Symbolism In Ernest Hemingway's A Farewell To Arms

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

“Bodies bleed in his novel, at times uncontrollably, and Frederic's narrative likewise suffers at times from troubling and uncontrollable outflow” (Dodman 98). These soldiers are bleeding uncontrollably, which shows the physical destructiveness of war, but these doctors are more greatly emotionally traumatized by witnessing these soldiers bleeding out and dying and knowing that there is not much they can do to save them. Just as the bullets and bombs have caused the soldier’s “uncontrollable outflow” of blood, Hemingway’s novel suffers from “uncontrollable outflow” because of the traumatizing events he witnesses.

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.

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”

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.

I tend to think that Hemingway was foreshadowing the outcome by showing in this quote, what Henry really thinks and what his morals are. He enlists to help the Italian army and has a helping heart towards the Italians. So in this quote, he says he didn’t do those things he wanted to do. This could be many things, but I would guess that they were immoral and irrational things that wouldn’t compliment his record. This was located towards the beginning of the book, so I would assume that these thoughts might have stayed strong and he stood steadfast with them.

Hemingway uses a variety of literary elements to portray his message. The setting of the story is the summer of 1919 in a small Oklahoma town. World War 1 just ended two years prior and the main character, Harold Krebs, explains his post-war experiences (Meyer 129). Krebs is the protagonist who is “suffering from an inability to readjust to society” (Imamura para. 3). He is a dynamic, round character. At first he “did not want to talk about the war

A Farewell to Arms, published in 1929, is a classic short story written by Ernest Hemingway about the hardships and cruelties of love and war. In 1932, a film adaptation of the novel was developed by Director Frank Borzage and nonetheless the unquestionable originality of his photography as well as for his excellent directorial concepts; Borzage misses on many levels of Hemingway’s brilliant description and significant dialogue between the main character Lieutenant Frederic Henry and his fellow Italian officers. The film is voiced and positioned towards the eyes of Borzage rather than the story of Hemingway and the incidents are frequently noticeable throughout the film. But to be reasonable, the novel is a difficult task, considering that

Alcohol makes the human mind short-sighted. I witnessed my own mother attempt to drink her problems away until I was no longer one of them. She cared more about her next gulp of the sinful syrup than her children. Alcohol gives us an ego boost and a feeling that subsides the negative situation we are dealing with, including sadness. In this passage, Hemingway expresses the pessimistic feel through his imagery, diction, and figurative language.

In the story “A Clean, Well- Lighted Place” by Earnest Hemingway begins with the main character and his co-worker in a café. The two are analyzing, and discussing a deaf, drunk Oldman, who is their last customer of the day. As the deaf old man insists on having more whiskey, the main character informs the young waiter as to why and how the old man tried to commit suicide. They began to converse about the Oldman’s depressed life. The younger waiter is in a rush to go home to his wife, while the older waiter is patient and he stands up for the Oldman, being able to relate to him. Hemingway’s sentence structure and writing style represents the comparison and contrast between setting, people, and objects, along with emphasizing how it is to have and be nothing.

In A Farewell to Arms, For Whom the Bell Tolls, and The Sun Also Rises, Ernest Hemingway uses damaged characters to show the unglamorous and futile nature of war and the effects it has on people. Hemingway wants readers to know that war is not what people make it out to be; it is unspectacular and not heroic. Hemingway also feels that war is futile by nature and that most goals in war have almost no point. He also shows readers that military conflict often causes people to have shallow values and to hide their pain for their own protection.

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

Many of the passages of the novel reflect his life. Hemingway writes: “But man is not made for defeat," he said. "A man can be destroyed but not defeated.” This has been shown through his life, as Hemingway wrote the novella to prove he wasn’t finished as a writer. This is also reflected during his time in World War 1. Hemingway was wounded by Austrian Mortar fire, and yet despite his injuries or “defeat,” Hemingway carried a wounded italian soldier to safety. Hemingway wrote: "When you go to war as a boy you have a great illusion

Ernest Hemingway’s A Farewell to Arms tells the tale of two young, star-crossed lovers in the midst of World War I. A powerful romance and stirring history of the war, this semi autobiographical novel meshes the contrasting worlds of love and war, setting war as the backdrop of love. The novel’s portrayal of love is an issue that has attracted critical debate, prompting many academics to reflect on its existence, form, and role in the plot. Joel Armstrong is one such academic. His literary criticism entitled, “‘A Powerful Beacon’ Love Illuminating Human Attachment in Hemingway’s A Farewell to Arms,” asserts that love is the centering principle of the novel, and that the narrative’s world is one in which “love illuminates all of life” (Armstrong 79). As Armstrong asserts, love is the centering principle of A Farewell to Arms because it serves as an anchor for Frederic Henry and Catherine Barkley during the tumultuous events of war, motivates them to go through significant struggles, and works along with loss to lend more meaning to significant events in the plot.