Farewell to Arms Ernest Hemingway was indelibly impacted by his experiences both with war and romantic love, which is why love and war feature together prominently in novels like A Farewell to Arms. The double meaning of the title of this novel refers to the protagonist Lieutenant Henry's saying goodbye both to the arms of war and also to the arms of his love. In Henry's experience, both war and love are linked to death. War and love make strange bedfellows, but each does bring out a mixture of hope and devastation. The confluence of love and war remains the prevailing theme in A Farewell to Arms. This theme creates opportunities for the main characters to grow and change, or to stagnate and die. In the case of Lieutenant Frederic Henry, war and death cause him to grow and change even though in the end he is left feeling bitter and cynical due to the nihilistic nature of war and the uselessness of romantic love. Henry is mysterious in many ways, especially when he decides to kill the engineer However, Catherine Barley is an even more mysterious character in the sense that the reader never really gets inside her head or understands her motivations. Her death in the end symbolizes the death of hope; and it is almost as if Hemingway uses Catherine more as a symbol than as a three-dimensional character. Yet both Lieutenant Henry and Catherine Barkley prove to be complex characters and both enjoy their romance with the understanding that it can fall apart at any minute. Their cynicism may be why the two were drawn together in the first place. Thesis: Both Catherine and Henry respond to pain, suffering, and war by clinging...
Their love for each other is driven more by desperation and a need for spiritual salvation than it is by genuine interest in the well being of the other person. Catherine, for example, is depicted as being fickle. She is first shown to be the girlfriend of Rinaldi, but it soon emerges that the relationship between Rinaldi and Catherine is shallow. Catherine then divulges that she is still grieving for her dead fiance. Thus, she is seeking love and comfort in other men, before she has gotten over her fiance. Catherine comes across immediately as someone who is emotionally needy and who might not know what real love is. Henry is also emotionally needy, and uses love as a means to avoid the harder task of coming to terms with himself. When he meets Catherine, he mainly wants to seduce her. He is not interested in Catherine as a human being but only in what Catherine can do for him. Her role as a nurse underscores the imbalance in their relationship, which is predicated on traditional patriarchal gender roles. Catherine's role is a caregiver, and Henry sees her as someone who is going to take care of him, whether or not he takes care of her. Benson points out that especially at the beginning of the novel, Henry is "selfish and ego-centered," while his "perceptions of his surroundings are vague, limited, and detached," (83).
Ernest Hemingway The Short Happy Life of Francis Macomber Ernest Hemingway -- the Short Happy Life of Francis Macomber The Short Happy Life of Francis Macomber (Hemingway 5-28) and Ernest Hemingway's biography (Hulse) illustrate several key aspects of Ernest Hemingway's his personality. Hemingway's upbringing and observations of the characters in this short story reveal his attitudes about men, women and their relationships. If The Short Happy Life of Francis Macomber is a true indication
Ernest Hemingway The author Ernest Hemingway specialized in what is known as naturalistic writing. He tells the reader only the basic information about what is going on in a particular short story or novel. Much is told about the natural settings of the stories, but very little is given about the characters in his stories. Instead, the facts about the people, including their personalities and characteristics, have to be inferred by
Ernest Hemingway "Hills Like White Elephants" Kate Chopin "The Story Hour" Hemingway rich symbolism build "The Story of an Hour" is rife with irony. This literary device is demonstrated in Mrs. Mallard's reaction to the purported death of her husband, and in the fact that he is really alive. The literary device of irony is mainly about opposition -- words are used in the exact opposite way of their literal meaning,
Ernest Hemingway is considered by some as the greatest writer in American History, by those who do not consider him so, he is still considered one of the greatest American writers. While many have written articles and entire books on the subject of Hemingway, one need only read his books and short stories to understand the man. Hemingway's writings are a window into his soul and very often mirror happenings
Hills tells the story of a young American man and his pregnant lover waiting for the train that will take them to an abortionist. In addition to the directness of speech characteristic of Hemingway's writing, Hills explores several themes characteristic of Hemingway, to include boredom, dissatisfaction, and self-destruction as a moving paralysis. "And we could have all this," she said. 'And we could have everything and every day we
The conflict is real and it is too big for him to tackle on his own, so he shuts down and checks out emotionally. Another story that deals with inner conflict is "Now I Lay Me." This story is completely internal and it becomes the narrator's way to keep from losing his mind as he fights insomnia. He is suffering from shell shock. The conflict is the narrator's inability to
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