The Meaning of Love in Hemingways A Farewell to Arms
In A Farewell to Arms Ernest Hemingway illustrates in a simple and pure style the development of the relationship between a young American ambulance driver and an English nurse during World War I in Italy. This love-story is marked, as John A. Sanford describes in The Invisible Partners, by identification and projection of the opposite sex. In the following I will give an insight of the relationship between Lieutenant Frederick Henry and Catherine Barkley of A Farewell to Arms related to the Jungian approach of animus and anima, mentioned in The Invisible Partners. Furthermore, I will discuss the aspect of power in this relationship and examine the strengths and weaknesses of this connection and the two characters regarding their dependency to each other. Finally, I will examine the value of 'love' in this relation and explain, on a personal note, the impact of this story.From the very beginning on, the reader learns that Frederick Henry feels detached from life and is on a quest for identification. This gets clear in, for example, Chapter II when he gives insight into his feelings about being with women. "Clear cold and dry" is his view of experiences he had and the identification with his masculinity is all he has. In addi
But who has power over whom in the case of Catherine and Frederick? In my opinion, both have a certain power. The moment he sees his child and "has no feeling of fatherhood" because his son "nearly killed his mother" is in my opinion the ultimate proof that he loves her. They carry a projected psychic image from the other and seem to be to each other the source of their happiness. Moreover, she makes him "bigger-than-life" and is content with him making decisions and her loving for him. She feels completed only through him, as though it was through him that she found herself. Both become increasingly comfortable with what they are and what they have found in each other and adopt their new 'roles' easily, whenever the other is nearby. The person who carries a projected psychic image from another person does have power over that person, for as long as a part of our psyche is perceived in someone else that other person has power over us. The love that Frederick and Catherine have for each other is more than could be explained in words and Frederick makes it known that words are not really effective at describing the details. The story only makes sense as a whole, regarding true love and sacrificing parts of one's identity. The power hereby is the fact that it is impossible for them to play their roles when they are apart and, therefore, become ultimately dependent upon each other's company.
Common topics in this essay:
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Ernest Hemingway,
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Acceptance Essays
