Feminist or not! Catherine is the underlying plot of the story

In the book “A farewell to arms” we can see the definite roles of man and women. This marginalization of roles really plays on each other to help build the other. One critique that believes this is Sandra Whipple Spanier. She is in the believe that Catherine is can be classified as the “code hero” of the book. Not only does this make Catherine a strong character, but she also is a crucial character for the development of the “Hemingway hero,” Henry. In Hemingway’s writing  one is able to see the importance that Catherine plays in the development of Henry, but more importantly in the development of the story. Therefore, I agree with what the critic Spanier in the way she vies Catherine.

Catherine is the character that creates the obstacles in the novel.  Even from the beginning of the novel we see how Catherine is the creator of the problems(this is a good thing lol). Hemingway writes, “she wore what seemed to be a nurse’s uniform, was blond and had a tawny skin and grey eyes.  I thought she was beautiful” (Hemingway 18). This is Henry’s first idea of Catherine, “beautiful.” This passage introduces the idea that Catherine is going to play a crucial role in Henry’s life. Not only that, but she is not intimidated by this man at all. Spanier points out that she is not going to be submissive to this man, this can be seen when after a “few meaningless exchange, she interrupts him and, saying ‘do we have to go on and talk this way?’” (Spanier 134). This demonstrates the importance that Catherine plays, because instead of being some insignificant person Hemingway gives her the right to be an equal, well as equal as a co-actor can get, to Henry. This passage also marks the first conflicted created by Catherine between Rinaldi  and Henry. After the introduction we can see how Henry is motivated to do all he does for Catherine. According to Spanier this is due to the fact that Catherine is “playing at love not for diversion but for survival” (Spanier 135). Hemingway goes on to write; “she looked at me, ‘and you do love me?’ ‘Yes.’” (Hemingway 30). This demonstrates that she is not only messing around, she really want to be this man’s wife. By using her appeal she is capable of making this man fall in love for her. Is this love that is the fire that fuel the novel, how can she be insignificant if she is the love that drives them to fight to be together. This love is shown when Henry asks Catherine “would you like to get dressed right away and go in a boat to Switzerland?” (Hemingway 266). This demonstrates the struggles that they are under-going to be together. Henry is leaving everything behind to be with the woman that she loves. This is the reason the novel exist at all!! She is the reason Henry kept fighting, she is the reason Henry kept coming back to see her(which creates problems) and when the spell of war was broken Henry was willing to leave it all. Even though the novel is about the development of the character Lieutenant Henry, Ms. Barkley is the price that keeps Henry going.

Ernest Hemingway it the king of IRONY: Never will he be direct, even if its alluded.

In “A Farewell to Arms,” Ernest Hemingway alludes to the poem “To his Coy Mistress” by Andrew Marvell, creating a tone that allows his characters to enter into serious conversation. Hemingway writes the allusion; “’but at my back I always hear/ Times’s winged chariot hurrying near” (Hemingway 154). To the people familiar with the poem, they might think he is going to take this in the direction of lust and desire. However, Hemingway wouldn’t be Hemingway if he was that obvious. SO he decides to be all WEIRD about it and use it to create a serious non-sexual tone, SHOCKING! Hemingway really draws on the sense that time is running out, and it’s a “winged chariot” so its approaching EXTREMLY fast. Also, Henry is constantly thinking of what is going to happen to Catherine and the baby when he leaves. I forget that Catherine is a nurse, so she is pretty smart, she happens to be informed in literature and she is aware of the poem. Catherine states, “I know that poem… but it’s about a girl who wouldn’t live with a man” (154). By Hemingway allowing her to know the poem, he himself briefly descries the over-all theme of the poem that is being alluded to. Also, the author is allowing Catherin to know to inform the reader that it’s going to be used in a different way that its used in the poem, this is seen when Catherine says “but”. The tone derived from the section of the poem really pulls on the sense of urgency rather than the sense of sexual pleasure. Hemingway does it again, NOT following what the normal informed reader would think…. I guess he likes to keep us guessing lol. As soon after the short description from Catherine, Hemingway quickly shifts the tone and begins to clarify when Henry says: “My head felt very clear and cold and I wanted to talk facts. Where will you have the baby?” (154). The allusion really draws on the sense of urgency by paralleling the urgency to have sex, with the urgency of caring for his beloved, HOW SWEET! The urgency created is really enhanced by the fact of the allusion. However, it’s being used in a more serious kind of way. Men are wired to look to satisfy their sexual desires, Hemingway is capitalizing on that sense to demonstrating how emotionally involved Henry is with Catherine. Henry has reached a point where he is in love with Catherin. This love can be seen as one of the big vague themes throughout the novel.  What adds to the fact that they are seriously turning a new leave, from complete lust to complete genuine love is the fact that it was raining during the time he said this. Hemingway writes, “we were very still and could hear the rain” (154). The rain symbolizes the beginning of their new level in their relationship. Again, Hemingway really creating an ironic use of the allusion, as he uses it to really highlight the fact that they are not in the relationship to satisfy their needs, but they are in it for the long run and willing to bear the stress that the birth of the baby is going to bring.   

