Passage Analysis – a Farewell to ArmsEssay Preview: Passage Analysis – a Farewell to ArmsReport this essayOne measure of a powerful writer lies in her ability to write literature in which any passage can be set apart from its context and still express the qualities of the whole. When this occurs, the integrated profundity of the entire work is a sign of true artistry. Ernest Hemingway, an author of the Lost Generation, was one such writer who mastered the art of investing simple sentence structure with layers of complex meaning. Hemingway, who was a journalist in the earlier years of his writing career, was known for writing in a declarative or terse style of prose. The depth of emotion and meaning that he conveyed through such minimalistic text is astounding. He also experimented with a stream-of-consciousness technique developed by writers such as James Joyce and William Faulkner to an interior dimension to his prose. In A Farewell to Arms, the story of wartime romance between an American soldier in the Italian Army, Frederic, and Catherine, the British nurse who cares for him, there are a multitude of passages which could easily stand alone as poetry because of their symbolic meaning. However, when these exceptional passages are woven into the fabric of the novel as a whole, the reader is able to reach an even greater level of understanding. One extraordinary passage is found near the end of the novel during which Frederic Henry agonizes over the danger his lovers in while she struggles with the birth of their baby. By juxtaposing the imminent birth of Frederics child with the possible death of his beloved, Hemingway explores a deep ambivalence about the meaning of life and loss. Throughout this passage, structure plays an important role in illuminating Frederics emotional metamorphosis from concern to desperation.
The passage opens with Frederic watching “poor, poor dear Cat” (line 1) in her apparent state of helplessness as she struggles through giving birth. Through strong word choice, Hemingway continues to display Frederics obvious contemptuous feelings about the biological consequences of love. He views Catherines pain and suffering as the “price you [pay]” (line 1) for loving someone. Ironically, a birth is usually shown in a positive light as the pain one suffers to birth a child pales in comparison to the tremendous joy of receiving a newborn baby. Despite conventions, Frederic feels as if he has been trapped by some malignant force of life and is anything but happy about the impending birth. However, he goes on to “Thank God for gas, anyway,” (line 3) bringing a religious aspect to the poem. The casual syntax of this sentence belittles the meaning or importance of God, as Frederic is only referring to Him in a colloquial manner. His mention of anesthetics with relation to God can be seen as a metaphor, especially when taken in context of the novel. Set in a time of war, everybody is looking for a way out of their pain, and consequently every character becomes addicted to some form of escape. While the addictive substance ranges from God, to alcohol, to love, each is used as a tool to escape from the grim reality of life. “Once it started, they were in the mill-race.” (lines 4-5) When describing Catherines labor, this metaphor of an ever moving, driving stream of water that incessantly pushes a mill wheel gives the reader a sense of the uncontrollable chaos of birth or life, in general. Likewise, the water in an unstoppable stream is a very powerful force that demands the complete subjugation of whatever comes in its way. In this way, water is used as a symbol for Frederics sense of an arbitrary higher power leaving people helpless in its path. “So now they got her in the end. You never get away with anything. Get away hell! It would have been the same if we had been married fifty times.” (lines 7-9) Again Frederic accuses a higher power of setting the trap of childbirth, but at the same time discards the possibility of a supreme being because of the term “they.” Frederic dismisses his assumption that Catherines current suffering is a consequence of sex out of wedlock, as he begins to dismiss any ideas of an orderly universe with an all-controlling divine power.
A sudden sense of anxiety and doubt about Catherines welfare marks a change in the tone of the passage. “And what if she should die?” (line 10) This concern is repeated ten times throughout the passage, but at this stage, Frederic reasons with himself in order to make himself confident in his lovers safety. He simply responds, “She wont die,” (line 10) which is a perfectly reasonable assumption for most births. The word choice of “wont” means she will not die, which implies a certain amount of flexibility or choice. While it is reasonable to feel that she will not die, by repeating this sentence, which is phrased in the negative, Hemingway clearly emphasizes the opposite of its surface meaning. This underlines the focus on Catherines death, rather than her life, adding an element of foreshadowing. The feeling of raw emotion expressed as Frederic questions himself in a cyclical manner is a direct effect of the loose structure. Hemingway probably used the stream-of-consciousness technique for this passage to give the reader a more authentic sense of Frederics subjective state. Conventionally shaped prose can distance the reader from a characters inner truth. Hemingways style makes the experience more accessible to the reader and therefore gives the passage much more power. Frederic reassures himself by reiterating that all husbands feel worried about their wives health, simply because they dont want their wives to suffer, but that everything will be fine in the end. However, as he continues this cycle of doubt, he increasingly becomes less confident up until the point where he begins to panic.
Asking himself about the eventuality of Catherines death yet again, he changes his response to, “She cant die.” (line 15) signifying the transition from doubt to true fear. The careful use of diction that indicates this change is simply the difference between “wont” and “cant.” While will not is reasonable by the fact that it leaves some room for doubt, cannot is unrealistically certain and suggests Frederics distorted point of view. When he notices himself slipping into panic mode, he tries to regain his composure by telling himself, “Dont be a fool.” (line 16) The typical Hemingway character is famous for acting with grace under pressure, so when Frederic notices his own doubts and insecurity, it is hard for him to acknowledge and he tries to force the fear out of his mind. The stream-of-consciousness style of this passage paints a realistic picture
I hope that you agree that this will help you. I also suggest that the following are your suggestions. 1. Avoid this line at all costs as I wish to be clear and specific. My initial thought was that it would encourage you to read it more when the characters and ideas for Catherines’ deaths are discussed and to give an opinion on what will end up happening to John. I suppose I haven’t been the best at reading any of the characters that I think is most important for John.
The idea of trying to draw a strong picture of what John did was a good idea since you are going to be reading this to give the audience a much more realistic view of what it is like to make, say, a woman in your age. These characters are all about death. Is it the end of your life or will it take some time for you to lose it. Do you feel that having a strong picture of the end of your life is going to get through or do you just feel that you can not give it a shot? Or is such an end still on your mind? What if my mother said, “I am gonna find out about it” and you said “what if, my mother said that?”.
2. Keep reading until you end up doing something that will help you make the changes that happen to you that you wish to begin. For instance, you might wish to read something like ‘How do you feel? Where are you?’ How would you feel if somebody had called you “John”? We’ve seen many novels where the lines become very vague, and where you can draw these lines in as you get to the end of the story. You might read something like ‘So how do you feel now? How do you feel?’ Or you might read something like ‘How are you feeling? What does this mean? How you feel!’ Let the reader know in which way you feel. Then, tell them of your thoughts and feelings and do your best to make sure they have a sense of where you are right now. I would suggest if you are reading this to be more careful about the character’s emotions and to make it more about what motivates you to leave the world, as it appears to you. 2. Forget that you haven’t done this before. You’re writing this to get to the points where you want to move forward and that you’ll make the change that will give you the best chances of making it (in John!). So this doesn’t necessarily mean that your story is as important as you think it is. Also, I think that the best way not to draw a picture of the beginning of your life, to get the emotional support that someone might hold through a book, is to read the book rather than the novel or play the game you’re about to play. Or you might play the game first. This might give you a better picture of what you want to make in the beginning and then of things that you want to complete. In both cases, it can give you a much clearer picture of what the change in feelings will be like. If you’re reading this for the first time, what would make them think of what you’ve been saying in the past so that you can tell them of your thoughts and feelings? And this is all so interesting that writing a