Essay on Natural Symbolism in A Farewell to Arms

A Farewell to Arms by Ernest Hemingway is based largely on Hemingway's own personal experiences. The main character of the book, Frederic Henry experiences many of the same situations that Hemingway experienced. Some of these experiences are exactly the same, while some are less similar, and some events have a completely different outcome.

After going through bad times, there is a moment of reflection in which beliefs change. In the novel A Farewell to Arms by Ernest Hemingway, Lieutenant Frederic Henry, an English ambulance driver for the Italian army in World War I, after escaping into the river from the battle police who are interrogating and murdering innocent officers, realizes that Catherine Barkley, an English nurse, is the love of his life and his only priority. This incident leads to a rude awakening in the train ride to Milan of how awful it was when his own army did not hesitate to take his life, and it eradicates his obligation to serve in the war. Thus in his novel, Ernest Hemingway uses the illuminating incident of when Henry escapes his execution and then desires

Ernest Hemingway’s novel of A Farewell to Arms depicts the harsh veracities of World War 1, based on Hemingway’s personal accounts. His novel, written with simplicity and sensory detail, develops a zealous affair between an injured ambulance driver and his nurse. Hemingway’s illustration of lovers amidst a war allows readers to create their own interpretation of how the story evolves. His writing entails the reader to examine the chaotic circumstances throughout the novel. For example, on page 172, Hemingway writes, “Well, we were in it. Everyone was caught in it and the small rain would not quiet it. ‘Goodnight, Catherine,’ I said out loud. ‘I hope you sleep well. If it’s too uncomfortable, darling, lie on the other side,’ I said. ‘I’ll get you some cold water. In a little while it will be morning and then it won’t be so bad. I’m sorry he makes you so uncomfortable. Try and go to sleep, sweet!’ I was asleep all the time, she said. You’ve been talking in your sleep.” Hemingway collaborates all the lovers’ troubles into a simple understanding. He allows the reader to acknowledge frustration and concern in daily life and plan how to overcome such obstacles. On page 169 he writes, “When we were out past the tanneries onto the main road the troops, the motor trucks, the horse-drawn carts and the guns were in one wide slow-moving column. We moved slowly but steadily in the rain, the radiator cap of our car almost against the tailboard of a truck that was loaded high, the load

    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.

Benson, Jackson, J. The Short Stories of Ernest Hemingway Critical Essays. Durham: Duke University Press, 1975. Print.

A Farewell to Arms, by Ernest Hemingway, is a story about love and war. Frederic Henry, a young American, works as an ambulance driver for the Italian army in World War I. He falls tragically in love with a beautiful English nurse, Miss Catherine Barkley. This tragedy is reflected by water. Throughout the novel Ernest Hemingway uses water as metaphors. Rivers are used as symbols of rebirth and escape and rain as tragedy and disaster, which show how water plays an important role in the story.

Rain brings life to the earth, ending drought and watering crops. However, Ernest Hemingway uses rain as a much more negative symbol in A Farewell to Arms. In the first chapter of the novel, rain is immediately established as a sign of bad things to come. Then, it is raining right before Henry’s friend warns him that the Italian police are coming to arrest him. Thirdly, rain comes in at the end of the novel at the same time that Catherine is close to giving birth, foreshadowing that something bad will happen to her. From these three points, it is clear that Hemingway portrays rain as a symbol that foreshadows negative events in Henry’s life.

He uses symbols effectively, which helps him to explore the theme of disillusionment and death. Death in his stories has many names; for example 'nada' or 'nothingness' – it may be assumed that it is always present. “Hemingway and the Lost Generation thereby explored more than just death, but the possibility of escape from the corruption of the old dreams – of being able to “resume again unknowing” – without returning to the past” (Currell 2009: 39). His short stories contains an excellent portraiture of society struggling with their personal waste lands. Even though they are not literally about the Great War, they display the inner significance of the Roaring Twenties; they show society's mentality and confusion. “Themes of Hemingway’s works have their roots in journalism and in topic or events that he believed were representative of the post-war world his grown-up characters and his readers alike had to confront” (Stewart 2001: 31). Further-more, in Hemingway’s fiction all the values seem to be no longer valid; a reader encounters disappearance of religion, which failed to provide emotional support for traumatised socie-ty. It also does not present valid answers. Finally, in Hemingway’s short stories appears a very important theme of anomie – the state where there are no law or norms. It can be also defined as an individual’s alienation (Idema 1990:

Hemingway’s usage of theme, setting, persuasive writing, and verbal irony helps to create different moods throughout the story. The theme “talk without communication”

Ernest Hemingway's "Big Two-Hearted River"* is such a rich text that it has probably received more literary critical attention than many novels of several times its length. Hemingway's ardent use of intricate detail and his intentional, calculated use of short, simple sentences help to make "River" a treasure chest of critical ideas and possible interpretations. Historically, much of the criticism of "River" has examined the dark underlying themes of the story, such as the alleged omission of some preceding, devastating event and Nick's wounded spiritual and mental state. These sentences, such as "There was no town, nothing but the rails and the burned-over country," are

Hemingway goes into very intricate, almost excessive details when describing things that are usually insignificant to the overall plot. As a result something like the descriptions of the landscape of Italy and Switzerland consist of vivid imagery in the form of lengthy sentences. While Henry’s observations and descriptions are almost akin to tautology they also use very simple and direct wording, which helps the reader easily understand Hemingway’s writing. The wording and syntax in the dialogue between Henry and his Italian comrades is also simplified as Henry is translating the Italian spoken to English for the reader.

The opening of the novel creates an instantaneous impression of sympathy through the use of pathetic fallacy. The rain in the opening paragraph is described as “so penetrating that outdoor exercise

When reading Hemingway’s short story “Big Two-Hearted River” without proper knowledge and context of Nick Adam’s story after “Indian Camp,” various questions arise about Nick’s motivations for going out into the woods, heading to the swamp, and his psychological state. In this paper, I intend to analyze Nick’s motivations and psychological state before and during “Big Two-Hearted River” in reference to the question of whether or not this story can stand on its own and the effect of the caesarian delivery and war in Fossalta on Nick’s psyche.

Ernest Hemingway was an intricate and dedicated writer who devoted a significant portion of his life to writing multiple genres of stories. Throughout his stories, the similarities in his style and technique are easily noted and identified. Two of the short stories he wrote contain themes and motifs that specifically explain the plotline. The first story, “The Snows of Kilimanjaro,” sets its scene in the depths of a desolate area in Africa, where the main characters, Harry and his wife, decide to make their home. After living there for a few years, Harry ventures out and falls into a thorn bush, thus infecting his leg with gangrene. A few weeks later, he finds himself on the brink between life and death, unable to treat such a severe

Hemingway's world is one in which things do not grow and bear fruit, but explode, break, decompose, or are eaten away. It is saved from total misery by visions of endurance, by what happiness the body can give when it does not hurt, by interludes of love which