FREE ESSAY ON THE REVELATION- ERNEST HEMINGWAY'S A FAREWELL TO ARMS

THE REVELATION- ERNEST HEMINGWAY'S A FAREWELL TO ARMS

The Revelation
Ernest Hemingway's WWI classic, A Farewell to Arms is a story of initiation in which the
growth of the protagonist, Frederic Henry, is recounted. Frederic is initially a naive
and unreflective boy who cannot grasp the meaning of the war in which he is so dedicated,
nor the significance of his lover's predictions about his future. He cannot place himself
amidst the turmoil that surrounds him and therefore, is unable to fully justify a world
of death and destruction. Ultimately, his distinction between his failed relationship
with Catherine Barkley and the devastation of the war allows him to mature and arrive at
the resolution that the only thing one can be sure of in the course of life is death and
personal obliteration (Phelan 54).
In order to chronicle Frederic's maturation, it is first necessary to understand his
character; he is what critics label a "Hemingway Code Hero." Indigenous to nearly all of
Ernest Hemingway's novels, the "Hemingway man" lives by one simple rule: 'Man the player
is born; life the game will kill him" (Rovit and Brenner 90). This man looks to derive
meaning and dignity from his stale, directionless being. In Frederic Henry's case, the
search for a system of values and morals is difficult because he is caught between two
very socially defined extremes, love and war. He only gains knowledge through his direct
experience with these two elements and through the indirect teachings of various
characters in the novel (Waldhorn 68). It is suggested that Frederic must commit to a
comfortable medium between the selflessness of the young priest and the egocentricity of
Rinaldi. 
In the introductory chapters, Frederic is torn between spending his holiday in the cold,
clear mountains of Abruzzi with the priest's family, and taking his leave in the city,
where most of his time would be spent at the dispose of taverns and institutions of
prostitution. Frederic chooses to spend his time in the city rather than Abruzzi,
although that is where he "had wanted to go…" (Hemingway 13). Frederic realizes
that there is a moral and religious way of life, which the priest represents, and he
respects these values of the priest. He acknowledges the fact that the priest has a code
to live by. On the other shoulder sits Rinaldi, the satisfied, self-assured surgeon with
whom Frederic also tries to identify. Rinaldi seems fulfilled, but as the war progresses
he falls into a world of despair and disease. Although he cannot see it, Rinaldi too
closely resembles Frederic's dilemma and therefore is unable to tutor him (Waldhorn
69-70). Tremendously significant, Frederic Henry's exchanges with the priest and Rinaldi
play a strong role in his development because he is unable to solely identify with either
of them.
Frederic's education is enhanced by his relationship with the English nurse, Catherine
Barkley, as well. Originally, Catherine is nothing more than an object of sensual desire,
but as the novel progresses, Catherine becomes symbolic of Frederic's final resolution.
At first Frederic views Catherine as a replacement for the boring prostitutes that he is
accustomed to visiting. He takes advantage of her situation; Catherine's fiance has been
killed in the war.
"I thought she was probably a little crazy. It was alright if she was. 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 instead of playing
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 alright with me" (Hemingway
30-31).
Typical of an immature youth, Frederic blatantly takes advantage of Catherine. He does
not, however, realize the extent of Catherine's shrewdness. She commits herself
absolutely to the affair only because she had not given her innocence to her deceased
fiance (Donaldson 60). Catherine possesses the one major insight that Frederic does not:
death is the end of all existence. Frederic attaches himself to Catherine because he
yearns for a sort of order.
Having discovered the value of his relationship with Catherine, Frederic returns to the
front, only to find the army in complete and utter chaos. Frederic is welcomed by his old
friends but is greatly disturbed by their low morale. His once carefree companion,
Rinaldi, is now a rough cynic, convinced that he has contracted syphilis. The war has
completely transformed this character and he is suffering to a great degree (Benson
91-92). Because of this disorder, Frederic is incapable of identifying with his old
comrades and makes the final decision to desert the army. Although he is legally bound,
Frederic no longer feels obligated to serve a country to which he does not belong. His
allegiance is shattered when he witnesses Italian officials firing on their own men. The
only meaning Frederic can derive from this is that he does not want to die a senseless
death without meaning or honor. He then retreats to the river. This is a symbolic point
in the novel because Frederic is "[moving] actively toward a game worth playing" (94).
Frederic's plunge into the Tagliamento is seen by many as a baptism (Watkins 109).
Indeed, Frederic announces that his "Anger was washed away in the river along with any
obligation" (Hemingway 232). He then goes on to explain that he is completely finished
with the war, thus this chapter of his life is closed (Donaldson "Introduction" 20).
The whole section of the novel that is concluded with Frederic's lunge into the river has
a major factor that adheres it other than the obvious component of war: Frederic's
treatment of time. The protagonist offers only reference points such as names of battles
or cities, but everything he says is vague (Miller 61). The very first sentence of the
novel begins "In the summer of that year…" (Hemingway 3). This avoidance of time
has been created by the war and Frederic knows that if he dwells on the element of time,
he would go mad waiting for the war to end. To Frederic, war means death. When the war
inches closer to him, Frederic fears time and becomes very concerned with the times of
the attacks and battles. He is able to escape the grasp of time, temporarily when he is
hospitalized after being wounded. When his leave is up, however, he is extremely precise
and acute with his descriptions (Miller 61-63). 
Along with death and war, Frederic also associates time with Catherine, as he grows more
and more fond of her. He specifically notes the hours of her shifts at the hospital.
