Ernest Hemingway’s A Farewell to Arms is a story written through the eyes of American Lieutenant Frederick Henry during World War I. Henry tells of his time spent in the Italian army and of his first true love-Catherine Barkley. Frederick provides such detail that a feeling of first-hand experience is left with the reader. It is not obvious whether the character Frederick Henry is directing his story to a certain audience or not, but it is very obvious that he stayed true to himself while telling it. His actions, his conversations, and even his inner-most thoughts are shared in the most unrestricted sense. He hides nothing from the reader, and that makes the story so much more poignant. When he is at the front, his fear strikes the reader in the most authentic meaning. When Henry speaks of his love for Catherine, his passion emanates from the pages and the reader can feel it, alive and real. Finally, when Henry loses Catherine and his first child, it iss as if two of the reader’s closest family members have been lost. If Hemingway’s novel had been written in any other point of view, much of the value of A Farewell to Arms would be lost.
Lieutenant Frederick Henry is a middle-class American who joins the Italian army and speaks Italian fluently. He manages the ambulance vehicles and the ambulance drivers on the front. His dad died before he ever entered the army, and he had been living with his mother who was remarried. Before Henry meets Catherine, he has never loved and is like most of the other soldiers in his platoon- he is a womanizer and spends most of his free time split between brothels and a bottle of liquor. Catherine is an English V.A.D at a local British hospital. She has loved one man before, but he was killed in the military. When Henry falls for Catherine, he is transformed from an immature and uncommitted boy to a responsible and stable young father. A Farewell to Arms is Lieutenant Frederick Henry’s personal account of that transformation.
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Though the similarities and differences of characterization in Chekhov and Oates's different versions of "The Lady with the Pet Dog" are evident, the purpose only becomes clear for the reader when the two versions are read and compared. The stories have different settings, but the characters in the story remain the same. There is Anna, Dmitry, and their families. Although their families are ...
It is not obvious by the character Frederick Henry whether he is directing his story to a certain audience or not but it is very obvious that he stayed true to himself while telling it. Within the fist few chapters of A Farewell to Arms, Frederick Henry describes his surroundings with such detail as:
œOutside it was nearly dark. The earth of the dugout was warm and dry and I let my shoulders back against the wall, sitting on the small of my back, and relaxed.” (43)
This level of detail is transferred onto his relationship with Catherine, so it is with very specific depiction that the story of the love between Lieutenant Henry and Catherine Barkley is portrayed. Had Hemingway chosen to use a second or third-person point of view, the experience would be de-valued. The reason this novel is so powerful is the sense of closeness that the reader feels towards Catherine and Henry. Frederick describes every aspect of their relationship, and the reader get to watch it bloom within the pages of the novel. He describes his devotion towards Catherine and towards their baby. In any other point of view, this devotion would be over-looked because feelings are not so real and not so personal when they are observations of another rather than private sensations.
Not only is the love between Catherine and Frederick shown so explicitly, but every aspect of Fredericks life is exposed. There are times when Lieutenant Henry explains his thoughts and the reader’s opinion is completely swayed based upon those explanations. For example, on page 120, when Henry describes a fellow lieutenant, Ettore Moretti, as œa legitimate hero who bored everyone he met,” the reader experiences a small distaste for Ettore. Because the reader is experiencing World War I and the Italian front through Lieutenant Henry’s eyes, everything he thinks, and says, and faces feels valid. On page 54, when Frederick talks about getting hit with a mortar, the reader feels trapped in the dugout with him. His statement, œI tried to breathe but my breath would not come and I felt myself rush bodily out of myself and out and out and out and all the time bodily in the wind,” provides a trapped feeling within the reader. Later, even after being stranded in a river without food and water, Henry’s thoughts are on Catherine. He says, œ I was not made to think. I was made to eat. My God, yes. Eat and drink and sleep with Catherine,” (213).
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Frederick Douglass s Narrative In Frederick Douglass s Narrative, Douglas himself narrates the novel using story telling to bring both the reader into the story, and the theme into focus. Through his narration, Douglass also uses narrative strategies like anecdotes, and plot twists. Even with it being a true story, Douglass brings the readers attention to a peak with these techniques making the ...
In this moment, the reader really sympathizes with Henry, and it is these kinds of moments that make A Farewell to Arms so influential as a novel. Hemmingway’s giving the readers Frederick Henry’s feelings and thoughts whether he is scared, angry, happy and in love, etc, lends verisimilitude to the novel.
Hemingway’s decision to create this story in a first-person point of view was brilliant and very essential to this classic novel’s success. Frederick’s testimony of his growth and enlightenment is one which touches the soul because it is so personal. It is easy to identify with Frederick Henry because through this story, he articulates every emotion within the human heart. As shown in previous paragraphs, with the details provided by the young lieutenant, the reader is able to hear the explosions he hears, smell the restaurants in which he eats, and feel Catherine’s beautiful hair. Through Henry’s first-hand account, Hemingway was able to tell a timeless love story.
