December 5, 2007
A farewell to Arms Analytical essay
Honestly this is one of the worst essays I have ever written.
Procrastination kills.
An Analysis of the Characters Views of War in A Farewell to Arms
Passion is defined as any powerful feeling or drive. Is lack of passion the root of poor work? In A Farewell to Arms, each character shows signs of detachment from the war effort in his/her own way. Fredrick Henry, the protagonist, sees war as an opportunity to meet new people, find love, and run into an adventure which distances himself from the actual war in general. The common people have two different views of the war but neither of them actually deal with the cause or effect of the war. The soldiers are in the war for different reasons some of which have been drafted, had joined, or wanted to try something different, like Fredrick Henry. All three groups of people show apathy toward the war. Ernest Hemingway conveys his beliefs toward war through the common people, soldiers, and main character.
The common people were split in half: those who benefited from the war and those who didn’t. The ones who did were the bars/ “whorehouses”(9) they viewed the war as a positive thing for the wrong reason; they saw a money-making opportunity. They didn’t care about why they were fighting them just want the soldiers’ money. Hotels, such as the one Catherine and Henry stayed at the end of the book, lost customers because tourism declined during war periods. Also, when Henry goes somewhere the locals ask him what’s happening at the fronts, or the higher class is reading about it in a newspaper. The fact that the higher class is sitting back and reading about the war goes along with the saying “a rich man’s war but a poor man’s fight.”
Soldiers that are portrayed in A Farewell to Armsseem to lack strong opinions about the war efforts. Soldiers’ injuring themselves to get out of the battlefields was a reoccurring image; they were willing to do anything to get out of the efforts. The soldiers are also known to get drunk, which gives the idea that they think it’s all a party, and they aren’t taking it seriously. “The pope wants the Austrians to win the war;…”(7) the major is making a joke out of the sides, which adds to them not taking the war seriously. When soldiers meet up, war is not normally the conversation topic; they talk about their relationships or where they went during break. When the soldiers are ordered to go and fight they don’t know why they just go. For example “Nobody knew anything about it although they all spoke with great positiveness and strategical knowledge,”(42) the soldiers did what they were told and didn’t ask questions. By saying “with great positiveness” Hemmingway is implying that the generals were optimistic about upcomming events and tried to raise confidence in the group.
World War I has little effect on Frederick Henry. He feels as though it is not his war to fight since his country has very little to do with it. Henry does not even realize the seriousness of the war until after it. Frederick Henry mentions, “Well, I knew I would not be killed. Not in this war. It did not have anything to do with me. It seemed no more dangerous to me than war in the books” (37). The war is simply an adventure to him; he’s there just because it’s something to do. Henry says, “One had so many friends in war;” (156) this says that he also is in the war for meeting new people. Catherine asks Henry about his reasons for being a solider, “‘Why did you join up with the Italians?’ ‘I was in Italy,’ I said, ‘and I spoke Italian'” (22). This suggests that he isn’t fighting for the cause of the war or who wins. When in the hospital, Henry was asked how many he had killed (94) and “I had not killed any but I was anxious to please- and I said I had killed plenty.”(95) Everyone wants to hear that their side is winning; although Henry was not contributing in death count, he wanted to be associated with the achievements. He wanted to make the doctor happy; he didn’t personally care about how many he killed, or not killed. The fact that Henry, like the soldiers, distances himself from the event through alcohol also adds to his detached spirit. Fredrick Henry walked right out of the war with only a few obsticles. The Swedish immagration officers stopped them and asked them questions about why they were in Switzerland; they answered the officer and they let them go. It gives the sense that war was easy to get out of and showed a naive view of war in general. Once in Switzerland, Henry put the whole war effort behind him as though it is just a smal part of his life. He also asks many other people “How you like this goddamn war?”(35) and he always gets the same answer, “I think it is stupid.” (262) He’s looking for reassurance to prove to himself that he’s not the only one who thinks it’s a waste of time.
Ernest Hemingway, who had many similar occurrences in real life as Fredrick Henry, had very little feelings toward the war. He showed his views through the characters in A Farewell to Arms. Everyone was distanced from the war, but they came together and still fought day-to-day. Apathetic people made the war last forever, because no one was willing to stand up for what they believed resulting in no one fighting passionately. The war drag on for four years due to the lack of opinions.
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