Why You Should Read a Farewell to Arms… Why You May Struggle with a Farewell to Arms …

Why you should read A Farewell to Arms …

1. It is considered one of the best war novels ever written, yet is predominately a romance. 2. Hemingway’s style is unlike anything that had come before and has been often imitated but never captured. 3. His journalistic style is quick and easy to read. 4. Many sections of the novel are taut with suspense.

Why you may struggle with A Farewell to Arms …

1. Hemingway’s “tip of the iceberg” style requires reading between the lines; the reader is expected to infer a lot. 2. Hemingway’s use of dialog is existential at times; i.e., it is difficult to ascertain who is speaking without backtracking. 3. A pervasive sense of doom – regarding the war and the romance – colors the narrative. 4. The novel is set primarily in Italy, and Hemingway uses the Italian language without specifying the English meaning.

Still interested? A few suggestions before you begin…

The narrator is called “Tenente” initially, which is “lieutenant” in Italian “Maggiori” = major Grappa = after dinner drink Strega = herbal liqueur Bersaglieri = Italian infantry unit Granatieri = Italian guard infantry unit Carabinier = Italian cavalry unit Grenadiers = Specialized assault officers Croyant = a believer

Fast Facts – A Farewell to Arms

Pages – 332 (Scribner Paperback Edition)

Author – Ernest Hemingway

Date Published -- 1929

Setting – Italy and Switzerland / WWI

Point of view – first person narrator: Frederic Henry

Genre – Drama / War / Romance

Issues/Conflicts – WWI / Love / Loss

Beyond the Basics…

Overview of novel and autobiographical connections: http://www.ernest.hemingway.com/farewell.htm

Photos, quotes and interesting information: http://www.timelesshemingway.com/

Reasons why the novel has been challenged or banned: http://www.ala.org/Template.cfm?Section=bbwlinks&Template=/Con tentManagement/ContentDisplay.cfm&ContentID=136590

A Farewell to Arms -- Author Information

Hemingway’s first wife, Hadley Richardson, once described her husband as having “so many sides to him you could hardly make a sketch of him in a geometry book.” Hemingway truly was “larger than life” and this brief synopsis will not do either the man or his talent justice. Please note the excellent resources listed below, including A & E’s Biography entitled “Wrestling with Life,” which most libraries carry.

Ernest Hemingway was born in Oak Park, Illinois in 1899, a town he once disparaged as having “wide lawns and narrow minds.” After graduating from high school, he moved to Kansas City to write for a newspaper. Similar to Frederic Henry, he entered WWI as an ambulance driver for the Italian army and was wounded. In a Milan hospital, he met and fell in love with a nurse named Agnes von Kurowsky, the inspiration for Catherine Barkley. After his recovery, he returned to Europe as a war correspondent. In the 1920’s he moved to Paris to write fiction. He published The Sun Also Rises in 1926 and A Farewell to Arms in 1929. In addition to writing ten novels and numerous collections of short stories, Hemingway was married four times, fathered three sons and was an avid fisherman, hunter, boxer, and sportsman. He won the Nobel Prize in Literature for The Old Man in the Sea, published in 1952. In 1962, after a long struggle with alcoholism and debilitating depression, Hemingway died of a self-inflicted gun wound in his home in Ketchum, Idaho.

More information on Hemingway’s life and works: http://nobelprize.org/nobel_prizes/literature/laureates/1954/hemingw ay-bio.html http://www.ehemingway.com/?page_id=13 http://www.biographyshelf.com/ernest_hemingway_biography.html http://store.aetv.com/html/product/index.jhtml?id=71930

Printable Bookmark! Please print and then cut to use as a reference as you read!! Only basic information has been provided to avoid “spoilers.” The “Intro” column indicates the chapter in which each character is first introduced. Enjoy!

