A Farewell to Arms
A Farewell to Arms, by Earnest Hemingway, is a great novel about the pains of life including the great sorrow that comes with loosing those you love. Frederic Henry, the protagonist of the story, is an American Lieutenant in the Italian Army during the First World War. This fact is significant in learning why this book was written because Earnest Hemingway, an American, actually drove ambulances for the Italian Army during the war. Therefore, one could safely say that this book is somewhat of a portrayal of Hemingway's own experiences during the war. The gap between humanity's noble words and its dishonorable deeds was never more obvious than during World War I. For this reason the war serves brilliantly as the setting for Hemingway's novel of love and disillusionment. The story begins in the summer of 1915. This is about the time that Italy joined the war. The starting place is a city named Gorizia located in Northeastern Italy near the front with Austria-Hungary. This is where Frederic lives along with the rest of the officers. As the story develops, Frederic ends up in many different cities and towns, all along the Italian-Austrian front. The story ends in the late spring of 1918 not in Italy but rather in Lausanne, Switze
When you first see him, he's an aimless kid out for an adventure. Italy was, as Henry says, "the picturesque front. Within days of his arrival the Italians begin a retreat from the front. Frederic was able to beat the odds and get out of Italy and away from the war to be with Catherine. In a world like ours, no values can be permanent. Before he met Catherine he never loved anyone. What better time and place could serve for Frederic Henry's farewell to arms? The novel starts with Lieutenant Henry in Gorizia. My hand went in and my knee was down on my shin" (55). Lieutenant Henry is wounded badly in the legs: "I knew that I was hit and I leaned over and put my hand on my knee. The loss of innocence is perhaps the most important theme, and Frederic Henry illustrates it best. He returns from leave dissatisfied and guilty over squandering his time and money. Italy is also a setting that further demonstrates the ironies of war. He stops mimicking the official party line by defending the army and the war; he comes to distrust authority. " Yet in this picturesque land men are being slaughtered by the tens of thousands. Henry learns from his roommate, Rinaldi, that British nurses are now stationed in the area hospital and that Rinaldi has his eye on one, an English woman named Catherine Barkely.
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