"Your love is my drug": Hemingway’s archetype on summer loving

In “A Farewell to Arms,” Hemingway capitalized on the archetype of summer to further develop the passionate love of Catherine and Frederic, ultimately leading them to the idea of marriage. The idea of being together however is the leading force that causes them lots of pain; since Hemingway is the writer you can expect this PAINted, no pun intended LOL, in a very long and excruciating process. Frederic Henry begins by narrating that they “had a lovely time that summer” (Hemingway 112). Hemingway sets up the scene by introducing the time of year. Not only does he stage the season, but he describes it as “lovely.” The archetype related to summer usually involves the connotations of love, passion, and burning desires.  However, Hemingway tends to be overly ironic at times, so we need to be careful as we read his work. Ernest didn’t make it difficult for us this time, by the useof the adjective “lovely” he help us understand that he is going to make this passage one of passionate love, which will probably not turn dark….probably. For the majority of the passage things are as they should be in the summer, filled with LUST!! Frederic is obviously lusting after Catherine, it is confirmed when Mr. Henry states that “if we let our hands touch, just the side of my hand touching hers, we were excited” (112). Talk about being easily hot and bothered, they are obvious sinners (lol), giving into their animalistic senses that are hyped even more due to summer. Hemingway really plays on the heat of summer, as a simple side of hand touch, NOT-EVEN the whole hand, can really get them excited. I’m just going to come out and say it, “we were excited” is being directed towards sexual connotations. However, due to the time of the year we can safely say that these are more than “normal” levels of lustful desire…. In other words,they really reallyreally want each other, like for real. This really makes one wonder if there “love” is really just a big pile of animalistic “lust.” Love that is based on lust is one that quickly burns out, but as we can see at the moment they are just worried about the now, so I guess what they really want to do is to get a room…….so they DO!

 I’ve always heard the saying “love is blind,” but I think that saying doesn’t justify how people act when they’re in love. It should be more like….. “Love is a hallucinogen” because the characters didn’t seem to function properly as the passage continued. Well, I guess if they really wanted to blame something they could blame the summer heat. Anyways, Hemingway writes “we said to each other that we were married the first day she came to the hospital” (114). They are so into each other that they decided that they’ve been together longer than what they actually have; I didn’t think time bending was possible. However, when you’re on the drug of LOVE nothing is impossible. I also think that Hemingway is trying to ease them into the fact that this is no longer a summer lust, but its turning into an actual lifelong commitment that they both want. We can conclude that they are both fully awarethat this isn’t going to be the easiest thing for them to do. So Hemingway allows them to pretend to be married, haha I picture little kids acting as though they are grown-ups “pretending” to be married. However, we know what Catherine and Frederic have done….so they are far from children. “Pretending” also takes away from the pressures of true life. They are willingly choosing to ignore the tough life ahead and create an alternate universe where they can be happy AND married. But, it makes them seem kind of crazy;especially because in the following dialogue they go between reality and illusion…. “I wanted us to be married really… ,but we pretended toourselves we were married and I did not worry much and I suppose I enjoyed not being married, really” (115).Really? Frederic is so overdosed with love that he can’t even think straight. He came out of the illusion, but then realized that is easier to live a pretend life so he quickly took another shot of the hallucinogen. We can see how Hemingway uses the archetype of summer to give the characters room for flakiness.  The summer allows them to fully indulge in their passion and stay there. Even if a conversation gets serious due to the time of the year we can write them off simply because we all know that summer loves DON’T last. So Hemingway can introduce the idea of “marriage”, but not fully have his characters commit to it, solely because of the time of year. Through the use of an archetype Hemingway led his characters through a passionate summer that made them realize that they are crazy enough for each other to get married.