QUANG NAM UNIVERSITY
DEPARTMENT OF FOREIGN LANGUAGES
LITERATURE IN ENGLISH
An analysis of the novel
“A Farewell to Arms”
By Ernest Hemingway
Name: Tran Thi Thanh Thao
Class: DT14TAN02
Advisor: Vu Le Vi
Quang Nam, December, 1st2017
Analysis: Analyzes the psychological evolution and love of two characters in the war.
I.Introduction.
In literature curiculum at hight school, certainly, you are still impressed with the
American writer Ernest Miller Hemingway's "Iceberg Principle" in the author "The Old
Man and the Sea" was winning the pulitzer prize in 1953. With his implicity writing style,
describing the matter is very laconic, the writer's has contributed to the fine literature of a
colossal literary treasure with the central figures of stoicism – adversarial receptionism.
The compositions of the Ernest Hemingway reflect the writer's life because, according to
a classic quote "in a somewhat authoritative biography". and there are two people in him
who are adventurous adventurers who often go near death and humanity. The second
person is a talented writer who observes, is sensitive to many social lifestyles, writes
experiences with stories and analyzes the thoughts of the characters in this story has acted
instinctively or thoughtfully American genius writer hemingway was born on December
21, 1899 and died July 2, 1961. He also like his father, because of the pressure of life and
illness, he have chosen suicide, self-liberation. Having spent four marriages in his life and
participating in the First World War, the genre pursued by the writer was "war and
romance", which marked his "A Farewell to Arms" composed in 1929. The work is
considered one of the greatest war novels of all time. Ernest Hemingway is a major
contributor to Modernism, a genre literally born from the tragic events of World One. It
was impossible to process the millions of casualties and the scope of the war’s
destruction. Hemingway and other is known as "The Lost Generation," in part because
they were lost in a world blown to pieces by the war. They sought to make
something new out of some of those pieces, to find something new which could help the
world to heal. For Hemingway, that something new was his storytelling style, which we
talk about, coincidentally, in "Style," and which we can see in A Farewell to Arms.
The story revolves is around the life of the Frederic Henry character, from a student
studying abroad volunteered to drive an ambulance for the military and meet his love life
is Catherine Barkley. But there are also many readers who feel more positive in their own
thoughts. Frederic is a young man with strength and confidence but with wounds from
the war, the writer want his character facing reality, fighting it, surpassing it with all
courage, tolerance, happy. In this young man, with burning love burns every heart of the
reader, awakens the mind of those who have not loved, loving and loved "even when the
world fell into a war situation. Love can still multiply, aspirations of love still seething in
heart. Although Henry and Barkley's affair makes people saddened by the separation
between the two worlds, it is a lesson for couples who love each other generations. In
addition to the love story, “ A Farewell to Arms” is also a story of war survey.
Hemingway writes clearly and realistic about war. The author does not discuss tactics but
talk about individuals trapped in the pitfalls of suffering and anxiety. “A Farewell to
Arms” is both a novel of war and a love story of people who need each other during the
movement. Hemingway as send a message to everyone "keep on going" no matter how
many storms there are, there are many difficulties, just brave courage, courage to accept
the challenge. Love is not a strange topic with poetry, no stranger to the discussion, but
love through the message of the writer Hemingway is quite new, perhaps very few young
people care about. So, the essay below, I would like to be allowed to discuss love and war
in Hemingway's "Farewell to Arms".
II. Content.
1. Summary:
Hemingway uses the narrative as the protagonist of the story, rich in reality and
persuasive. He is divided the novel into five parts: Beginning with part 1 is that Henry
meets Catherine Barkley and their affair budding. During his service on the Italian front,
Henry was injured in the knee due to shrapnel so he was transferred to a hospital in
Milano. Part 2 tells the story of Henry and Catherine's affair when they live together in
Milan during the summer. Henry grew increasingly in love with Catherine, and until he
healed, Catherine was three months pregnant. Come to part 3, Henry returned to his unit,
but soon after, the German army broke the Italian front, causing Italian troops to flee.
