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Ernest Hemingway, Farewell to Arms To start with my report I want to tell you something about Ernest Miller Hemingway himself and then I'll report the book ,Farewell to Arms' to you. Ernest Miller Hemingway was born in 1899 in Oak Park, Illinois as the son of a country doctor and started his career as a writer for the Kansas City Star after graduating from High Scholl in the year of 1917. During the 1st World War he served as an ambulance driver in France and in the Italian infantry when he got wounded. In the twenties Hemingway became a member of the group of expatriate Americans in Paris surrounding Gertrude Stein. During the Spanish Civil War Hemingway served as a correspondent and after the 2nd World War he settled down in Cuba and further on he moved to Idaho. Where he committed suicide in July 1961 after being increasingly plagued by ill health and mental problems.
Farewell to Arms, Facts and Plot The book was written in the years between 1926-1928 and got published by 'Charles Scribner's Sons' in 1929. The story takes place in Italy and Switzerland in the middle of the 1st World War. The story is narrated in the first person but sometimes switches to the second person (philosophical reflections - learn) and it is held in past tense. Lieutenant Frederic Henry is a young American ambulance driver serving in the Italian Army during World War 1st. When Henry is wounded on the battlefield, he is brought to a Hospital to recover because several doctors recommend that he has to stay in bed for 6 months. There Henry meets Catherine Barkley, an English nurse, and begins his recuperation under her care.
During the following months his relationship with Catherine intensifies and their love becomes powerful and real. Once Henry's leg has healed, he has to return to the front. When Henry is on a trip, Catherine reveals to him that she is pregnant. And so they pledge their mutual devotion, but it didn't help - they had to part. Back at the front soon after his arrival a great bombardment begins and so they evacuate troops, which is Henry's work. When one of the vehicles breaks down Henry orders 2 engineers to help.
But when they refuse he shoots one of them and has to flee from the battle police. Henry escape with Catherine to Switzerland where they settle and begin a new life and put the war behind them. One early morning Catherine gives birth to a stillborn boy, later on she dies of a haemorrhage. And in the end Henry walks back in the rain. While Hemingway avoids symbols that are easily interpreted, he uses evocative language with several meanings. Among these are the rain, which scares Catherine and into Henry walks at the end of the novel; also Henry's description of Catherine's hair, is one of the best in literature.
Hemingway plays with motives like masculinity (Henry in the War) and loyalty versus abandonment (evacuation). The story is also about illusions and fantasies which are replaced by the truth.
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