Hello And Goodbye Essay Research Paper Hello

Hello And Goodbye Essay, Research Paper

Hello and Goodbye

In the book A Farewell to Arms there are a number of themes. The two main themes that are clearly pointed out are love and war. Love is a word that sounds like a good time and being happy, war on the other hand is a word which refers to bad times, sadness and suffering. The book A Farewell to Arms follows a pattern of events where good things happen and bad things happen, always occurring after each other. The book begins with Frederic Henry, the main character, telling of his situation working as an ambulance driver in the Italian army in World War I. Here he meets a beautiful English nurse name Catherine Barkley whom he fools around with and makes a joke out of their relationship. This doesn t last long though for Henry is wounded while on the job and is sent to an American hospital where Catherine works. When his wounds are healed the army gives him some time off so he decides to take it and travel Europe with Catherine. When he returns from his trip he joins up with his unit once again where the reunion is short lived. Italian military police arrest him for not being Italian. Henry escapes though and joins up with Catherine. They decide to go to Switzerland where they plan to marry after their baby is born. When Catherine goes into labor though the doctor says her pelvis is too narrow. He is forced to perform an unsuccessful Caesarean section that leaves both Catherine and the baby dead. The poem The Tide Rises, The Tide Falls by Henry Wadsworth Longfellow, has a theme that relates with A Farewell to Arms perfectly. When reading the title alone it practically says good times versus bad times. In both of these writings there are symbols of both bad and good things. Both also have characters and stanza s that reflect off each other. In A Farewell to Arms

Rogoff 2

there are a number of different elements and patterns which The Tide Rises, The Tide Falls also has making the two of them very similar. In both pieces of literature there are different events and phrases that represent good times and bad times. One example is in the poem, The little waves, with their soft, white hands, / Efface the footprints in the sands….. (line 8-9). Here, there are little waves that are nice and soft. These waves are hardly innocent though for in the end these little waves are really obliterating the harmless footprints. A similar situation is shown in the novel. Henry falls in love with Catherine and Catherine becomes pregnant. This is a happy event, but, it does not stay this way for long. Henry and Catherine even agree to get married, ….as soon as I m thin again , which basically means after she gives birth to the baby (294). When Catherine goes into labor though the doctor see s complications and says, There are two things. Either a high forceps delivery which can tear and be quite dangerous besides being possibly bad for the child, and a Caesarean. (321). They decide to go with the Caesarean which ends up causing the death of both Catherine and the baby. Here is a perfect example of the pattern that good things are followed by bad things. Another example from the novel is when Henry returns from the army. After a beautiful trip across Europe he returns to his unit only to be arrested shortly after his return for not being a true Italian. Another good thing occurs after this though, he escapes from the Italians and reunites with Catherine. It s rather ironic how both of these writings have many happy, good events which always end in some tragic way.

There are a couple reasons why both of these writings have elements that reflect each other. They reflect each other in the way that one event happens that causes another one to occur. Cause and effect essentially. In A Farewell to Arms there are a number of times when Henry is away from Catherine. The cause of this varies, many times they have to do with him

Rogoff 3

being in the army. The effect of this is that he always returns to Catherine. Almost like Catherine

always calls him back and he returns. In the poem The Tide Rises, The Tide Falls it is very

similar. Each line and couplet has the same structure of the cause and effect concept. In this line, Stamp and neigh, as the hostler calls , it says the hostler calls the horses, the cause, and the horses become upset and neigh, the effect of the hostler calling (line 12). Another example from the poem says, The day returns, but nevermore/ Returns the traveler to the shore (line 13-14). Here the poem talks about how when the day ends those in the water always retreat to the shore just as Henry always retreats and returns to Catherine.

There are many different phrases and sayings that relate to these writings. What goes up, most come down , What goes around comes around , even a common phrase like Hello and Goodbye . All throughout the book Frederic Henry and Catherine were symbolically saying hello and goodbye to each other. The poem also has a cause and effect style that is very similar to the book. In A Farewell to Arms Henry and Catherine constantly would leave each other and then reunite. In the end though they must say goodbye forever for Catherine passed away. This last goodbye is the saddest though, Henry well never see Catherine again, she was like an angel to him and he looked for guidance from her all the time.