Individualism And War In Ernest Hemingway's A Farewell To Arms

This novel is based on Ernest Hemingway’s experiences with World War I. Part of this novel is set before Hemingway is involved in the war and the other part is when he is actually experiencing war events. Throughout the first part of the war he was a journalist for his local newspaper and came across the Italian Retreat. This intrigued Hemingway and he wanted to become involved. He researches the first year or so of war so that he can describe it to readers in detail enough to make it seem as if he were there. But the genuine parts of the story do not begin until around 1918.
“A Farewell to Arms” is a semi-autobiographical novel by Ernest Hemingway. Hemingway was set on participating in the war, however, his eyesight hindered him from being …show more content…
“A Farewell to Arms” displays ideas and themes such as, individualism, romanticism, patriotism, realism, identity, and war. The main theme in this novel is the understanding of oneself and the relationship between pain and love. Hemingway uses identity and individualism to show the characters as they prosper. Romanticism and war are used to set a background theme to catch the reader’s attention. The fact that Hemingway …show more content…
Henry is the protagonist. Frederic Henry, like other Hemingway masculine characters, treats women as mere objects of sexual pleasure. At the beginning of the novel when Frederic Henry meets Catherine he is only trying to seduce her and does not intend to have a well-developed relationship with her. Also, Henry is a heavy drinker with a tendency to lie more than he tells the truth. However, since Henry has been through such severe trauma throughout the war this makes us develop a sense of sympathy towards him. The fact that at the beginning of the novel, Catherine leads him on to think that she loves him when in fact she does not, gives us a reason to feel even more sympathetic towards