Ernest Hemingway "A Farewell to Arms"

Thesis statement

Throughout the story it can be realized that Henry and Catherine are willing to sacrifice everything to run away from way in order to live a peaceful and happy life. This paper enlightens the themes in the novel and discusses the meaning of each theme. Hemingway is an author who prefers reality rather than fantasy

Outline

Introduction

War

Love and Loss

Reality vs. Fantasy

Self vs. Duty

Rain

Riding crop

Hair and beards

Conclusion

Introduction

The purpose of this paper is to discuss the themes in Hemingway's novel “A farewell to arms”. This behavior of Hemingway can also be illustrated through the novel “A farewell to arms” because in this novel the whole story revolves around the scenario of World War I and does not comprise a happy ending. The main characters of this novel are Henry and Catherine who are deeply in love (Hemingway, 24). However, the novel ends with a tragic death of Catherine at the time of childbirth. This paper will focus on discussing the themes used in the play and their purpose.

War

The incident of “A Farewell to Arms” happened in Italy in the era of World War I; hence the characters of the characters of the book are inspired by the situation of war. Majority of the characters ranging from Henry and Catherine to the armed forces and the owners of the stores are philanthropist (Hemingway, 36). Everyone among these characters supported Hemingway's vision. According to Hemingway's vision never supported the idea of war and considered it a ridiculous squander of life. However, there are few characters that agree with the idea of war.

Love and Loss

This theme discusses Henry's hatred towards the concept of love. Henry considers himself rigid and do not want to fall in love. However, despite of his projected sarcasm about love, Henry falls in love with Catherine. At the other hand of the story, Catherine is a girl who has been deprived of love and compassion (Hemingway, 58). It is revealed that Catherine wants love more than anything in the world. In novel tells that every time Catherine falls in love she loses him. It is revealed in the start of the novel that Catherine's lost her previous boy friend in war. In the novel the concept of love is well connected with the concept of loss. In this novel the darker side of love is shown rather than the brighter side and it continues till the end when Henry loses Catherine as dies during childbirth. (Carlos, 20-28) Actually, the unbelievable strength of Henry and Catherine's love seems reliant on the loss surrounding them. It is believed that true love brings the extreme pain with it, and this novel follows the same theme.

Reality vs. Fantasy

During the story of “A Farewell to Arms”, Hemingway revealed bitter side of truth rather than focusing on the fantasies. He illustrates how the cruel realities of life penetrate and alter the fantasies of life used to distract people. (Jackson, 33-35)According to him the novel was based on the situation of war ...