After his desertion, the two lovers reunite in Stressa and decide to abandon all ties and
disappear into Lausanne. As they retreat across the lake, time intrudes and becomes a
factor since there is a clear danger of them being noticed. Although they attempt to
virtually escape from reality, time is unavoidable. How can it be ignored when Catherine
is pregnant? "Time becomes more important as danger increases" (63). During the labor,
Frederic's references to time are as detailed as the opening descriptions of the front. 
The final books of the novel mark Frederic's final desperate attempts to derive meaning
from his life. He has comes quite a distance since the beginning of the novel so far.
Frederic has made the first big decision of his life that contains motive and cause. Of
course joining the ambulance corps was a significant decision but Frederic had no
reasoning behind it other than that "[He] was in Italy… and [he] spoke Italian"
(Hemingway 22). Frederic's desertion is so extremely significant because it can be
justified by, if nothing more abstract than he would be killed, being suspected as a
spy.
As the two lovers retreat to Lausanne, Frederic reveals that he is "trapped biologically"
(139). He becomes extremely restless waiting on the birth of their child. He and
Catherine spend their days reading and playing games. Catherine senses Frederic's
restiveness and suggests that he grow a beard. Frederic agrees and does so, only to shave
it a few pages later. He looks in the mirror sees another, not someone that he wishes to
be. As the fifth book proceeds, it is suggested that Frederic reverts back to the use of
cliches that he had previously denounced in earlier chapters. Catherine's condition
worsens and once again Frederic is confronted with the timely notion of death. He takes
on the persona of a nervous expectant father and clings to every last sign of structure
or identity 9Gelfant 80). Catherine's inevitable fate has driven Frederic into a
senseless cesspool of babbling thoughts. 
"Get away hell! It would have been the same if we had been married fifty times. And what
if she should die? She won't die. People don't die in childbirth nowadays. That was what
all the husbands thought. Yes, but what if she should die? She won't die. She's just
having a bad time. Initial labor is usually protracted… It's just nature giving her
hell" (Hemingway 320).
These words show Frederic's scattered train of thought. He attempts to shield himself
from death with these cliches, although he knows that Catherine has no chance. Frederic
even begins to pray to God in one last futile attempt to hang on to Catherine, but he is
rejected (Watkins 113). 
It is unfortunate that Frederic's final resolution is a consequence of his lover and
child's death. Even more so, it is dramatically ironic that Frederic's conclusion has
surrounded him throughout the entire course of the novel and was even directly pointed
out by Catherine. She says of her fiance, "…then of course he was killed and that
was the end of it" (Hemingway 19). Frederic's final revelation encompasses this same
thought: "It was like saying goodbye to a statue" (332). This is Frederic's final
learning experience and it is also the biological trap that he had described before.
Death cannot be alluded, no matter what the circumstances may be. Regardless of the life
a person lives, death is the ultimate sacrifice and "those who play by the rules lose
more and faster than others" (Spanier 93). If trust is put in something other than
oneself, such as love, then it will ultimately be lost with mortality. If man is to live
and be content in his heart and soul, then he must live for himself only. In the third
chapter Frederic says, "I did not know that then, but I learned it later" (Hemingway 14).
The "it" is Frederic's insight. Man must live according to an inner code and cannot put
faith and hope in anything else. 
Although a story of initiation of Frederic Henry's life in fiction, A Farewell to Arms is
also the product of Ernest Hemingway's nonfictional experiences. After being rebuffed
numerous repeatedly from the American forces in WWI, Hemingway eventually succeeded in
joining the American Red Cross Volunteer Ambulance Corps. Like his protagonist, Hemingway
was injured, shot in the leg while carrying a dying soldier to safety. He was taken to a
hospital in Milan where he met and fell in love with a night nurse by the name of Agnes
Hannah van Kurowsky. After being wounded in Italy, he received a promotion to Second
Lieutenant, the same as Frederic Henry. Although he was extremely engaged in his
courtship with Agnes, duty called and he was sent back to the front. After corresponding
through the mail for some time, Agnes wrote Hemingway and revealed that she had fallen in
love with another man and this news broke Hemingway's heart (Baker 39,44-45,47,50,51).
Hemingway's life and philosophical ideas on love, war and death are all incorporated into
A Farewell to Arms and as he tells of Frederic's initiation there is no doubt that
Hemingway recounts his own tragic story.
Bibliography
Baker, Carlos. Ernest Hemingway: A Life Story. New York: Scribner's, 1969
Benson, Jack J. "Frederic Henry's Disillusionment with the War." Readings on A Farewell
to Arms. Ed. Gary Weiner. Greenhaven: California, 2000. 83-94.
Donaldson, Scott. "Frederic Henry: A Selfish Lover." Readings on A Farewell to Arms. Ed.
Gary Weiner. Greenhaven: California, 2000. 56-67.
Donaldson, Scott. "Introduction." New Essays on A Farewell to Arms. Ed. Scott Donaldson.
Cambridge: New York, 1990. 1-25.
Gelfant, Blanche. "Frederic Henry's Heroic Rejection of Cliches." Readings on A Farewell
to Arms. Ed. Gary Weiner. Greenhaven: California, 2000. 78-82.
Hemingway, Ernest. A Farewell to Arms. New York, Scribner's, 1929.
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to Arms." Hemingway Review. 10 (1991):61-64.
Phelan, James. "Distance, Voice, and Temporal Perspective in Frederic Henry's Narration:
Successes, Problems, and Paradox." New Essays on A Farewell to Arms. Ed. Scott Donaldson.
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and the Great War." New Essays on A Farewell to Arms. Ed. Scott Donaldson. Cambridge: New
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Waldhorn, Arthur. "Excerpt from A Reader's Guide to A Farewell to Arms." Readings on A
Farewell to Arms. Ed. Gary Weiner. Greenhaven: California, 2000. 68-71.
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