Essay/Term paper: Another farewell to arms

Essay, term paper, research paper:  Cliff Notes

A Farewell to Arms [If The Sun Also Rises was one of the

best books I have ever read, then A Farewell to Arms is

Truth. I simply cannot believe that these books existed so

long without my knowledge of how grand they are. I

consider myself to read constantly, more than almost anyone

I know, literature and simple, and here in less than a month I

read two books that are undoubtedly among the best I have

encountered. How many other good books exist that I have

yet to read? Am I really a reader? Will I ever finish them all?

What will I do if I tire of reading?] When I finished FTA I

was of course stunned by the death of Catherine and the

baby and Henry's sudden solitude. "What happens now?" I

felt, as I so often do when I finish a book that I want to go

on forever. This is infinitely more difficult with a book that

has no conclusion, and FTA leaves a reader not only

emotionally exhausted but also just as alone as Henry and

with nowhere to go. The entire work was aware of where it

was going and what was going to happen next, and then to

stop the way it did was unfair. Now, I've read enough

essays while deciding which would be the topic for my class

presentation that I know many people see that the unfairness

of life and the insignificance of our free will are apparently

the most important themes in the book, but I don't agree. I

also don't agree that it is a war story or a love story. Exactly

what it is, though, is not clear to me. Can't art exist without

being anything? "There isn't always an explanation for

everything." War and love are obviously important themes in

the book, and the relationship between the two is explored

by Hemingway and, somewhat, by Henry. In the first two

Books we are in the war and the war is overwhelming. In

the last two Books we are in love. And, just as the first two

Books are peppered with love in the time of war, the last

two Books are tinged with war in the time of love. The third

Book is the bridge between the two 'stories' and it is not

surprising that it centers on the escape. It is during the

escape that Henry resolves that he is through with the war (a

war in which he really has no place) and decides that all he

wants is to be with Catherine. Until the third Book Henry

doesn't seem to be agonizingly concerned with matters of

right or wrong in the war and it seems, in fact, separate from

him. Even when he is injured it doesn't appear that he is

really a part of the war which surrounds him. He maintains a

distance from it and this distance isn't really closed until

Aymo is killed by his own army, he discovers that Bonello is

only staying with him out of respect, and he is almost killed

as a spy. After this he resolves to desert the army and be

reunited with his love, Catherine. Henry is no dummy and he

could easily tell that everything was not all correct with Cat,

which leads to the question of his love for her. You must

admit that Cat is a bit...well... flaky when they first meet. She

loses that persona soon enough, although I couldn't help but

distrust her integrity until somewhere in the middle of the

fourth Book. It is also difficult to believe wholeheartedly in

his love for her until much later in their relationship, and it

leaves me wondering if he is leaving his involvement in the

war because of his unfailing love for Cat or if Cat and any

feelings he has for her are just excuses to escape the insanity

of the war he experiences in the third Book. When he is with

Catherine, they are in another place, untouched by the war,

both symbolically (in the tent of her hair) and literally (in

Switzerland). [It seems like I don't ever say anything

earth-shattering, or even critical, in these response papers,

and I'm not sure if I'm supposed to do that. The line, "The

war seemed as far away as the football games of some one

else's college," is beautiful.]