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THEME STUDY: Courage. The characters in A Farewell to Arms push bravery to the limits as they try to do the right thing in a world breaking apart before their eyes under the pressures of war.
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THEME STUDY: Courage • The characters in A Farewell to Arms push bravery to the limits as they try to do the right thing in a world breaking apart before their eyes under the pressures of war. • They are even brave enough to embrace what happiness they encounter. Each such embrace causes them to doubt their own bravery – happiness seems almost obscene when pain and suffering are all around you. • The nature of courage and the nature of cowardice are questioned in Ernest Hemingway’s sensitive and provocative tragedy. • Another word to describe ‘grace under pressure’ is stoicism.”
QUESTIONS ON COURAGE • Do you see characters acting courageously in the novel? If so, what makes you think so? • Is bravery presented as a vice or a virtue? Or a little of both? • Do you see Frederic Henry as heroic? How do you feel about him deserting the army?
SUMMARY - BOOKS 3 and 4 Arrange the events below into the correct order • Simmons tells Henry how he can escape to neutral Switzerland. • Henry is returned to the front after his knee has healed and takes part in the Italian retreat from Caporetto. • The Italian police (carabinieri) start questioning and shooting Henry and the others in his party. • On the freight train, Henry says that anger has been “washed away by the river” and that the war is “not [his] show anymore.” • Helen Ferguson accuses Henry of being a ‘seducer’ who got Catherine into trouble. • Amyo is killed by Italian fire. • During the retreat, Henry shoots one of three deserters. • Henry escapes by jumping into the river. • In the hotel in Stresa, Count Greffi tells Henry that being in love is a ‘religious feeling.’ • A Barman lends Henry a boat and he and Catherine escape to Switzerland.
The reality of death is strongly implied from the beginning. Hemingway presents death as something quite unlike what was suggested by war propaganda at the time. There is no glory in it, instead it is a tragic squandering of human life. CLASS DISCUSSION: EXPLAIN WHAT HEMINGWAY MIGHT BE TRYING TO EMPHASISE ABOUT DEATH IN THE FOLLOWING EXAMPLES. Look at both the details/context of the death itself and the way it is written about. • Death by Cholera (Page 4) • Passini is killed by the same mortar burst that wounds Henry. (pg 52) • Amyo is killed by Italian fire. (pg 191) • Catherine’s death at the end.
How does Hemingway write about death? • First Person narration with minimal use of adjectives and very understated. Using examples – explain the effect of this. • Rhetorical monologues. Philosophical truths about the human condition. TASK: Using the quotes below, explain what Hemingway seems to be saying about life and the human condition. • “I was always embarrassed by the words scared, glorious and sacrifice..” (Pg 165) • “If people bring so much courage to this world the world has to kill them..” (Pg 222) • “This was the end of the trap… you never got away with anything.” (pg 283)
BOOK 5 • Write a 1 paragraph summary of events in book 5. • How does Catherine display courage in this chapter? • Was Catherine’s death inevitable or gratuitous? • How did Hemingway foreshadow this tragic event?
Important terms and vocabulary • “Grace under pressure” – calm composure in the face of death. • Existentialism: That individuals are responsible for making meaning in their lives without relying on sets of rules provided by religion, state, society etc.
More on existentialism… • 1. There is no 'essential' human existence - that is, there is no 'human nature'. Your nature is what you choose it to be. • 2. No matter how much you might want to deny it, your life is what you make it with your choices. You have free will, and thus you have nothing else to blame for the way your life turns out than your own decisions. • 3. You are fully responsible for your immoral behavior.
EXISTENTIAL CRISIS An existential crisis is a stage of development at which an individual questions the very foundations of his or her life: whether their life has any meaning, purpose or value.
Existentialism and Hemingway • In what ways does Hemingway’s protagonist suffer an existential crisis? • At what key moment do you think this crisis is temporarily resolved?
