Novel Discussions-A Farewell to Arms - Book Report/Review Example

Catherine has lost her fiance to the war and is terribly disillusioned by it and the circumstances that led to it. For both of them, their affair starts out more as a fling for fun, but turns into something much more serious between the two of them on many levels. Part of Frederic’s change occurs when he is wounded. The reality that war is not a game and can be deadly sinks in. While he convalesces, the affair between him and Catherine intensifies. She gets pregnant and that adds to his recognition of the responsibility and weight of life.

Catherine from the beginning acts pretty independent. After all, she has already had the realities of life foisted upon her in the death of her fiance. However, she seems to become completely dependent upon Frederic by the end of the novel. He is not really excited about being a father, but the alternative, abandoning Catherine and fighting a war he no longer supports is no better Fredric’s complete transformation occurs when he deserts the army and flees Italy to be with Catherine. That may be only part of his reasoning for deserting though.

Earlier he recovers from a wound only to be sent back to the front lines where he is nearly executed, but not before he executes one of his own men. At the end of the novel, Frederic has become as cynical as Catherine is at the beginning of the novel. Ironically, he is now the one whose fiancee has died, leaving him devastated. 2. How important is the setting of the novel? What impact does the setting have on your interpretation of events? Your discussion must be at least 200 words.  A Farewell to Arms is set, for the most part, in Italy during World War I.

Probably the most important part of the setting is the timeframe rather than the location though. The First World War shocked many people because they had not realized before how cruel and devastating war could be. Before this time wars seemed smaller and far away without much affect on civilians, but to have the entire world, or the greatest part of it anyway, involved in one conflict, was beyond what many people could comprehend at the time. The stories of the horrible things humans did to one another with their new inventions that were intended only to kill as many people as possible with the most lethality was inconceivable.

The physical setting of Italy, though, changes for Frederic once he is wounded. Before he is wounded the way he describes the village where he lives, the food, the weather—the entire environment—does not sound uninviting. After he is wounded and begins the affair with Catherine, his description is much more negative. The war has become chaotic, not orderly and boring like it was before. It rains all of the time and there is mud and devastation instead of green fields and fruit trees. Frederic, like most people of that historical setting, became disillusioned, frightened, and cynical about life.

Hemingway set the novel in this time and place to mirror the way Frederic’s journey from a young man without a philosophical view or solid opinion about the important parts of life grows to become a much more experienced man with a lifetime of grief behind him. The chaos and damage of a world war reflect the dark outlook on life many young people came away from the war with: they lost religious faith, they saw no reason to conform to convention, and they believed that the world could end at any moment.

By the end of the novel, Catherine’s world does end, and Frederic’