After being lagged behind, Henry attempted to catch up with the unit, but he was
captured by the Italian conspirators and executed, accused of "treason," which
contributed to the Italian defeat. Fortunately, Henry escaped by jumping into the river. In
part 4, Catherine and Henry reunite and fled to Switzerland by sailing across the border.
And the end in the last part, Henry and Catherine lived a quiet life in the mountains, until
Catherine gave birth. After a long and painful labor of pain, their son died in the womb,
and Catherine died of hemorrhage, leaving Henry alone to return to her motel in a rainy
season. it rains).
A farewell to arms is a semi-autobiographical novel written by Ernest Hemingway in
1929. Many critics regard it as one of the greatest war novels of all time, narrated by
narrative. Lieutenant Frederic Henry, an American who drove an ambulance in the Italian
Army during the First World War.The whole content of the novel is a story of two men
and women meeting in a strange place, but this is not really a love story and themes of
love, war, values. human and awake.
2. Analysis:
Hemingway has built the evolution of Frederic Henry sucessfully in time direction.
Before he met Catherine, Frederic was innocent, he wanted to find a strong feeling, so he
joined the army, he was a US lieutenant, volunteered to drive ambulances in the Italian
army. He know that drivers are sometimes killed in war, but they don’t get a chance to
kill. He seem to be believe that his risk in the war is not so great. It shows that he is
optimistic, resilient against the pressure of suffering. The novel offers masterful
descriptions of the conflict’s senseless brutality and violent chaos: the scene of the Italian
army’s retreat remains one of the most profound evocations of war in American literature.
As the neat columns of men begin to crumble, so too do the soldiers’ nerves, minds, and
capacity for rational thought and moral judgment. Frederic’s shooting of the engineer for
refusing to help free the car from the mud shocks the reader for two reasons: first, the
violent outburst seems at odds with Frederic’s coolly detached character; second, the
incident occurs in a setting that robs it of its moral import-the complicity of Frederic’s
fellow soldiers legitimizes the killing. The murder of the engineer seems justifiable
because it is an inevitable by-product of the spiraling violence and disorder of the war.
Beside that, He is also very caring and concern for the comrade. Although living with
death, in the army is almost no laughing, Frederic too, he always engaged in the stories of
people, when the topic is alcohol and women, he is also “true friend of the man”. It seems
he is quite playful and immoral. During his vacation, he spent all that time on women and
alcohol. After that, he meets the Catherine, and the two begin to notice each other and
talking to each other. But Frederic is not really serious in this relationship. He said: “ I
did not care what I was getting into. I knew I did not love Catherine Barkley nor had any
idea of loving her. This was a game, like bridge, in which you said things instesd of play
in cards. Like bridge you had to pretend you were playing for money or playing for some
stakes. Nobody had mentioned what the stakes were. It was all right with me…”. He
considered this communication a way of flirting during wartime, a good contact than
love. However, Frederic still uses sweet words, gestures to seduce Catherine. Gradually,
he felt accustomed to being with her, he felt lonely and empty after each drunk, and he
began to miss Catherrine more. And his love flourished while he was injured,
hospitalized, and cared by Catherine. Frederic has really loved Catherine, he always
wanted to be with her and get married with her. When Frederic and Catherine reunite in
Milan, he again declares his love for her - only this time he means it. For Frederic, his
affair with Catherine is no longer a game, and it is significant that this transformation
follows his wounding in battle. The experience has matured Frederic, elevating him to a
level of wisdom closer to that of Catherine. And yet the dynamic of Frederic's naivete
versus Catherine's experience and maturity is reiterated as Frederic tries to make a date
for the night after the operation, and she insists he will be in no shape to see her.
At last Frederic's character changes fundamentally during the course of the summer he
spends with Catherine; on the heels of his traumatic experience at the front, a love affair
with a woman (rather than mere sex with prostitutes) forces him to grow up for good.
