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Love Leads to Immaturity: A Farewell to Arms Essay

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Immaturity is considered to be lacking wisdom and emotional development. Immature actions lead to consequences that the person doesn’t foresee. Thus this lack of knowledge and development leads to problems. In the novel A Farewell to Arms, Ernest Hemingway illustrates how the protagonist Frederic Henry is able to gain maturity through the relationships he initiates. This novel follows Frederic through World War I as he acquires wisdom and develops emotionally. Initially Frederic acts only out of lust and desire. Every leave is filled with prostitutes and copious amount of drinking. This all seems like a game to Frederic, all his actions and decisions show juvenility. Even after meeting Catherine Barkley the relationship they have is merely …show more content…

At this point Fredric hasn’t gained any insight or developed emotionally but as he starts seeing Catherine and has additional conversations with the priest he realizes the significance of maturity.
In contrast to Frederic’s immaturity the priest is very sagacious. He is eager to have conversations with Frederic and gives tremendous amounts of advice. Through the priest Frederic gains more understanding. During the time Fredric is in the hospital, the priest comes to visit. At this time the priest assures him that he has the capacity to love instead of lust and wants him to recognize love: “What you tell me about in the nights. That is not love. That is only passion and lust. When you love you wish to do things” (Hemingway 72). The priest doesn’t believe Frederic is content with going to brothels and drinking. He believes Frederic will gain a new understanding of love as he continues his relationship with Catherine. Even though Frederic refuses to believe the priest, he feels different about Catherine. He seems to miss her when she is gone, and yearns to spend time with her. By the way the priest implies advice, makes Fredric question if his relationship with Catherine is more about love then lust. The talk with the priest allows him to gain wisdom about love and he starts to develop emotionally. Slowly, Frederic realizes the importance of maturity in life as his relationship with Catherine also

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