Lt. (Tenente) First person Ch. I Frederic narrator; U.S. Henry ambulance driver in Italy. Captain Italian captain at Ch. II Gorizia. Priest Italian friend of Ch. II Fred. Lt. Rinaldi Italian friend of Ch. II Fred. Major Fred’s commanding Ch. III (Maggiori) officer; Italian. Catherine Fred’s love interest; Ch. IV Barkley English nurse. Helen Scottish friend of Ch. IV Ferguson Catherine. Manera, Fellow drivers at the Ch. IX Passini, attack at the Isonze Gavuzzi, river . Gordini Mrs. Walker Nurse in Milan. Ch. XIII Miss Head nurse in Ch. XIII VanCampen Milan. Miss Gage Nurse in Milan. Ch. XIII Dr. Varella Fred’s first doctor Ch. XV in Milan. Dr. Valentini Doctor who Ch. XV operates on Fred in Milan. Mr. and Mrs. Racetrack friends of Ch. XIX Myers Fred. Ettore Moretti Italian captain Fred Ch. XIX admires. Ralph American who Ch. XIX Simmons helps Fred. Crowell Race track friend of Ch. XX Rodgers Helen. Gino Italian soldier Fred Ch. relieves in XXVII Bainsizza. Aymo, Piani, Italian drivers who Ch. Bonello retreat w/ Fred. XXVII Emilio Swiss bartender Ch. friend of Fred. XXXIV Count Greffi Friend of Fred in Ch. Strese. XXXV Mr. and Mrs. Montreux couple. Ch. Guttingen XXXVIII

Menu Idea – A Farewell to Arms

A Farewell to Arms is an excellent novel in which to highlight the Italian setting and appreciate simple, yet delicious food from that region.

Appetizer: Brushetta with fresh Roma tomatoes, fresh mozzarella, fresh basil and olive oil

Here is wonderful recipe from the following website: http://www.e-rcps.com/pasta/rcp/antipasti/bruschetta_1.shtml

Bruschetta con pomodoro e basilico

Tuscany Preparation - Easy

When you take your olives to the local mill for pressing, make sure to take some country bread. There will be a small fire burning (it is November or December) in the fireplace in the corner of the pressing room, and when your oil emerges from the press, you will want to toast a bit of the bread on the fire to taste your oil on it.

This is bruschetta in its simplest, and to he or she who tended the olives, tastiest form.

The next step in bruschetta country is rubbing the toasted bread with garlic, before or after sprinkling on the olive oil, and adding a pinch of salt (see the previous recipe). The recipe here is more elaborate.

• Italian or French bread, cut in 1/2 inch slices • fresh, ripe, firm tomato, washed and coarsely chopped • fresh basil leaves, whole or shredded • olive oil, extra virgin, the best • garlic, peeled, whole (optional) • salt to taste

Grill or toast bread. Charcoal is great!

Place sliced bread under the broiler, in the toaster or best yet over a charcoal grill and toast. Rub toast with a clove of garlic or not, depending on taste. Drizzle with olive oil. Spoon chopped tomato onto bread. Scatter some basil. Alternatively, place the tomatoes, basil, garlic (chopped fine), olive oil and salt in a bowl and mix. Set bowl at table alongside the toasted bread and simply spoon on mixture. Some prefer to use sliced rather than chopped tomato. Whatever way you serve it, it is delicious. Main dish: Spaghetti with marinara sauce

Here are three sites with marinara recipes: http://allrecipes.com/Recipe/Best-Marinara-Sauce-Yet/Detail.aspx http://www.italianchef.com/marinara.html http://www.helpwithcooking.com/sauces/marinara-sauce.html

Marinara Sauce

Ingredients

• 1 can of crushed tomatoes (16 oz) • 6 freshly chopped basil leaves • ½ cup of red wine • ½ cup of water • 3 tbsp of olive oil • 3 sliced cloves of garlic • 1 tsp of sugar • salt

Method

1. In a medium sized saucepan, heat the olive oil over a medium-low heat. 2. Add the sliced garlic and cook gently until light brown in colour, taking care not to burn the garlic. 3. As the garlic just begins to brown add the tomatoes with the juice from the can and stir well. 4. Then add the liquids together with the sugar and salt and bring to the boil, stirring frequently. 5. Once the sauce starts to boil, reduce the heat to low, cover the pan with the lid and simmer gently for around 20 minutes or until the sauce has thickened. 6. Once the desired consistency has been reached, remove the pan from the heat and stir in the freshly chopped basil. 7. Serve with cooked pasta.