This change is demonstrated at the start of Chapter XXXIV, after Frederic's desertion
from the Italian army. Of the hostile aviators with whom he shares a train compartment,
he says that "in the old days I would have insulted them and picked a fight." Now, no
longer insecure due to his experiences in love and war, he does not even feel insulted. In
fact, as his talk with Count Greffi reveals, the once-indifferent Frederic has truly found
something to believe in. He tells the Count that what he values most is someone he loves
and that he "might become very devout", elaborating that his religious feeling comes at
night. Like Catherine, Frederic has made a religion of their love. For that matter, he has
replaced his loyalty to the Italian army with loyalty to Catherine. When he healed,
Catherine was three months pregnant. At that time he received the order and returned to
the army, when he returned he no longer felt familiar as the child went back home again.
Although she tried to hold back on thoughts about Catherine, her image was always
appearing in difficult times. He thought, Catherine was now sleeping on the bed holding
the top and bottom blankets, is she on the side?. He thought, as if now lying on the bed,
tightening his lover in his hand. He miss Catherine pasionately. He love Catherine,
looking forward to seeing her, being at the Catherine in every moment, He never thought
seriously of loving Catherine, now he is desiring to live with my love every moment.
Although his nostalgia for Catherine is great, Frederic is still a passionate, responsible
and engaging person in the workplace. It was easy to see through the details that he had
killed two carriages while muddy but did not hear the command. In contrast to the man at
work, returning to life with companion in the army, Frederic is very caring and sharing.
He is willing to take the money for two Aboriginal girls in trouble. Particularly, when his
companion-Amyno was die, he is deeply distressed and said: “I love you more than
thousands of people I have ever known. I put your identification into his pocket and will
tell your family”. Teams will share with each other but the devastation of the war has
taken away a lot, leaving a painful injury. And the war also made Frederic the foolish folk
who became lost in faith. Frederic does not believe the war will end, he always longed to
live, be happy. He always remembered about Catherine. At difficult times, he always
remembered Catherine. I'm afraid I will not see you again. He also understood that this
war was not honor, the conscience he had to sacrifice. The generals of the union that he
joins both ignorance and bureaucratic cowardice, not as he thought. Once Frederic was in
the shelter eating noodles, suddenly a bomb fell on the bunker causing him and his
teammates to be injured. The situation caused him to be hurt ironically (he admitted that
he was injured while eating, no heroic action and still be medal). That surprised him so
much. Because, according to the simple explanation of Ettore's deputy, Moretti told
Frederic "that the wounds are silver plates lying parallel to the black background of the
machine in the sleeve of the sleeve at two inches ". It can be said in the war, the line
between the mediocrity - the hero and the traitor becomes extremely fragile. It's all a joke
that every soldier can encounter. And that joke becomes more ridiculous when the hero
becomes a traitor and is sentenced to death in a very short time for some very absurd
reasons: for he and a few other hired soldiers iron while others wear a large hat, because
he is a foreigner who speaks Italian not standard, so the people across the front line think
he is a German uniformed Italian soldiers, mixed with those who retreat and transplant he
and other adulterers deserted and sentenced to death without giving an explanation. To
escape from death, Frederic must swim across the river in the cold night. As soon as he
escaped from the army, Frederic immediately went to find Catherine and his heart twisted
as she knew she was no longer there. Then the two meet again and also fled to the
Switzerland, living a happy life of two people build dreams and thinking for the future.
Their love grows stronger and more passionate. “Catherine, you do not know how much I
love you…” or “We are but two people but one ... I can not do anything without you by
my side. Now he has no life left.”. Their love is burning. They think of their baby's birth.
If their son is a boy, he will be a great horse racer. He thought about getting married with
Catherine, living with her. His life will be fill with joyfull and happiness. Waiting for
their baby to be born. That moment also came. Catherine labor. When he see his wife in
pain. Frederic was so bewildered and anxious for her. He was always watching
Catherine's health. At this moment he only thought of Catherine. Because of the attention
to his wife, he did not know that his child was suffocated. All that shows Catherine is the
most important to him. Seeing that his wife's condition is getting worse. He was more
anxious, but also reassured himself: "Do not think fool, it’s just a difficult thing to
overcome ..." or "But what if she died?.. she is will be fine.. she is strong..”. But when he
learns of his wife's very dangerous condition, he fears and lives in fear. "I want to die like
that to survive the hours of death" or "empty, bewildered, I know she is about to retire
from life". Catherine's death brought all the hope, faith and happiness in Frederic.
