FREE ESSAY ON CALL TO ARMS

CALL TO ARMS

World War One. The first great tragedy of humanity. That is of course excluding love and
life. Combine all three and you find one of the most masterfully written novels about
life, love, and war that could only be written by Ernest Hemingway. Born July 21, 1899 in
Oak Park, Illinois, a suburb of Chicago, Hemingway started his literary career when he
was hired as a reporter for the Kansas City Star. During the war he joined the volunteer
American Red Cross as a ambulance driver in 1918. After being seriously wounded in the
line of duty he was decorated with two Italian medals and joined the Italian infantry.
His experiences with journalism and war create a excellent symbiosis to exploit the
writers rule, only write about what you know, which makes Farewell to Arms a remarkable
novel. 
Personal experiences alone don't always make a good story however. Ernest Hemingway's
ability to achieve a roller coaster of emotions from chapter to chapter is remarkable.
The basic feeling of hope and despair take turns throughout the novel but the idea that
life is a futile attempt at salvation is stressed at all times. The emotional seesaw that
Hemingway puts the reader through is an invigorating experience but even more stimulating
since he can maintain the overtones of depression.
Hemingway's ability to pull so many tragedies together to stress the themes of
depression, despair, a futility in humanity also make this novel very impressive. Just
the setting of a love affair during wartime implies a dark reckoning upon the two lovers.
Everything about the book drives the idea of fate and futility even when the idea and
promise of hope is thrown in.
Although the author drive his point home, we have to look at the psychological effects of
it on the readers. Now, I have no solid evidence, but I suspect that this book may have
driven some to their death. BANG! Right in the head. Realistically, the effects of this
book on a persons emotional well- being isn't exactly positive. The idea of ,"you can't
do anything about it, life is nothing but a four letter word", should have a tremendous
effect on a person if they can connect with the message. Most of us can. 
Therefore, reading this novel may not be the best thing to do for an emotionally unstable
person. Or any person for that matter. 
Thumbs up on the novel for it's message, thumbs down for the effects of the message. All
in all however, Ernest Hemingway definitely has a way with words.