The simple but profound writing in A Farewell to Arms is what makes Hemingway such a master. The main character, Lieutenant Frederic Henry, is an American serving as an ambulance driver for the Italian Red Cross in World War I. Hemingway demonstrates both the horrors of war and the ordinariness of life during the war. There is also a love story running parallel to the war story.
Although Hemingway wants each reader to take something different, and he doesn’t expound upon emotions and messages, the story has many themes. In addition to love, there’s a study of loyalty, patriotism, and desertion. The characters exemplify courage and fear, and pain. Loneliness, heavy drinking, and escapism, both literally and figuratively, are elements in the narrative.
The reader learns more about a man when the main character gives up on war and says farewell to arms. Hope, confusion, and agony play into the end of the story, and realizing that we must die is paramount to understanding the novel.