Catherine's death brought all the hope, faith and happiness in Frederic. He became a
lonely, confused and helpless man. . "I understand all is just useless, it is not like saying
goodbye to the statue". The irony for Frederic is that love can not win fate and has no
enduring value. People learn not only how to live well but also how to die. His beautiful
ending in the drama has caused him to fall into a real nightmare. All the tragedies of life
have turned Frederic into a concentrated figure expressing the unhappiness and human
suffering of the war. Without this terrible war, perhaps his simple dreams have come true.
And the nightmares also had no chance of coming to him in the long, painful nights.
The main woman in story-Catherine who was painted by Hemingway is the gentle,
graceful, beautiful woman, the high-strung, the dark-haired, the brown-haired, and the
ash-colored. However, she has the fate destroys, she refused to propose marriage, when
the war occurred, then the lover died because the mine explosion on the battlefield. Even
so, she has a strong desire for love, she has a romantic soul "I like to walk in the rain".
Catherine is a British nurse's aid sent to the front during World War I. Much has been
written regarding Hemingway’s portrayal of female characters. With the advent of
feminist criticism, readers have become more vocal about their dissatisfaction with
Hemingway’s depictions of women, which, according to critics such as Leslie A. Fiedler,
tend to fall into one of two categories: overly dominant shrews, like Lady Brett in The
Sun Also Rises, and overly submissive confections, like Catherine Barkley in A Farewell
to Arms. Hemingway, Fiedler maintains, was at his best dealing with men without
women; when he started to involve female characters in his writing, he reverted to
uncomplicated stereotypes. A Farewell to Arms certainly supports such a reading: it is
easy to see how Catherine’s blissful submission to domesticity, especially at the novel’s
end, might rankle contemporary readers for whom lines such as “I’m having a child and
that makes me contented not to do anything” suggest a bygone era in which a woman’s
work centered around maintaining a home and filling it with children. Still, even though
Catherine’s excessive desire to live a lovely life may, at times, make her more archetypal
than real, it is unfair to deny her the nuances of her character. Although Catherine alludes
to her initial days with Henry as a period when she was slightly “crazy”, she seems
perfectly aware of the fact that she and Henry are, at first, playing an elaborate game of
seduction. Rather than being swept off her feet by Frederic’s declarations of love, she
capably draws the line, telling him when she has had enough for the night or reminding
him that their budding love is a lie. In fact, Catherine’s resistance holds out much longer
than Frederic’s: even after Frederic emphatically states that he loves her and that their
lives together will be splendid, Catherine exhibits the occasional doubt, telling him that
she is sure that dreadful things await them and claiming that she fears having a baby
because she has never loved anyone. Privy only to what Catherine says, not to what she
thinks, the reader is left to explain these infrequent lapses in her otherwise
uncompromised devotion. Her premonition of dreadful things, for instance, may simply
be a general alarm about the war-torn world or residual guilt for loving a man other than
the fiancé whom she is mourning as the book opens. While the degree to which Catherine
is conflicted remains open to debate, her loyalty to Frederic does not. She is a loving,
dedicated woman whose desire and capacity for a redemptive, otherworldly love makes
her the inevitable victim of tragedy.When meeting Frederic, she sensibly recognized his
joke but stayed with him. "My game is ugly, do not you pretend to love me, you've just
played a samll comedy sucessfully or small and it's all good". She is aware of the attitude
of others and expresses the desire to love. Heartbroken, Catherine engages in a
complicated game of seduction with Frederic because she would rather have an illusion
of love, however false, than nothing at all. As the novel progresses, the lines between
fantasy and reality blur, and the reader is left questioning whether she loved Frederic at
all or if the entire romance was a game. Despite Catherine's complicated emotional state,
it is clear that she is brave, dedicated, and faithful. In her pursuit of creating the idealized
romance, she would say or do anything to become Henry's perfect woman. She love
Frederic. After a long time away, when she met Frederic she was very happy and despite
the danger he escaped. "Is that you?" Catherine shouted, shining brightly, and she looked
delighted in surprise. She wished to fulfill the mother's duty, the wife was to have
children and married Frederic. In any situation she always has gentle gestures, even when
the pain of abuse. Despite the pain, she still thought of Frederic, she worried that he
would worry. "This pain is real, do not worry, my love!" He went away .. go to breakfast.
