A Farewell to Arms Study Guide
“A Farewell to Arms” is a book written by Ernest Hemingway about the events of the World War I. This is the book that presented Hemingway to the world as a writer. It is a high-quality text about war, love, cynic actions and “lost generation”.
Prepare to dive into a world that is ripped apart, makes no sense and smells like cognac. The protagonist of the story is lieutenant Frederic Henry of American origins who is actively involved in the events of the First World War. It’s at the front line that he meets a nurse Catherine Barkley and falls in love with her. The intense period of getting to know each other starts with the lightning from the mine explosions on the backdrop.
It’s hard to tell where are the real feelings and where are the illusions. A girl who lost her fiancé and is now craving for love passionately admires a cold and detached soldier. Due to an unfortunate accident, the couple is trapped in a hospital and the nature of their relationship changes. All of the sudden the reader might think it’s for real. But Henry has to return to the battlefield only to participate in a massive retreat of the Italian army forces.
A lot of suspicions, casual deaths, chaos and total despair are felt through the book. The reader can never know when the worst is scheduled to happen and it always happens in the least expected moment. The book is controversial, but it has a writing style that helps the reader not to judge the characters. Some will interpret their actions as lack of responsibility and absence of the will. Others will blame the circumstances.
Even though this book might leave you feeling down, it is worth reading. It evokes only true and deep emotions.
Author: Frank Frazier
New Essays
In A Farewell To Arms, the main focus of Ernest Hemingway (the author) is the title character's involvement in the war and his love interest, Catherine Barkley. When Frederic Henry first meets Catherine it is just playful flirting. Then they soon learn that when they are together, they are able to...
Analysis of Major Characters Frederic Henry In the sections of the novel in which he describes his experience in the war, Henry portrays himself as a man of duty. He attaches to this understanding of himself no sense of honor, nor does he expect any praise for his service. Even after he has been...
'A writer's job is to tell the truth' Ernest Hemingway. This quote means that it is a writer's job to convey some sort of truth or accuracy to the reader. I agree. This is shown in the novel, A Farewell to Arms, by Ernest Hemingway through the setting and characterization in...
One measure of a powerful writer lies in her ability to write literature in which any passage can be set apart from its context and still express the qualities of the whole. When this occurs, the integrated profundity of the entire work is a sign of true artistry. Ernest Hemingway, an author of...