A Farewell to Arms

At the start of the novel, the war seems to be going well for the Italians, and after a leave in Southern Italy, Henry returns to his unit. He is introduced to English nurse Catherine Barkley by his friend Lieutenant Rinaldi, an Italian surgeon. The two begin a wartime flirtation that eventually turns into passionate love and tragedy. When Henry is wounded in a combat zone, he ends up in Milan to undergo rehabilitation for his seriously wounded legs. He meets up with Catherine again who is also stationed in Milan, and the two begin a love affair. Henry does not love Catherine initially. ôI knew I did not love Catherine Barkley nor had any idea of loving her. This was a gameà.ö(Hemingway 31). On her part, Catherine is recovering from her fianceÆs death, and she uses Hen

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ds Frederic Henry to say his farewell to arms. ôIt was not my show anymoreö (Hemingway 232). He deserts and finds Catherine and they escape the war into neutral Switzerland. The two lovers are now happy, but HenryÆs happiness turns to deep sorrow when the baby is delivered dead and Catherine dies in childbirth. HenryÆs loss and cynicism is expressed as Catherine is dying. ôNow Catherine would die. That was what you did. You died. You did not know what it was all aboutà.they killed you in the endà.Stay around and they would kill youö (Hemingway 327). HenryÆs loss of both the Army and Catherine take away whatever meaning he found in life. He had viewed war and love as games and as the forces that gave his life meaning. He feels meaningless without Catherine. Love had permitted him to be humanly alive for the first time in his life. CatherineÆs death does not invalidate the experience. Although it does illustrate that all good things are killed; war is cruel and so is life. The end of the novel indicates that Frederic Henry will not return to his empty life as a sensualist with little concern for humanity. Frederic Henry has learned to care and is able to live with tragedy. His future is uncertain, but the open ending of the no
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Some common words found in the essay are:
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Approximate Word count = 1542
Approximate Pages = 6 (250 words per page)

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