The book I chose to do my analysis on was A Farewell to Arms, written by Ernest Hemingway in 1929. It has a first person narrative and is told by American ambulance driver Frederic Henry who finds love in the form of a nurse named Catherine Barkley all while the first world war is happening in the background. The story almost serves as a biographical piece on Hemingway himself as many of the events and experiences in it are inspired by real life ones that affected him. He did fight in World War 1 and served as an ambulance driver where he also met and fell in love with a nurse. The war had a major impact on himself and also other notable writers of the time which included Gertrude Stein, F. Scott Fitzgerald, and T.S. Eliot who were together part of the “lost generation”. This was because of how destructive it was and the affects it had on people on the front and at home. In the end of it millions of people had died and it all seemed for nothing. Soldiers returned home and had to adjust back to civilian life and had a different outlook on themselves and the world around them. This gave rise to writers and poets which wrote stories that detailed the war and its impact on society. The story starts off with Frederic Henry who is an American that is serving as a paramedic in the Italian Army. Periodically he is called to the front and when he isn’t he hangs around his fellow soldiers in the town and socializes by going to bars or just talking. One of his friends introduces him
The story, A Soldiers Home, is about a man in conflict with the past and present events in his life. The young man’s name is Harold Krebs. He recently returned from World War 1 to find everything almost exactly the same as when he left. He moved back into his parents house, where he found the same car sitting in the same drive way. He also found the girls looking the same, except now they all had short hair. When he returned to his home town in Oklahoma the hysteria of the soldiers coming home was all over. The other soldiers had come home years before Krebs had so everyone was over the excitement. When he first returned home he didn’t want to talk about the war at all. Then, when he suddenly felt the urge and need to talk about it no one
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.
A classic literary work has been defined as a work "that lasts through generations because of its universality of theme, ageless symbolism, word choice and the ordering of detail." A Farewell to Arms, by Ernest Hemingway should be considered a classic literary work due to the universal themes, ageless symbolism, word choice, and story detail.
World War I brought immense inner conflict to many writers - lives - of the Lost Generation, an example of this could be the life and writings of F. Scott Fitzgerald.
Ernest Hemingway wrote A Farewell to Arms, a celebrated historical fiction, amidst a time of war and personal suffering. Hemingway believed at this time that “life is a tragedy that can only have one end” (Hemingway, VIII). He continues further, calling war a “constant, bullying, murderous, slovenly crime” (Hemingway, IX). Hemingway also suffered at home, in addition to his issues regarding the state of the world. His wife had just endured a difficult pregnancy and delivery, which contributed to the last bitter chapter of his story. Keeping in mind the tortured and surly mental state of Hemingway, it is difficult to swallow the idea that he would write a wholesome, well founded love story that attracts people. To some readers, A Farewell to Arms tells of a whirlwind romance between an ambulance driver and a nurse that is based on an unbreakable foundation of love, trust, magnetism, and compassion. Anxious modernists, like Trevor Dodman who are cited in Joel Armstrong’s nonfiction text, will come up with a remarkably different outlook on this tragedy. With aid from “‘A Powerful Beacon’ Love Illuminating Human Attachment in Hemingway’s A Farewell to Arms”, the loveless relationship between Frederic Henry and Catherine Barkley will be seen as rushed, meaningless, and mentally destructive to the parties involved.
Setting: Post World War I era, 1919. In Howard’s (Kreb’s) quaint home town in Oklahoma. All who have returned from the harsh war are welcomed; their stories as well. All except for Krebs.
World War I had a more profound effect on society than wars prior. With new deadly weapons, like poison gas, high death tolls, and the first occurrence of total war, shocked the world, tearing people between the modern and the tradition. Traditional society was torn down by the destruction of the war. As with most literary movements, writers reflect the world
World War I (1914-1918) was a war that changed world history forever. The technological, industrial, social and political advances that took place at beginning of the 20th century paved the way for today 's world. And the parties involved in World War I used those advances to create one of the first modern wars. For those reasons World War I is referred to as many things including, an industrial war, a war of attrition, and as a total war. These aspects is what makes the war so revolutionary and groundbreaking and equally as devastating. A novel that helps illustrate each of these categories is All Quiet on the Western Front (1928), by Erich Maria Remarque. The author tells a German soldiers experiences through the war. The book does not
The period between World War I and World War II was a very turbulent time in America. Ernest Hemingway most represented this period with his unrestrained lifestyle. This lifestyle brought him many successes, but it eventually destroyed him in the end. His stories are read in classrooms across America, but his semi-autobiographical writings are horrible role models for the students who read them. Hemingway’s lifestyle greatly influenced his writings in many ways.
Novels published after a major war are often the most deeply emotional, profound ruminations on human nature. The authors of these novels were once soldiers, living in fear and enduring sleepless nights. These authors channel their experiences and emotions into their work, often creating masterpieces of literature. A Farewell to Arms is one such novel. Its author, Ernest Hemingway, was in the Italian ambulance corps in World War I, much like the protagonist of A Farewell to Arms, Frederic Henry. The themes in A Farewell to Arms reflect his mentality and the typical soldier’s disillusionment in the institutions and values he had always held close. A Farewell to Arms explores the far-reaching disillusionment that seems to plague Frederic. The theme of Frederic Henry’s disillusionment of all that he believes in appears through his desertion of the war, the deterioration of his relationship with Catherine, and his thoughts on life.
Moreover, these complications even stem over to Henry’s guilt about the war. After arriving in Switzerland, Henry states, “The war seemed as far away as the football games of some one else’s college. But I knew from the papers that they were still fighting in the mountains because the snow would not come” (FTA, 291). Even in Switzerland, Henry cannot escape hearing about the war. While when he escapes the war, Henry cannot escape the guilt of deserting his friends, showing that his inner truth is not that simple. Even his inner meaning from existentialism has complications. With this idea, Friedrich Nietzsche states, “‘All truth is simple.’ Is that not doubly a lie?” This dichotomy between the simple and the complicated demonstrates nihilism’s
Ernest Hemingway’s novel A Farewell to Arms covers a romance that takes place during World War I. The novel itself came out shortly after the war, and was the first of Hemingway’s books to become a best-seller. Essentially, the novel contrasts the horrors of war with the romance of Henry and Catherine. Throughout the plot, Hemingway, a World War I veteran himself, uses the events of the book to make a statement about his thoughts on war. The core message of Hemingway’s A Farewell to Arms is that war damages the soldiers who fight in it both physically and emotionally, which is primarily illustrated by the number of deaths caused directly and indirectly by the war, the actions Henry is forced to take over the course of the book, and Henry’s growing cynicism towards war.
The story I found most interesting and decided to write about is Ernest Hemingway’s “Soldier’s Home.” Hemingway writes a bizarre story depicting the cruel effects of war. War is the evilest event/element any human being can unfortunately be exposed to. The chaos and carnage which come as a result of these sometimes-senseless wars can cause traumatic and dark memories which can linger around in a person’s mind, altering their perspective for the rest of their lives. Hemingway certainly does a magnificent job in illuminating those exact effects throughout the story.
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
A Farewell to Arms by Ernest Hemingway is a book about love and war set in Italy during WWI. The book begins with Lieutenant Frederick Henry working as an