Crusty Bread with olive oil Chianti or Cabernet wine Espresso

Dessert: Tiramisu http://www.heavenlytiramisu.com/recipes.htm Here is a recipe from the above site: Pat Baldassari's Low-Fat Tiramisu

Pat Baldassari put this one on CompuServe Cooks Online Forum, but it is also included in her new electronic cookbook, MasterCook. Her low-fat recipe eliminates the raw eggs. Plus, she substitutes Ricotta cheese (partly skim milk) for the Mascarpone.

She writes: "I was unable to find Mascarpone cheese, the traditional Tiramisu ingredient, in our local shops. I downloaded eight Tiramisu and Mascarpone recipes from CompuServe's Cooks Online Forum and created a spreadsheet data matrix from them. I altered quantities to equalize the number of servings and grouped the ingredients by type. This recipe was created by comparing the similarities and differences among the original eight. It is low fat, but not low calorie."

Ingredients

• RICOTTA CHEESE (part skim milk), 2 cups • VANILLA EXTRACT, 1 teaspoon • SUGAR, granulated superfine, 1/4 cup • COFFEE, brewed, 1 cup cooled to room temperature • SUGAR, granulated superfine, 1 tablespoon • LADYFINGER COOKIES, 12 • COCOA POWDER, 1 tablespoon • COCOA POWDER, 1 teaspoon

Directions

1. Mix the Ricotta, vanilla and 1/4-cup sugar, blending well. 2. In a separate bowl, mix the coffee and 1 tablespoon of sugar. 3. Dip the cookies into the coffee and arrange in a nice pattern in a shallow serving dish. 4. Sprinkle with 1 tablespoon of cocoa powder. 5. Carefully spoon ricotta cheese over the ladyfingers. 6. Sprinkle with remaining cocoa. 7. Chill 1 hour.

Pat recommends using dark Italian or French roast coffee. And, instead of plain cocoa, she recommends Ghirardelli's cocoa mixed with ground chocolate. If superfine granulated sugar is unavailable, look for "fruit" or "instant-dissolving" sugar.

A Farewell to Arms – Creating the Mood!!

Here are some ideas to set the mood and get the conversation started to help you appreciate Hemingway’s classic. Enjoy!

Introductory Game Ideas:

Hemingway is known for his spare prose and unique style of writing. He was famously quoted as saying:

“All you have to do is write one true sentence. Write the truest sentence that you know. So finally I would write one true sentence, and then go on from there. . . . If I started to write elaborately . . . I found that I could cut that scrollwork or ornament out and throw it away and start with the first true simple declarative sentence I had written. Up in that room I decided that I would write one story about each thing that I knew about. I was trying to do this all the time I was writing, and it was good and severe discipline."

When challenged to write a story in 6 words, he replied: “For Sale: Baby Shoes, Never Used.”

Once everyone has arrived, challenge members to write one true sentence. To Hemingway, this meant to write only about what you know, using concrete nouns and very few intensifiers.

Or, give members Hemingway’s earlier challenge -- to write a story using only 6 words.

Too intense? Try renting A and E’s Biography of Hemingway from the library and watch it together – his life was stranger than fiction and truly gripping from the moment his mother dressed him as a girl to his unfortunate death from a self-inflicted gunshot wound. http://store.aetv.com/html/product/index.jhtml?id=71930

Literary Terms – A Farewell to Arms

Exposition – the introduction of the setting, characters, conflict(s) at the beginning of a novel. Our first impressions are so influential to our enjoyment and impressions of the novel, so after finishing a novel, skim the first chapter again to see how the author shaped and influenced your first impressions. Focus questions: 1, 2

Diction – word choice. Notice Hemingway’s word choice and how that influences your reading speed as well as enjoyment level. Notice how Hemingway prefers concrete nouns and uses few intensifiers or superlatives (like “very”). His diction tends to be understated, which results in a stoic tone, as seen in the following passage: “The battery in the next garden woke me in the morning and I saw the sun coming through the window and got out of the bed. I went to the window and looked out. The gravel paths were moist and the grass was wet with dew. The battery fired twice and the air came each time like a blow and shook the window and made the front of my pajamas flap. I could not see the guns but they were evidently firing directly over us. It was a nuisance to have them there but it was a comfort that they were no bigger.”