She held her mask and breathed, she sighed and for a long time she sighed. Even she face
the pain, she face the death, she did not think to herself that she was worried about
Frederic. She thought and blamed herself for not being able to fulfill this sacred duty.
And that she was still aware of her condition. Cathrine is the perfect woman of
Hemingway: wise and fond of mockery, but her insights also give way to her lust. Just as
Frederic sacrificed his youth and strength for the war, Catherine's heroism was to show
that regardless of her carrying and accepting the pain and death of her child without
complaint. She is a loving, dedicated woman whose desire and capacity for a redemptive,
otherworldly love makes her the inevitable victim of tragedy. Desire to be ordinary
people, desire simple happiness is also difficult.
The war against the Hemingway is a powerful symbol of the world, through which the
writer sees moral inertia, destructive, inevitable pain, and transcends such a painful
world. The person must act with honor, pain and dignity. This love story also makes us
not think of the real love story of the author. Has he transformed his life into the
character? Describing the stories just real magic wonders. As an ambulance in the First
World War, Hemingway witnessed the death, destruction of war. Hemmingway's body
was also severely injured. According to a document released by Vuong Tri Nhan, a
shrapnel caused him to suffer 227 injuries. At that moment, he just felt like his boots were
flooded. The bullets were plugged into his lap like pieces of leather in his lap. People
stripped him of his thighs still injured lacerated. They took over him more than 200
pieces of ammunition and the ambulance did not understand how he crushed both legs so
but also enough to carry a soldier to the ambulance. However, because of this injury,
Hemingway had a romantic love affair with American nurses named Agnes Von
Kurowsky. That's 1918, Hemingway 19 and Agnes 26. She worked as a nurse at the
Milan hospital, and the war caused her to split. Some of the sweet and bitter experiences
of the first love helped him after 10 years, through his novel "A Farewell to Arms".
making Agnes than the immortal name Catherine, and himself transforms into Frederic's
character to do so. The great love of Frederic and Catherine expresses itself as a contrast,
as opposed to cruel warfare. Catherine finally did not die at the battlefield but died in
childbirth. The seemingly random death enhances the truth. In the war, everything is
possible. The novel is like a diaries page of the poetic romance of the soldier and the
nurse in the war. In Hemingway, there is always an agreement between elevation between
personality, lifestyle and art. Therefore, it is perfectly reasonable to see that his
personality carries the character or sentimentality of the writer. Although it is impossible
to identify himself with his character. It is obvious that Hemingway does not hide
sympathy, even love for his character.
In the sections of the novel in which he describes his experience in the war, Frederic
portrays himself as a man of duty. He attaches to this understanding of himself no sense
of honor, nor does he expect any praise for his service. Even after he has been severely
wounded, he discourages Rinaldi from pursuing medals of distinction for him. Time and
again, through conversations with men like the priest, Ettore Moretti, and Gino, Frederic
distances himself from such abstract notions as faith, honor, and patriotism. Concepts
such as these mean nothing to him beside such concrete facts of war as the names of the
cities in which he has fought and the numbers of decimated streets. Against this bleak
backdrop, Frederic’s reaction to Catherine Barkley is rather astonishing. The reader
understands why Frederic responds to the game that Catherine proposes—why he pledges
his love to a woman he barely knows: like Rinaldi, he hopes for a night’s simple
pleasures. But an active sex drive does not explain why Frederic returns to Catherine—
why he continues to swear his love even after Catherine insists that he stop playing. In his
fondness for Catherine, Frederic reveals a vulnerability usually hidden by his stoicism
and masculinity. The quality of the language that Frederic uses to describe Catherine’s
hair and her presence in bed testifies to the genuine depth of his feelings for her.
