All thinking men are atheists. Frederic Henry is an ambulance driver for the Italian Army during World War I. Henry’s world whirls out of control when he finds himself attached to a woman for reasons he cannot quite explain.
Henry’s life parallels that of his creator, Ernest Hemingway. Hemingway was abandoned by a nurse he had grown very fond of during his time as an officer. His distrust in the human race and the pessimistic life he led is reflected in the glum tone of the novel. His unhappiness eventually led to his suicide that would complete the final, unwritten words of “A Farewell to Arms.”
While on duty as an officer for the Italian Army, Frederic Henry is seriously injured and taken to a hospital where he meets Catherine Barkley, a British nurse. Henry’s attachment, however, does not stem from love, but rather out of loneliness and solitude. Catherine is something along the lines of an outlet to Henry; she allows him to briefly escape the war being fought and rest in her comfort.
Hemingway served as an ambulance driver in Italy during World War I. However, after being wounded my mortar fire, he was sent to a hospital to recuperate. There, he met Agnes Von Kurowsky, a Red Cross nurse. The two planned their marriage, until Agnes wrote to him to share news of her engagement to another Italian officer.
Frederic Henry experiences a similar rejection from Catherine Barkley. She loses her life while giving birth. Catherine’s death deeply saddens Henry to the point where he loses all hope in the world. Eventually, he concludes that if there really were, in fact, supernatural beings looking over Earth, these gods would surely not have taken away someone so precious to him. This marks the genesis of Henry’s misery and disappointment.
The aftermath of the departure turns out to be hard for both Hemingway and Henry, but not as difficult as accepting the fact that there is no way of forgetting about the women they loved.
Hemingway concludes the novel on a rather hopeless note, noting the numerous obstacles and struggles that this world sets before its inhabitants.
All men who examine this world with a discerning eye cannot possibly have faith in it, given the cruelties of reality . “A Farewell to Arms” can easily be categorized as a biography of Ernest Hemingway’s life. Hemingway’s last farewell occupies the final pages of his novel, though they remain unwritten for hope’s sake.