Focus questions: 3, 5

Syntax – style of sentence structure. Notice how the author’s crafting of syntax affects your engagement as a reader. Complexity of syntax does not determine literary merit; the pairing of syntax to meaning does. Hemingway was originally a newspaper reporter and many of his sentences retain this style. On the other hand, he also includes run-on or “stream of consciousness” syntax to express the horrors of war and the complexities of love: “Because we would not wear any clothes because it was so hot and the window open and the swallows flying over the roofs of the houses and then it was dark afterward and you went to the window very small bats hunting over the houses and close down over the trees and we would drink the Capri and the door locked and it hot and only a sheet and the whole night and we would both love each other all night in the hot night in Milan. That was how it ought to be.”

Focus questions: 3, 4, 5

Tone – author’s attitude toward subject . Think “tone of voice.” Tone is created through diction and can be very subtle, but is extremely important. If you misinterpret the tone, you most likely misinterpret the meaning or theme of the narrative. Notice how Hemingway’s heroes tend to appear bored or unimpressed by the world -- this reflects Hemingway’s impressions of “the lost generation” as well as indicate virtues inherent in his “code heroes.” Focus questions: 6, 10, 11, 14

Mood – emotional atmosphere of novel. Mood is considered an aspect of the setting (time, place, atmosphere ). When we read a novel, we “read ourselves,” so think about what type of mood your favorite novels tend to have and how different moods may influence your enjoyment level. Focus question: 9

Theme – main idea that runs throughout and unifies novel. Theme should be stated as a complete thought and not one word, which would instead be a topic of the novel: instead of “love” or “war,” consider what the author is saying about the nature of love or war in the novel. In classics, themes are frequently not “morals” of the novel; they may or may not represent the ideal. Focus questions: 2, 5, 6, 7, 10, 11, 14, 15, 16, 17, 18

Irony – the opposite of what it expected. Dramatic irony is when the reader has more information than the character does, providing the reader with an all-knowing perspective. Situational irony is when a situation turns out differently than expected. Verbal irony is when the speaker means the opposite of what is said, so correctly interpreting tone becomes crucial to the reader’s understanding of the events and particularly of the themes. An example of situational irony in A Farewell to Arms occurs at the very end of the novel. Focus questions: 10, 14, 18

Imagery – the use of words that engage the senses. Notice how Hemingway is able to create a image using concrete nouns understated language:

“She had wonderfully beautiful hair and I would lie sometimes and watch her twisting it up in the light that came in the open door and it shone even in the night as water shines sometimes just before it is really daylight. She had a lovely face and body and lovely smooth skin too.”

Focus questions: 1, 3, 5

Symbolism – when an element of the story (object, character, color, etc.) is both literally present in the novel and has significance or represents something beyond itself. Catherine fears rain and believes it bodes ill for lovers. Focus question: 8

Foil – when two characters contrast each other. The characters do not need to be enemies – or even be aware of one another. Helen Ferguson and Catherine Barkley are foils in their attitude toward premarital sex. Fred and Ettore Moretti are foils since Fred admires the captain’s bravery and does not believe that he himself deserved his medals. Focus question: 12

Foreshadowing – when the author provides hints to future events. In chapter XVII, Helen tells Catherine and Fred, “You’ll never get married.” Focus questions: 9, 11

A Farewell to Arms Discussion Questions

The following questions approach the novel from a number of different angles, i.e., how the novel functions as a work of art, how it reflects the time period, how it addresses fundamental questions of humanity, and how it engages the reader. A good discussion tends to start with our “heads” and end with our “hearts.” So, you may want to save subjective opinions of taste until after you have discussed the more objective elements of why this work is considered a classic. It is tempting to begin with, “What did everyone think?” But if a number of people really didn’t like the novel, their opinions may derail a discussion of the novel’s merits. On the other hand, I recommend starting with a few accessible questions and asking every member to respond to ensure that all voices are present and heard from the beginning. Just a few suggestions! Enjoy…

Warm up questions:

Which character did you empathize with the most? Which characters did you dislike the most and why? Did you judge Fred and Catherine for not marrying? Why/not? This novel has been called a modern-day Romeo and Juliet. Do you agree?

1. Notice how Hemingway begins the novel by describing the countryside and setting the scene, but does not specify who the narrator is or who the pronoun “we” refers to in the first sentence: “In the late summer of that year we lived in a house in a village that looked across the river and the plain to the mountains.” We don’t really get to know Fred (including his name) until chapter III -- why do you think Hemingway waits that long to develop his narrator? How did that affect your first impression of the novel? What were your first impressions of Fred?

