The Line Between Courage and Exaltation
In Ernest Hemingway’s A Farewell To Arms, bravery is displayed in a unique way as characters live their lives during world war one. Life during a time of war can be stressful and make tensions run high. Hemingway manages to create heroic characters without glorifying war. The main character, Henry, has one goal; he has to stay alive long enough to make it back to the love of his life, Catherine. Henry does not believe in himself and ends up contradicting many of his own beliefs. Although the novel focuses around Lieutenant Henry, many of the secondary characters are brave in their own ways. Catherine Barkley shows her fearlessness continually while Henry is away fighting at the front lines and the barman risks everything to warn the couple when Henry returns from war. Ernest Hemingway demonstrates how Henry, Catherine, and the …show more content…
The author makes sure that none of the characters’ actions are glorified because he does not want to glorify war in any way. Henry demands that nobody puts him on a pedestal because he is not a morally sound person. Hemingway portrays Henry as a self loathing individual, therefor he is not praised for his actions. The barman is similar to Henry and does not let Henry or Catherine obsess over his generosity. The barman may have put himself in harm 's way by saving the couple, but he is not commendable. Catherine would have been celebrated when she died if her baby had lived. In the end, the only thing her death does is leave Henry all alone in the world without a soul to confide in. Each and every character was designed by Hemingway so they he or she would be brave, but not unreasonably glorified, which is not an easy task when writing about war. Hemingway demonstrates great finesse and skill in his development of Henry, Catherine, and all of the other people in A Farewell to
In Ernest Hemingway’s A Farewell To Arms, bravery is displayed in a unique way as characters live their lives during world war one. Life during a time of war can be stressful and make tensions run high. Hemingway manages to create heroic characters without glorifying war. The main character, Henry, has one goal; he has to stay alive long enough to make it back to the love of his life, Catherine. Henry does not believe in himself and ends up contradicting many of his own beliefs. Although the novel focuses around Lieutenant Henry, many of the secondary characters are brave in their own ways. Catherine Barkley shows her fearlessness continually while Henry is away fighting at the front lines and the barman risks everything to warn the couple when Henry returns from war. Ernest Hemingway demonstrates how Henry, Catherine, and the …show more content…
The author makes sure that none of the characters’ actions are glorified because he does not want to glorify war in any way. Henry demands that nobody puts him on a pedestal because he is not a morally sound person. Hemingway portrays Henry as a self loathing individual, therefor he is not praised for his actions. The barman is similar to Henry and does not let Henry or Catherine obsess over his generosity. The barman may have put himself in harm 's way by saving the couple, but he is not commendable. Catherine would have been celebrated when she died if her baby had lived. In the end, the only thing her death does is leave Henry all alone in the world without a soul to confide in. Each and every character was designed by Hemingway so they he or she would be brave, but not unreasonably glorified, which is not an easy task when writing about war. Hemingway demonstrates great finesse and skill in his development of Henry, Catherine, and all of the other people in A Farewell to