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| Hemingway, Ernest: A Farewell to Arms
Hemingway, Ernest: A Farewell to Arms
ENGLISH – BOOK
REVIEW
A Farewell to Arms by Ernest
Hemingway
Ernest Miller Hemingway:
He was born in 1899 in a Chicago suburb as the second of
six children of a doctor
In 1918 he volunteered to work as an ambulance driver on
the Italian front, where he was badly wounded, but twice decorated for
it.
He returned to America, where he got married. In 1922 he
reported on the Greco-Turkish war, however two years later he resigned from
journalism to devote himself to fiction.
His first published works: ”Three Stories and Ten
Poems”, ”In our Time” and the satirical novel ”The
Torrents of Spring”, which helped him to the road of success. His
international reputation was secured by his next three books:
”Fiesta”, Men without women” and ”A Farewell to
Arms”. Another bestseller was: ”For whom the bell
tolls”.
In 1954 Hemingway was awarded the Nobel Prize for
Literature following the publication of ”The old Man and the
Sea”.
Ernest Miller Hemingway died in 1961
Plot:
In ”A Farewell to Arms” Hemingway digests
his own experiences of the First World War; therefore the main character of this
book - Mr. Frederic Henry – resembles himself.
Henry is an American officer, who volunteered to work as
an ambulance driver on the Italian front in the First World War. He is stationed
in Gorizia, a town in the south-east of Udine, near to those places where
Austrian and Italian troops are fighting.
In the middle of the whole chaos of war Henry meets the
English nurse Catherine Barkley. At their very first meeting they have feelings
for each other, but they both just want to make a game of it. Henry wants to
play the role of a perfect lover, whereas Catherine dreams of being a perfect
wife. Soon you realise that their love is growing steadily, becoming bigger each
time they think of each other. When they both reach the point to confess their
love, they don’t have any time as something unfortunate happens: Henry is
ordered to an action in the mountains. While he and some other drivers are
waiting for some wounded men to take them into a hospital, a Trench Mortor Shell
is thrown and explodes next to them. Whereas one driver is killed and the others
injured, Henry is wounded badly at both knees. As he has a high rank, he is
luckily soon patched up and taken to the hospital. There they inform him about
an arranged decoration, although he hasn’t done anything heroic. However
he is not interested in anything, but Catherine.
After some days a transfer to a hospital in Milan, where
better medical supply and faciliteis are available, is organised. Henry, who
loves Milan, is very pleased to hear that, but is overjoyed about
Catherine’s decision to go to Milan as well, of course to work in the same
hospital.
In Milan a couple of doctors are called to give their
advice for Henry’s knee. Although the majority of them recommends him to
wait six months before having an operation, Henry, who isn’t willing to
stay in bed for such a long time, chooses the surgeon who offers him an
operation the next day.
At that time Catherine has already arrived. When they
meet for the first time they both are so happy and so much in love that the
first thing they do is making love, though they both know that absolute caution
and observance of secrecy of their relationship is necessary.
After Henry has got new plates in his knees through
operation they start having a great time in Milan. They spend marvellous days
and nights full of love together; while Catherine is caring for Henry in the
hospital they start making plans about their common future.
At the end of September Henry has three weeks left
before returning to the front, but as he drinks himself to jaundice, he is sent
back earlier. So he has to leave Milan and the pregnant
Catherine.
In Gorizia the situation is tense, as everyone is
expecting an Austrian attack. Now everybody is hoping for an end of this war.
Already the second day after Henry’s return the
Italian troops are called for a retreat and the whole of Italy seems to start
moving. With two cars and a couple of other men they leave for Udine.
Unfortunately the roads are crowded soon and they keep waiting in a column of
hundreds of vehicles until they decide to change onto a country lane. They soon
get stuck in the mud and don’t have another choice than trying to walk to
Udine. On their way one man is shot dead in the darkness by frightened Italian
troops. At a river Italian soldiers stop Italian officers to execute them for
one reason: German soldiers have dressed like Italian officers so everyone is
afraid of them, even true ones.
Henry can escape in the last second by jumping into the
river. Out again he immediately takes a train to Milan, where he hopes to find
Catherine, however she has moved to Stresa only two days
before.
He goes to see a friend, who gives him civilian clothes,
as they otherwise would arrest him. This friend also helps him to plan a
possible escape to Switzerland.
He buys a ticket to Stresa, where he meets Catherine
again. They take a room in a luxury hotel, where they can live out there love
again together.
However, Henry can’t hide his identity too long as
there are many people who have known him before. One night they are informed
about a planned arrest of Henry; this fact forces them to flee. In a rowing boat
they take their way through the sea and the rivers to the coast of Switzerland.
For the winter months until March they rent a romantic wooden house in the
mountains. When the snow starts melting Catherine, who is in the eighth month
pregnant, prefers moving into the town to be close to the
hospital.
One day in the morning Catherine’s contractions
start, so Henry takes her to the hospital. Her pains are so strong she gets gas
to diminish them. Half a day later the doctors advise to have a Caesarian. With
doubts, but not seeing another solution he allows it.
Catherine gives birth to a boy, however he hasn’t
ever been alive, he has probably been strangled by the cord five days
before.
This is the turning point, from now on Henry knows that
Catherine is going to die.
When he wants to go back into her room they inform him
she had a hemorrhage. When they meet for the last time, her death is in the
awareness of both of them. Soon she falls unconscious and doesn’t wake up
again until she dies.
Main Characters:
Frederic Henry: An american soldier, working at the
italian front as an ambulance driver
Catherine Barkley: An english nurse, working at the
italian front in a hospital
Interpretation:
The novel consists of five individual books. Although
one story continues the other, you realise a change in the style of writing.
Characteristic for book one and two is that ”love” is rather the
disturbing element in the war, which the emphasis is laid upon. The fourth and
fifth book are the complete opposite: The war has lost its importance; the love
is the only emphasis in the life of those two people. The third book forms the
connection between the two parts.
As this book is based on Hemingway’s own
experiences the reality is always present. Probably Hemingway wanted to give all
those people who haven’t been or don’t have to be in the war an
impression of how much you lose, while you shoot ”your” enemy dead
instead of finding the love of your life in the world. He successfully showed
how much time a rather short period of time can mean to someone who is able to
spend it with the one and only loved person.
Personal
Comment:
When I read it I wasn’t convinced of the value of
the first two books, but the rest of it was entrancing enough to compensate the
first disappointment. At the end I was glad to have read it as especially the
last part has given me a new cause for thought on the value of
love.
Because of this book Hemingway has become one of my
favourite writer as I’m convinced that he is one of very few authors who
have the talent to give their love-stories a very real appearance with a deeper
meaning.
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