Furthermore, because he allows Frederic to narrate the book, Hemingway is able to
suffuse the entire novel with the power and pathos of an elegy: A Farewell to Arms,
which Frederic narrates after Catherine’s death, confirms his love and his loss.
Ernest Hemingway uses clear, clear text. Hemingway described a series of actions in
short, simple sentences, which he avoided directly describing the feelings and thoughts of
the characters in the series and thus only provided readers with the data of experience
without mentioning the writer's point of view. In the story, Hemingway knit the tone of
sarcasm, Honor, glory, love here are empty noodles, but I see a man of self-esteem,
sympathy and noble. The absurdity of war in the work is expressed by the writer in
details with irony elements. In A Farewell to Arms, the irrationality appears in the title of
the work. The author uses the art of word play when naming the title "A Farewell to
Arms" meaning "retired from the weapon". "retired from the arms". To name just that,
just have the intention of war and have the intention of sarcastic love. Love is one of the
divine things in every human life. But when the war is over, the most sacred thing
becomes a joke. Ernest Hemingway’s protagonist Frederic Henry says A Farewell to Arms
with a double meaning. The novel title is word play reflective of first, Frederic’s desertion
of the war. His second farewell is to the arms of his beloved, Catherine Barkley after her
death in childbirth. Wandering stoically through life, looking for some natural progression,
Frederic lets one circumstance lead him to the next. At first, Frederic exhibits the
hedonistic aspirations of a college fraternity pledge, motivated only by drinking and sex.
His selfish motives take him into a courtship with Catherine and they fall in love. He
displays apathy and has no passion or conviction until the accidental attraction. The
relationship matures him. It becomes his salvation. It gives his detached life purpose. How
and why we fall in love is random, complicated, and unpredictable. No matter how we get
there, love is such an important experience that as poet Lord Alfred Tennyson wrote, “Tis
better to have loved and lost than never to have loved at all”. Frederic begins the story a
naïve young man and emerges filled with grief, but matured having experienced a devout
and deeper love.
III. Conclution.
“A Farewell to Arms”, whether retired from the arms (hands) or retired from the weapon,
it is also the separation and loss of pain. As I told you before, it was both a love story and
a story of war. Hemingway carved the burning passion of the two characters. All the
suffering that the two lovers experience. He also shows the pain, hopelessness in the split.
It is difficult for people find out a partner in their life, want to fully enjoy the happiness
together is even harder. In love, there are many reasons that people must accept the
separation. It is painful and unacceptable to accept this as one of the consequences that
people suffer when living in war. The pain of people who are leaving, haunting those who
stay, the environment is seriously affected is what the war left us when accidentally go
through a certain time ... so far, I wonder the question that: how cruel is that ? How
hurtful it is, but why it still exists, in the past, and even in the present moment? Is it true
that people like death? That certainly is not. War is due to the leaders, the people who
want to satisfy their greed for their selfishness, who lead the war to gain benefits from the
regions and countries they occupy. There is a war against water, so the parties use their
power to win. That is also the germ of the war in the world. If you had to use a word to
talk about war what would you use? And I, it is painful ...
In the story, Hemingway's psychological expressions are different. This is a more open
tendency than analytical and descriptive. He does not use narratives or comments. Even
the narrator does not comment on the character's behavior. The words he uses are also
neutralized and non-characteristic. All of them require the mindfulness and alertness of
the reader. Therefore, reading Hermingway's work does not only read the words on the
lines but also the white space. That is the silence of words
Close the page, each reader has his own sense of the story. To me, after closing the book,
has not stopped, not thinking about love as well as human life. Perhaps for each
individual, people should cherish each other in every moment of each other. Life is not
easy, so what we can do is simplify life. Give each other the most sincere love possible.
For countries, countries should have strategies to grow together, create a peaceful,
friendly environment for people in the world to come closer together.
Reference:
https://vi.wikipedia.org/wiki/htm.
https://toc.123doc.org/document/htm.
http://baigiang.violet.vn/present/show/entry_id/9796225.
http://vietsciences.free.fr/nobel/litterature/hemingway-giatuvukhi.htm.
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