A Farewell To Arms: Theme Of War b2w6b

THEME OF WAR IN HEMINGWAY’S “A FAREWELL TO ARMS” “A Farewell to Arms” is a novel written by an American author and journalist Ernest Hemingway. This novel is based on the war experiences of Hemingway as he himself had worked for Italy as an ambulance driver in World War 1. During war he was seriously injured and he went home. So his experiences of war provided him the raw material for the novel. The novel “A Farewell to Arms” presents the feelings of resentment and disgust towards the war. It shows the gruesome and horrible picture of the war. The title of the novel is suggestive of the main theme of abandoning war. Hemingway has taken the title of this novel from a poet of Elizabethan era, George Peel. This poet had written a poem with the title of “A Farewell to Arms” in 1500. The poet addressed this poem to Queen Elizabeth to tell her that he could no longer participate in battles. Thus the title of the novel is symbolic as it presents the main theme of urging the world to quit such horrifying and destructive wars. The novel mainly deals with the theme of war, the shattered romantic notions of war, the horrors of war, disinterested participation of common masses and the forced involvement of peasants. Hemingway has dealt with the effects of war on the lives of common people and the surrounding environment, killings of people on a very large scale and the lack of patriotic feelings in the war. The novel started with the depiction of battle scene with a lot of artillery and ammunition. The usage of modern and disastrous weapons during war and the killings by such weapons opened the eyes of common masses and showed them the reality of disastrous effects of war. Hemingway has shown such realization on the part of common masses through the characters in the novel belonging to different strata of the society. The gruesome effects of war and brutal killings are represented in the novel through different images and the numbers of dead people. In the very first chapter the writer has presented the disastrous effects of war even on the natural environment. The march of the troops raised the dust which “powdered the leaves of the trees” and “the leaves fell early that year”. This imagery symbolizes the ghastly effects of war and bloodshed on the nature and the early coming of autumn is suggestive of the reign of death over the world. In the war numerous people were killed and the writer stated it in ironic way by juxtaposing the deaths by disease with the deaths caused by war. As narrator ironically stated in the novel “only seven thousand died of cholera in the army”. It means that the deaths caused by war are fairly large than the killings by disease. The people were brutally murdered by the use of modern and extremely disastrous weapons as described by the death of fiancé of Miss Catherine Barkley as she told Fredrick Henry that “they blew him all to bits”. The number of deaths during war is very large as one of the major told Henry that Italians had lost one hundred and fifty thousand men on San Gabriele and fifty thousand on the Carso. The war’s legitimization of the killings made inhuman so Henry and Bonello killed a sergeant without any strong reason. Page 1 of 3

The destruction caused by the war has shattered the romantic notions about the war. According to these notions war was considered to be the test of heroism and was labeled with the words like “sacred, glorious and sacrifice”. The character of Catherine Barkley became nurse due to her romantic ideas that her fiancé would come to hospital “with a saber cut and a bandage around his head. Or shot through the shoulder”. Her ideas about the war had shattered into pieces when her fiancé was blown to bits in the war. The reality of the horrible consequences of war has been exposed and is depicted in these words, “I had seen nothing sacred, and the things that were glorious had no glory and the sacrifices were like the Stockyards at Chicago if nothing was done with the meat except to bury it”. So the grand feelings associated with the war in earlier times are broken into pieces where war is no more a manifestation of bravery and heroism but a bloody massacre where victims are blown into pieces. Hemingway has used a symbolism of a log with ants and the log was put on fire. At first the ants moved towards the fire and they ran away from the fire. Here ants are the symbol of common masses and fire suggests the world war. From this event it can be inferred that at first common masses were craving for the war to prove their loyalty but after experiencing the horrors of war they tried to run away. But they could not as they were entrapped in the horrific war. So the destructive aspect of the war shattered the beliefs of common man and led him towards the state of escapism from war. Several characters in the novel are fed up with this seemingly long lasting war and tried to seek refuge in women or liquor. As in the first chapter of the novel the captain said, “We go to whorehouse before it shuts”. It was a way to escape the bitter reality and the ghastly effects of war. Other characters at different instances expressed their exhaustion caused by the war and wanted to escape from such situation. At one instance Rinaldi, a medical surgeon, expressed his depression due to war and took refuge in liquor and invited Henry also. It is stated in the text that Rinaldi said, “This war is terrible, Come on. We’ll both get drunk and be cheerful. Then we’ll go get the ashes dragged. Then we’ll feel fine”. At another instance when Henry was driving an ambulance a soldier suffering from hernia expressed his desire not to remain in the military force and in order to keep away from battlefield he badly injured himself. The soldier suffering from hernia remarked about war as “rotten”. The priest also expressed his hatred towards war and prayed that war must be stopped. Another character of the novel, Catherine Barkley also hoped that war must end as she said, “Maybe the war will be over”. The writer has revealed the fact of forced involvement of common people in the war. As Henry commented about the participation of peasants in the war without their consent or will. As Henry has said about peasants, “They were beaten when they took them from their farms and put them in the army”. During the course of the worldwide battle people realized the futility of the war and stupidity of the governments who indulge in war for no reason. At the place of Isonze during the discussion about the war one of the drivers ini highlighted the futility of war and enumerated different reasons of war but there was not a single reason which could hint upon the patriotic feelings Page 2 of 3

behind war. He commented on the rulers’ stupidity that indulge in war with no reason and force others to participate in war. But there are some other persons whose sole purpose in taking part in war is money making. As Ettore Moretti, an Italian officer, referred to the purpose of money making by participating in the war. Rinaldi talked about the futility of war which has started with a petty dispute and gradually it spread in the whole world and several countries indulge in the war. As Rinaldi said, “it’s a little pimple. Then we notice a rash between the shoulders. Then we notice nothing at all”. Henry the protagonist of the novel is participating in the war as an ambulance driver in Italian army. But his casual attitude shows his indifference towards the war. He was American but he fought the war for Italians. And when he was asked the reason of his participation in war he had no definite cause. He, himself, was not sure of the cause of his participation and he gave the reason of his fighting from Italy is that he lived in Italy and spoke Italian. His fighting of war was very casual and uninterested as he said, “war has nothing to do with him”. And the event of his injury during the war was not very heroic as he was wounded by a mortar shell while eating in between the shelling. He was exhausted by the war and wanted to run away from battle front. Another character in the novel Ettore Moretti who was an Italian army officer bragged for his wounds during war. He got wounded in the legs and foot by a hand grenade. Such depictions show the non heroic deeds of persons fighting in the war. Therefore he ran away from the war by jumping in the river which served as baptism for him. That was the point where he said farewell to arms and weapons. Thus theme of war is one of the dominant themes of the novel. The title of the novel shows the exhausted feelings of common man towards the war. The writer presents the horrors of war and with the help of several incidents he has shown the futility of the war and people’s rejection of war.

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