2. In the first chapter – and throughout the entire novel – Hemingway juxtaposes nature and war . What is the effect of this? In chapter IV, Catherine says, “People don’t realize what France is like. If they did, it [war] couldn’t all go on.” Why does nature seem to have just as significant role as the war?

3. Notice how Hemingway relies on concrete nouns and very little “ornament” to create a scene:

“The forest of oak trees on the mountain beyond the town was gone. The forest had been green in the summer when we had come into the town but now there were the stumps and the broken trunks and the ground torn up, and one day at the end of the fall when I was out where the oak forest had been I saw a cloud coming over the mountain. It came very fast and the sun went a dull yellow and then everything was gray and the sky was covered and the cloud came on down the mountain and suddenly we were in it and it was snow. The snow slanted across the wind, the bare ground was covered, the stumps of trees projected, there was snow on the guns and there were paths in the snow going back to the latrines behind trenches.”

How is it apparent that Hemingway was a reporter at various times in his life?

4. Although Hemingway’s style is known primarily by his short, declarative sentences , occasionally he employs run-ons to express extreme emotion or drunkenness:

“I had gone to no such place but to the smoke of cafes and nights when the room whirled and you needed to look at the wall to make it stop, nights in bed, drunk, when you knew that that was all there was, and the strange excitement of waking and not knowing who it was with you, and the world all unreal in the dark and so exciting that you must resume again unknowing and not caring in the night, sure that this was all and all and all and not caring… I tried to tell about the night and the difference between the night and the day and how the night was better unless the day was very clean and cold and I could not tell it; as I cannot tell it now.”

What is the effect of using run-ons in this passage? Any other places come to mind where he uses this style effectively?

5. Reread the passage that describes when Fred gets injured :

“I ate the end of my piece of cheese and took a swallow of wine. Through the other noise I heard a cough, then came the chuh-chuh-chuh-chuh—then there was a flash, as when a blast-furnace door is swung open, and a roar that started white and went red and on and on in a rushing wind. I tried to breathe but my breath would not come and I felt myself rush bodily out of myself and out and out and out and all the time bodily in the wind. I went out swiftly, all of myself, and I knew I was dead and that it had all been a mistake to think you just died. Then I floated, and instead of going on I felt myself slide back. I breathed and I was back.”

Hemingway once stated that this passage was the closest he could come to describing his experience when he was injured in WWI. In what ways is this passage powerful?

6. Hemingway is known for his “code” and his “ code heroes .” His code specifies that one must accept the difficulties inherent in living with the knowledge of our mortality, see things as they are and not as we wish, and display courage, honesty and control at all times, especially in the face of death. Other than Fred, who seems to follow this code most accurately?

7. One of the trademarks of the “ lost generation ” – those writers who moved to Paris after WWI – was a refusal to rely on religion to explain the inexplicable and indescribable. What seems to be the function of the priest in the novel? Where else does religion emerge in the novel? Does the novel feel spiritual at all? What seems to be Fred’s “religion”?

8. When they first meet, Fred compliments Catherine on her hair and she tells him she had considered cutting her hair after her first love died. Her hair comes up a number of times in the novel -- what does it seem to symbolize?

9. The day after their first meeting, Catherine slaps Fred when he tries to kiss her, then declares “…we’re going to have a strange life” and shivers. Soon after, Fred thinks “I thought she was probably a little crazy. It was all right if she was. I did not care what I was getting into…I knew I did not love Catherine Barkley nor had any idea of loving her. This was a game, like bridge…” Later, Helen predicts that they will never marry. What else indicates their love may be doomed?

10.Fred believes that he does not deserve medals of honor : “I was blown up while we were eating cheese.” Do you agree that he did not do any heroic act worthy of commendation?

11.In Book Two, Fred and Catherine’s romance progresses quickly in the Milan hospital. Here are some of the ways Catherine describes their love: “There isn’t any me. I’m you. Don’t make up a separate me...You’re my religion. You’re all I’ve got…I don’t live at all when I’m not with you.” At one point, Fred states, “My life used to be full of everything…Now if you aren’t with me I haven’t a thing in the world.” How did you react to the obsessive nature of their love?

