Barkley was Agnes von Kurowsky, a real nurse who cared for Hemingway in a hospital in Milan after he had been wounded. He had planned to marry her but she spurned his love when he returned to America.2
A Farewell to Arms not only is a masterpiece in American literary history but also enjoys a high popularity across the world. The language in the novel is vivid and easy to understand. War and love interweave together in the novel. The writer expounds his view to war and life. This novel makes people have a deep thinking of the world as well as war itself. It is a well-organized novel with a complicated and vivid portrait of characters. The title of the novel has two meanings for the word “arms” not only means weapon but also means embrace of lover. So the meaning of the title can be said say good-bye to war as well as love.
Ernest Hemingway is also known for Hemingway Code Hero. He puts his own experience of fishing, hunting, bullfight and war in his writing which creates many tough heroes who are known for “grace under pressure”. However, women characters are not in this group to be criticized except for Catherine. In A Farewell to Arms the hero and the heroine are both typical Hemingway code hero. Their characteristic and the surroundings contribute to their tragic ending. Their love story is as moving as William Shakespeare’s tragedy Romeo and Juliet by some critics.
In A Farewell to Arms Hemingway uses a lot of writing skills to construct the tragic atmosphere. Symbolism is one of the most important techniques he used. By depicting the weather and the environment, Hemingway implies a tragic ending. To summarize Hemingway’s writing style, iceberg principle is the most that worth discussion. He uses the least words to suggest the most meaning. Hemingway’s language is vivid and terse. Instead of narrative paragraphs, he writes dialogues more often. He uses speech to convey the plot and the mental activities of characters.
The tragic character, the description of weather and scenery and the tragic ending all indicating the tragic sense of the novel. In the novel there is a aesthetics of tragedy. Hemingway’s purpose is not unfold sorrow and despair before people’s eyes. He
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intends to reveal human’s great power to face despair and tragic life. His unique writing style and tragic sense reflect his view on love and war. Cruel and ruthless war destroys people’s beautiful love and deprives their happiness. Hemingway depicts the real face of war and the tragedy caused by war to express his hatred and disgust to war.
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Chapter I. Typical Hemingway Hero — Tragic Hero
A. Analysis of the Hero — Frederick Henry
Ernest Hemingway is one of the writers who have gone to the battlefield of the First World War himself. At war, he was badly injured. He was honored of the hero of the war. Even though he was badly wound, he was full of spirit and energy. This is the first image Hemingway left to the world. He was awarded the Military Cross Medal, the Silver Medal as well as the Courage Medal by the Italy Government. Although the medals sparkling before his brace were shiny, the injury in his body was hidden behind the even harder to recover spiritual injury. When He came back from the front line, the picture of the crucial war lingered in his mind which made him can not have a sound sleep in the night. This state of mind may be the first reason that he creates the novel A Farewell to Arms. Hemingway was an ambulance driver at war. He also has the experience of having some love affairs with a nurse. He put his own experience in the novel. A Farewell to Arms is a monumental war novel in American literary history.
In the novel A Farewell to Arms Hemingway used the first person point of view. Frederick Henry, the protagonist of A Farewell to Arms, is the narrator. He has received a lot of attention from the critics around the world. He is a status in the gallery of the “Lost Generation”. The novel depicts Henry’s unhappy life and characteristic. Through the tragedy of Henry, Hemingway expresses his view on war and love.
Henry is an American youth who is full of dreams. He is a student studying architecture in Italy. When the war broke out, he volunteers to join the Italian army under the Italian “patriotism” and American “democracy” thinking. His work is to drive ambulance to transport the wounded. So he does not feel the war is very cruel.
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Just as he say, “Well, I knew I would not be killed. Not in this war. It did not have anything to do with me. It seemed no more dangerous to me myself than war in the movies. I wished to God it was over though.”3 (all the quotations are taken from A Farewell to Arms unless otherwise noted) Henry has a very brief view of war. When others ask why he would come to the war, he just feels that he could speak Italian. An Italian priest who has a good relationship with Henry named him a patriot. Actually, Henry does not know the real meaning of joining the war. He is caught in the spirit crisis and cannot escape. The Italian's relatively bloodless battlefield and Henry’s relatively leisured task----driving ambulance, seems that his life is predictable and dull. In addition, except for playing cards and chatting with the pastor and Rinaldi, he has nothing to do but only drink to pass the time. In order to get rid of the torment of heart because the dream has vanished into the air, Henry turns to be a drunken man. Even by doing this, he cannot able to expel the sense of the inner emptiness.
At this point, the appearance of Catherine Barkley makes up the vacancy. His first meeting with Catherine left him with a deep impression: \saw Catherine Barkley coming down the hall, and stood up. She did not seem tall walking toward me but she looked very lovely”.(24)However, Henry does not fall in love with Catherine at first sight. At first, he does not love this beautiful goddess. He even has no intention to try to love her. He is clear minded and he knows that his meeting with Catherine is a game, just like playing Bridge. He does not care much of Catherine’s queer actions. He regards their relationship as killing time which is better than going to the brothel every night. Then Henry comes to Catherine to show his love. He wants to temporarily escape a sense of emptiness and loneliness which the war brings to him. Ignorance as Henry is, he finally finds their spiritual refuge in the battlefield --- he dates with Catherine so that he can escape the feeling caused by war.
With the development of the plot, Henry and Catherine have more opportunities to meet and their love affairs have the new trends. Their love becomes more profound than before. The battlefield becomes slightly nervous than before, which makes Henry perform tasks from time to time to drive the ambulance. At first he is indifferent with spending little time with Catherine. However, when Henry returns to the front line
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from Milan, he hurries to the hospital to see Catherine. But Catherine cannot see him. His attitude at this time becomes more serious.
In the middle of the novel Henry says farewell to war. His war experience is a tragedy. What about his love affairs with Catherine? At first Henry does not fall in love with Catherine. He acts as a playboy and only pays attention to Catherine’s good looking. Their relationship changes after Henry’s injury at the front line. Henry is sent to Milan hospital for treatment. In hospital, he can not believe his eye that Catherine is dispatched to this hospital. Catherine takes good care of him. During the treatment, the love between Henry and Catherine sublimed. He said: “I was crazy about her. I could not believe she was really there and held her tight to me.”(94)He told her over and over again, “I really love you. I'm crazy about you”(94-95)
He feels extremely pleased and happy. Catherine companys and takes care of Henry, regardless of exhaustion. When Catherine learns she is pregnant, at first she does not want to tell Henry and does not want to let him worry about it. She also refuses to marry Henry. What she really cared about is not the form of marriage, but the true love between her and Henry. Good time flies quickly, it’s time to separate. Although Henry does not like war, he has to go back to the front line. Catherine bravely tells Henry, that she will find a good place to give birth to the child. At this point, the author did not make too much description of the feelings of Henry. But through Henry's language and behavior, it is not difficult to see that in order to make Catherine happy, he represses his feeling and stress of not being ready to be a father.
Escaping from the frontline, Henry looks Catherine as his own unique belief. He often looks at his amulet which Catherine gave him. Then the story comes to the climax, Henry and Catherine’s emotional realm sublimated again. In the help of a friend, they escapes from the Italian military police and go to Switzerland by boat. The time in Switzerland is their last happiness. But the risk of arrest is still all times lurking in the heart of Henry. At this point, only be with Catherine together, can he forget the danger. Only love can soothe his heavy heart, so that he would have the courage to continue to live. The expected date is closing, Henry becomes more and more anxious and nervous. This tension came from no way of knowing. In the end,
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