A Farewell To Arms
- Ernest Hemingway.
The novel is set in Europe during World War I. Most specifically in the countries of Italy
and Switzerland. The interesting thing about Hemingway's writing is that every
element in his story is there for a reason even the weather. Hemingway doesn't
waste any detail. But there's more to it than that.
Lieutenant
Frederic Henry is a young American ambulance driver serving in the Italian army
during World War I. At the beginning of the novel, the war is winding down with
the onset of winter, and Henry arranges to tour Italy. The following spring,
upon his return to the front, Henry meets Catherine Barkley, an English nurse’s
aide at the nearby British hospital and the love interest of his friend
Rinaldi. Rinaldi, however, quickly fades from the picture as Catherine and
Henry become involved in an elaborate game of seduction. Grieving the recent
death of her fiancé, Catherine longs for love so deeply that she will settle
for the illusion of it. Her passion, even though pretended, wakens a desire for
emotional interaction in Henry, whom the war has left coolly detached and numb.
When
Henry is wounded on the battlefield, he is brought to a hospital in Milan to
recover. Several doctors recommend that he stay in bed for six months and then
undergo a necessary operation on his knee. Unable to accept such a long period
of recovery, Henry finds a bold, garrulous surgeon named Dr. Valentini who
agrees to operate immediately. Henry learns happily that Catherine has been
transferred to Milan and begins his recuperation under her care. During the
following months, his relationship with Catherine intensifies. No longer simply
a game in which they exchange empty promises and playful kisses, their love
becomes powerful and real. As the lines between scripted and genuine emotions
begin to blur, Henry and Catherine become tangled in their love for each other.
Once
Henry’s damaged leg has healed, the army grants him three weeks convalescence
leave, after which he is scheduled to return to the front. He tries to plan a
trip with Catherine, who reveals to him that she is pregnant. The following
day, Henry is diagnosed with jaundice, and Miss Van Campen, the superintendent
of the hospital, accuses him of bringing the disease on himself through excessive
drinking. Believing Henry’s illness to be an attempt to avoid his duty as a
serviceman, Miss Van Campen has Henry’s leave revoked, and he is sent to the
front once the jaundice has cleared. As they part, Catherine and Henry pledge
their mutual devotion.
Henry
travels to the front, where Italian forces are losing ground and manpower
daily. Soon after Henry’s arrival, a bombardment begins. When word comes that
German troops are breaking through the Italian lines, the Allied forces prepare
to retreat. Henry leads his team of ambulance drivers into the great column of
evacuating troops. The men pick up two engineering sergeants and two frightened
young girls on their way. Henry and his drivers then decide to leave the column
and take secondary roads, which they assume will be faster. When one of their
vehicles bogs down in the mud, Henry orders the two engineers to help in the
effort to free the vehicle. When they refuse, he shoots one of them. The
drivers continue in the other trucks until they get stuck again. They send off
the young girls and continue on foot toward Udine. As they march, one of the
drivers is shot dead by the easily frightened rear guard of the Italian army.
Another
driver marches off to surrender himself, while Henry and the remaining driver
seek refuge at a farmhouse. When they rejoin the retreat the following day,
chaos has broken out: soldiers, angered by the Italian defeat, pull commanding
officers from the melee and execute them on sight. The battle police seize
Henry, who, at a crucial moment, breaks away and dives into the river. After
swimming a safe distance downstream, Henry boards a train bound for Milan. He
hides beneath a tarp that covers stockpiled artillery, thinking that his
obligations to the war effort are over and dreaming of his return to Catherine.
Henry
reunites with Catherine in the town of Stresa. From there, the two escape to
safety in Switzerland, rowing all night in a tiny borrowed boat. They settle
happily in a lovely alpine town called Montreux and agree to put the war behind
them forever. Although Henry is sometimes plagued by guilt for abandoning the
men on the front, the two succeed in living a beautiful, peaceful life. When
spring arrives, the couple moves to Lausanne so that they can be closer to the
hospital. Early one morning, Catherine goes into labor. The delivery is
exceptionally painful and complicated. Catherine delivers a stillborn baby boy
and, later that night, dies of a hemorrhage. Henry stays at her side until she
is gone. He attempts to say goodbye but cannot. He walks back to his hotel in
the rain.
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