Blog Topic #5: Personal Review

Ernest Hemingway’s A Farewell to Arms is a tragic love story that takes place during World War I between an American ambulance driver on the Italian front and a beautiful English nurse. Through the course of the novel, Henry and Catherine discover their love for each other and how difficult it is to be away from the one you love for an extended period of time. When they are finally reunited once Henry leaves the war, they escape to Switzerland to fulfill their dream of a happy, peaceful life together. After several months in harmony, Catherine has her baby. Upon seeing the child, Henry has no feelings for his new son and later discovers that he had died before birth. When Henry finds out that Catherine has started hemorrhaging, he goes in to see her. He is with her when she dies, but then realizes that he has nothing to say to her once she is gone. This is significant because people are usually heartbroken when they lose someone that they love. He walks out of the hospital and back to his hotel as if nothing had ever happened. This shows that Henry’s love for Catherine, while it may have been real for a short period of time, was only temporary. Nothing seems to last forever.

I thought this novel was well written, and Hemingway’s distinctive style of writing helped to portray the story even more. His use of informal diction and simple syntax allows the reader to vicariously live through World War I. One of the overall themes, the relationship between love and pain, can be seen throughout the world today. A man falls in love with a woman, or vice versa, and eventually, through a terrible tragedy, one loses the other. This results in heartache, and they usually never fully move on. What I found to be unique about this story is that Henry does not feel anything after the death of Catherine. He attempts to say goodbye but realizes he has nothing to say and is forced to come to the realization that his love for Catherine did not last throughout the time that they spent together.