Farewell To Arms By Hemingway Essay Research

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One of the best novels of Ernest Hemingway is A Farewell to Arms. Hemingway

takes much of his life story line to his novel. A Farewell to Arms is the

typical classic story that can refer to Romeo and his Juliet placed against the

odds. In this novel, Romeo is Frederick Henry and Juliet is Catherine Barkley.

Their love affair must survive the barrier of World War I. The background of

war-torn Italy adds to the tragedy of the love story. The story starts when

Frederick Henry is serving in the Italian Army. He meets his love in the

hospital after he gets injured from the mortar attack. A Farewell to Arms is one

of the best American novels because of the symbolism, the exciting plot and the

characteristic of the main character, Lieutenant Henry. The symbolism in A

Farewell to Arms is very much apparent. For example, In the book, Twentieth

Century Interpretations of A Farewell to Arms, Malcolm Cowley focuses on the

symbolism of rain. He sees rain a frequent occurrence in the book, as

symbolizing disaster (Malcolm, 54-55). He points out that, at the beginning of A

Farewell to Arms, Henry talks about how "things went very badly" and

how this is connected to "At the start of the winter came permanent

rain". In the book, Miss Barkley afraid of the rain because she has a

nightmare and she sees death in the rain. She says, "Sometimes I see me

dead in it", which she is referring to the rain as a death. It is raining

the entire night when Miss Barkley is giving childbirth and when both she and

her baby die (Malcolm 54-55). Most of the reader fined out that A Farewell to

Arms is fun and excited to read. Hemingway makes the language very easy to

understand and it is suitable for all ages. Agnes W. Smith, the editor of Mr.

Hemingway Does It Again says, "A Farewell to Arms…is Hemingway’s greatest

works?it is glowing modern love story, a story of emotion that is so true it

is like an intense personal experience"(Stephens 78). Walter R. Brooks the

editor of Behind the Blurbs also says "?warmth, of actuality of closeness

that only your own personal experiences have for you. It was so real to us that

we felt, as we do ordinarily in our own life" (Stephens 81). Hemingway

popularity does not stop in the United States, but explodes across over sea to

the European country such as Germany. Many of the critics such as Klaus Mann,

Max Dietrich, and Hans Falada give him a big welcome support (Kvam 92). A

Farewell to Arms is the first Hemingway novel to be reissue after World War II (Kvam

92), and the majority of German critics believe that A Farewell to Arms is the

best novel up to date (Kvam 93). According to Papajewski, According to

Papajewski, "The book was generally acclaimed by readers of all ages";

the aspects of the novel which constituted to its wide spread success? were

not only its political implication, but also its captivating love story and the

powerful tragic ending?the blurb on the Seinberg-Verlag’s edition in 1948

proclaimed that over 100,000 copies in the German language had already been sold

(Kvam 92-93) Thomas Mann, a well known critics mention A Farewell to Arms as,

"It is one of the most beautiful, carefully restrained modern love

stories?[It is] a genuine, manly book, a masterpiece"(Kvam 92). In A

Farewell to Arms, Hemingway introduces Lieutenant Henry as an American Soldier

in the Italian Army during the World War I. Henry works as a paramedic and he is

the only few of the American in the Italian armed force. Lieutenant Henry has an

interesting characteristic because although, he is in the war, but his attitude

refused to be involved. For example, "?he drinks with the officers and

talks with priest, and visit the officer’s brothel, but all contact he keeps

deliberately on a superficial level. He has rejected the world." (Johnson

135) Henry truly isolates himself from the war and he does not think he desires

to be parts of the war. However, Henry is not a Barbarian at all, during the

war, Henry had study the architecture in the Italy when the war begin.

"Henry make an Ironical remarks about sculptures and bronze; his

reflections and conversation contain allusion to Samuel Jackson, Saint Paul,

Andrew Marvel, and Sir Thomas Wyatt" (Johnson 135). Lieutenant Henry knows

that he is the war and he fully understands how crazy the war is and how life

and death can be take away in any second, but instead of being paranoid, he

isolates himself from the war. This avoidance of real relationships and

involvement do not show an insensitive person, but rather someone who is

protecting himself from getting involved and hurt. It is clear that in all of

Hemingway’s books and from his own life that he sees the world as his enemy.

Johnson says, "He will solve the problem of dealing with the world by

taking refuge in individualism and isolated personal relationships and

sensations" (Johnson 134-136). Henry drinks, smoke, party, travel and fall

in love; Henry has an interesting characteristic because the way he behaves

himself during the war. A Farewell to Arms is one of the best novels of Ernest

Hemingway. Hemingway takes much of his life story line to his novel. A Farewell

to Arms is the typical classic story that can refer to Romeo and his Juliet

placed against the odds. Frederick Henry is an American who serves as a

lieutenant in the Italian army to a group of ambulance drivers. The story starts

when Frederick Henry is serving in the Italian Army. He meets his love in the

hospital after he injured from the mortar attack. A Farewell to Arms is one of

the best American novels because of the characteristic of the main character,

Lieutenant Henry, the symbolism, the exciting plot.

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