A Farewell to Arms

A Farewell to Arms

First edition cover
Author	Ernest Hemingway
Country	United States
Language	English
Genre(s)	War Semi-autobiographical novel
Publisher	Scribner's Magazine
Publication date	May-October, 1929
Media type	Print (Serialization)
Pages	336 pp (Scribner reprint ed)
ISBN	ISBN 978-0-684-80146-9 (Scribner reprint ed)

A Farewell to Arms is a semi-autobiographical novel written by Ernest Hemingway in 1929. Much of the novel was written at the home of Hemingway's in-laws in Piggott, Arkansas. The novel is told through the point of view of Lieutenant Frederic Henry, an American serving as an ambulance driver in the Italian army during World War I.

Plot summary

The novel is divided into five books. In the first book, Henry meets Catherine Barkley and their relationship begins. While on the Italian front, Henry is wounded in the knee by a mortar shell and sent to a hospital in Milan. The second book shows the growth of Henry and Catherine's relationship as they spend time together in Milan over the summer. Henry falls in love with Catherine, and by the time he is healed, Catherine is three months pregnant. In the third book, Henry returns to his unit, but not long after, the Germans break through the Italian lines, and the Italians retreat. After falling behind and catching up again, Henry is pulled out of the crowd to where officers are being interrogated and executed for "treachery" leading to the Italian defeat. However, Henry escapes by jumping into a river. In the fourth book, Catherine and Henry reunite and flee to Switzerland in a rowboat. In the final book, Henry and Catherine live a quiet life in the mountains until she goes into labor. After a long and painful labor, their son is stillborn. Catherine begins to hemorrhage and soon dies, leaving Henry to return to their hotel in the rain.

Characterizations

• American Lieutenant Frederic Henry often called simply Tenente, is the consciousness through which the novel is told. Henry is a volunteer ambulance driver from the United States. In Henry, we see the beginnings of what comes to be called Hemingway's "Code Hero": Henry is stoic under duress or pain; he modestly deflects praise for his contributions to the war; he is unflappable under fire; he does his work. He is a "man's man," in that his thoughts revolve on women ("girls") and drink. He participates in and seems to enjoy the banal, everyday conversation between the soldiers. He is attracted to the simple goodness of the priest, who, like Henry (who is an atheist), sticks to his beliefs despite the war's constant presence. Rinaldi's exuberance amuses him, but he quails over the Italian male greeting of the kiss.
• Catherine Barkley has been used hard by life. She had said "No" to a proposal of marriage, and then her love was killed in the war. She is British, professional, deeply feeling. Her sexual desires and her simple desire for companionship are sometimes at odds with her needs to tend to the ill. Like the code hero, she handles conflicting needs with grace, giving to both, but shorting none. Feminist thinkers will see in Catherine Hemingway's perfect woman: wise and cynical in many ways, her wisdom cannot contain her desire. As Henry gives his health and youth to the war effort, Catherine's chief heroism is to ignore the dangers of unprotected sex and to accept the pain and death of childbirth stoically.
• Rinaldi is a physician through which Hemingway draws his idea of an Italian male. Sketched somewhat jingoistically, Rinaldi is unfailingly exuberant, ignoring small details that would stop his large and giving gestures. He loves women and drink, bearing a bottle of the latter and tales of the former to his friend Henry as Henry recovers from his wounds. He enjoys performing surgery, seeing it as an enjoyable challenge; he greets his friend Frederic Henry with a formal European-style kiss. Rinaldi is a form of the code hero as well. He allows Hemingway to explore another, non-Anglo-American, way of being male, of facing even a difficult world, an injured Italy, with joie de vivre, ignoring all danger, giving of himself.

Adaptations

• A Farewell to Arms (1932 film)

A film adaptation of the same name was made in 1932, and was nominated for the Academy Award for Best Picture. It was written by Oliver H.P. Garrett and Benjamin Glazer, from the Hemingway novel, was directed by Frank Borzage, and features the music of Richard Wagner. The movie stars Helen Hayes, Gary Cooper and Adolphe Menjou.^[1]

• A Farewell to Arms (1957 film)

The film was remade with the same title in 1957, starring Jennifer Jones, Rock Hudson and Vittorio De Sica and was directed by Charles Vidor and John Huston. De Sica was nominated for Best Supporting Actor for his role in this version.^[2]

• In Love and War (1996 film)

Directed by Richard Attenborough, this film is a more biographical work, based on the same background as A Farewell to Arms.^[3]

See Also

• Spark Notes: A Farewell to Arms

References

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