12.Helen Ferguson does not approve of many aspects of Fred and Catherine’s love and says, “I’m ashamed of you, Catherine Barkley. You have no shame and no honor…” Earlier in the novel, Catherine asserted to Fred, “Don’t talk as though you had to make an honest woman of me, darling. I’m a very honest woman. You can’t be ashamed of something if you’re only happy and proud of it.” Which perspective seems most valid – Helen’s or Catherine’s?

13.In the hospital in Milan, Miss Van Campen believes that Fred’s jaundice is self-inflicted due to his alcoholism . Do you believe that Fred is an alcoholic? Does his relationship with alcohol affect your opinion of Fred or your appraisal of the story?

14.Before Fred deserts the Italian army, he thinks

“I was always embarrassed by the words sacred, glorious, and sacrifice and the expression in vain…There were many words that you could not stand to hear and finally only the names of places had dignity. Certain numbers were the same way and certain dates and these with the names of the places were all you could say and have them mean anything. Abstract words such as glory, honor, courage, or hallow were obscene beside the concrete names of villages, the numbers of roads, the names of rivers, the numbers of regiments and the dates.”

Is this novel essentially anti-war ?

15.Did you judge Fred for deserting the army? Would your opinion change if he had deserted the army of his own country?

16.One of the best-known quotes from the novel is about courage :

“If people bring so much courage to this world the world has to kill them to break them, so of course it kills them. The world breaks every one and afterward many are strong at the broken places. But those that will not break it kills. It kills the very good and the very gentle and the very brave impartially. If you are none of these you can be sure it will kill you too but there will be no special hurry.”

Why is this passage so well-liked?

17.Notice how Catherine and Fred approach their pregnancy : Fred thinks, “You always feel trapped biologically…And this was the price you paid for sleeping together. This was the end of the trap. This was what people got for loving each other.” Then, in the hospital, before he learns the baby is dead, Fred thinks, “I had no feeling for him [his son]. He did not seem to have anything to do with me. I felt no feeling of fatherhood.” Did you judge Fred in his attitude toward the pregnancy? Was the ending a surprise or had Hemingway foreshadowed the deaths?

18.Near the end of the novel, Fred discusses religion with the ninety-four year old Count Greffi, who states, “We none of us know about the soul…I had expected to become more devout as I grow older but somehow I haven’t…It is a great pity…Perhaps I have outlived my religious feeling.” Fred responds that he is only devout at night and Count Greffi responds that love “is a religious feeling.” When Catherine is dying, Fred prays fervently: “Don’t let her die. Oh, God, please don’t let her die…Please, please, please, dear God, don’t let her die…Please, please, dear God, don’t let her die…” How would you explain Fred’s relationship to religion and to God?

Wrap up Questions!

1. Which character did you relate to the most? 2. Would you recommend the book to others? 3. If you could change anything, what would it be? 4. Do you believe this should be considered a classic? 5. Do you believe this novel should be taught in high schools?

A Farewell to Arms – the film

A number of film versions have been made of A Farewell to Arms , including an award-winning version in 1932 starring Gary Cooper and Helen Hayes, 1957 version starring Rock Hudson and Jennifer Jones, and a 1996 version, titled In Love and War , starring Chris O’Donnell and Sandra Bullock, which highlights the biographical aspects of the novel. Your group could watch a version of the movie together and discuss your impressions, or group members could watch a version before the meeting and then discuss impressions as a group. Time permitting, multiple versions could be viewed and then compared. Here are a few possible movie questions:

While viewing the movie, which characters were most unlike how you pictured them while reading the novel? Which characters seemed “right on” in their portrayal? What plot elements were left out or changed in the movie? How was your enjoyment affected by what was left out/changed? If this movie were remade today, who would you cast as Frederic and Catherine? The 1932 version, starring Gary Cooper and Helen Hayes, won two Academy Awards for Best Cinematography and Best Sound and was nominated for Best Art Direction and Best Picture. Do you believe these awards and nominations were justified? Which awards and nominations seemed best earned or least earned?

More information on the film(s):

1932 version: http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0022879/maindetails

1957 version: http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0050379/

In Love and War : http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0116621/