his fears and fights in the battle. After Henry faces his fears of the

In the beginning of the book, Henry tries to understand what courage is and asks himself if he has it. When he realizes that he does not have the courage he wants, he becomes sad and thrives to become a man that embodies his courage. Henry finally gets his courage when he leads a charge as the flag bearer with his lieutenant. Another theme in the book is manhood. Throughout the book, Henry tries to become a man. He knows he does not have what it takes it at the beginning of the book when he runs from the battle even though he would've been fine. As he continues to battle, he becomes more of a man and when the ultimate test comes, he passes it with great

Although there are several different motifs in this novel, two main ones that I noticed are: the idea of becoming a man, or the coming of age, and the constant them of courage. Although the amount of time from the beginning of the book to the end is only a couple of days, the amount of character development within Henry is tremendous. At the beginning Henry is a boy who romanticizes and fantasizes about battles and war, as stated in the first chapter, “He had, of course, dreamed of battles all his life - of vague and bloody conflicts that had thrilled him with their sweep and fire. In visions he had seen himself in many struggles…” (P. 5). But, at the end of the book he is a man who has experienced the real gore and grit of war and as he walks away from the

Whoever said, "War was hell," must have read Ernest Hemingway 's A Farewell to Arms. It is a decade defining controversial piece of American Literature. It was not only controversial because Hemingway was a depressed drunkard, but it was controversial because it doesn 't glorify war; it shows the brunt reality of the Great War. He provides the evidence of his depression through his writings by allowing his characters to be placed in horrid situations. He also shows his alcoholism this way, by allowing his characters to be alcoholics. For example, in A Farewell to Arms, Frederic Henry used alcohol to get over his pain, which would eventually lead to Henry 's jaundice, a lack of liver function, which is a symptom of cirrhosis of the liver,

He described that he couldn’t escape even if he wanted to. Through this analogy, the reader can see that Henry is reducing the soldiers to unthinking, unfeeling machines, performing their duty without taking into account the threat of injury or death. As he looks around at the faces of the rest of the soldiers in his regiment, he notices their focused commitment to the firing of their rifles. He wonders if he is the only one faced with questions of morality. While the regiment began to advance, Henry was shocked to receive a packet of letters from Wilson, who feared he would die in battle. After the battle, he is glad that he made it through the first day. He begins to lose the romantic vision of war by seeing the realities, but he starts lying to himself about who is really is.

The early 1900’s gave birth to a new generation, one that grows up in the wars started by their parents, and has to take their place on the battlefield when they are old enough. This new generation -- called the “Lost Generation” -- has a different demeanor towards religion and humanity than past generations. They view life as the following: fleeting, violent, full of loss, despair, and unavoidable change. In Ernest Hemingway's novel A Farewell to Arms, Hemingway follows the story of Lieutenant Frederic Henry, an ambulance driver in the Italian army during WWI. Through Lt. Henry’s journey, Hemingway sends the message that people are powerless to change the events happening around and to them.

Ernest Hemingway's WWI classic, A Farewell to Arms is a story of initiation in which the growth of the protagonist, Frederic Henry, is recounted. Frederic is initially a naïve and unreflective boy who cannot grasp the meaning of the war in which he is so dedicated, nor the significance of his lover's predictions about his future. He cannot place himself amidst the turmoil that surrounds him and therefore, is unable to fully justify a world of death and destruction. Ultimately, his distinction between his failed relationship with Catherine Barkley and the devastation of the war allows him to mature and arrive at the resolution that the only thing one can be sure of in the course of life is death