Jeremy Allmam
Mrs. Robinson
English III
November 17, 2007
The Power of Paper: how Hemingway
expresses himself through A Farewell to Arms
In the mid to late 1910s, Ernest Hemingway served as an ambulance driver for the Italian Army in World War I. A few years later, Hemingway wrote A Farewell to Arms, an autobiographical novel that follows Frederic Henry, the fictional representative of Hemingway, through his trials and tribulations in the war. Hemingway uses the character Henry as a fictional proxy to present his own troubles with alcohol, relationships, and politics in a way that attracts the reader and consoles himself.
World War I was a horrible war of attrition that desensitized as well as demoralized its soldiers. Hemingway, being no exception to this, developed a strong addiction to alcohol during his service. However, in A Farewell to Arms, Hemingway is very subtle about presenting his alcoholism through Henry. Henry says about wine, in a near drunken state that, “It is a wonderful thing. It burns out the stomach completely.”(172.) In the same breath, Henry glorifies alcohol even though he recognizes its dangers. But while he does frequently show Henry enjoying and even sometimes abusing alcohol, Hemmingway does not give his fictional self the normal alcoholic characteristics. There are a few reasons why he does this. First, because no one wants to be none as an alcoholic. Second, most alcoholics, including Hemingway, do not recognize the extent of their problem. And finally, Hemingway wants the reader to like Henry, and therefore himself. On one hand it is important to Hemingway to make the reader favor Henry’s character, but on the other he cannot completely ignore his drinking problem.
Another area where Hemingway fictionalizes his account of World War I is in his relationship with an English nurse. During his martial career, young Hemingway fell passionately in love with a nurse who eventually ran off with another Italian soldier. In A Farewell to Arms, however, it is quite the opposite; it is the nurse, Catherine Barkley, who becomes so attached to Henry. Hemingway gives an example of Henry’s apathy towards his relationship when Henry thinks “‘I knew I did not love Catherine Barkley nor had any idea of loving her. This was a game, like bridge, in which you said things instead of playing cards.’ “(30.) Also in A Farewell to Arms, the nurse dies instead of running off. Hemingway depicts his wartime love story in this fashion for reasons that are more internal than just attracting the reader. By writing it off as just a fling, he consoles himself about his lost love. As for Ms. Barkley dying in the novel, this could show spite or resentment towards the real life nurse for breaking his heart.
Hemingway also utilizes Henry as a way to express his political views. Several times in A Farewell to Arms, Henry expresses his views on the war. He says thing like,” and I had seen nothing sacred, and the things that were glorious had no glory and the sacrifices were like the stockyards at Chicago.” (185) Here Henry is talking about the war and it is very clear that this is the view of the speaker as well as the author himself. Hemmingway also takes a shot at the judicial system when Henry says,” I do not think they believed a word of the story and I thought it was silly but it was like law court. You did not want something reasonable, you wanted something technical and then stuck to it without explanations.” (281) Once again, this was the view of the speaker as well as the author. It was very important to Hemingway that he express his views on such subjects. Everyone needs to make a statement, and there is no better way for an author to do that than through a novel inspired by first hand experience.
In conclusion, Frederic Henry is utilized by Ernest Hemingway as a fictional messenger of many of his personal problems including alcoholism, bad relationships, and his problems against politics. Furthermore, Hemingway presents Henry in a way that is favorable to the reader and a consolation to himself. This shows us a new importance of books; it shows us how a work of literature, even a fictional novel, is not just a story but a gateway into the heart and soul of another person.
