Revision presentation for A Farewell To Arms - Unit 3&4 VCE English Text

1. A Farewell to Arms

2. Begins at the start of winter Ends at the end of winter
Birth Death
Man Woman
“I had gone to no place where the roads were frozen and as “The wheel ruts and ridges were iron hard with the
hard as iron, where it was clear, and cold and dry” p. 12 frost” (p. 257) “The night was dry and cold and very
clear” (p. 270)
Loyalty Dissertion
Victories at the winter in the
Retreat at the end
beginning

3. A Farewell To Arms shows us that...

4. ‘Poor, poor dear Cat. 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’ p283
‘Now Catherine would die. That was what you did.
You died. You did not know what it was about. You
never had time to learn. They threw you in and told
you the rules and the first time they caught you off
base they killed you’ p289

5. What the Examiners Say
“High-scoring responses did not rely entirely on the
most obvious scenes from the texts. Their familiarity
with the entire text and the discerning selection of
scenes to support and explore ideas meant more
individual responses that were thoughtful, moving
beyond the most predictable and superficial
discussions.”

6. Tell me more...
“the construction of a text adds to its meaning and our
understanding. This knowledge was particularly
apparent in the ‘how’ topics which specifically dealt
with structure, including A Farewell to Arms”
“Students should be encouraged to have confidence in
their own reading and demonstrate a personal
understanding of their text rather than relying
exclusively on commercially produced material.”

7. Anything else?
“Students should be taught to look critically at the
wording of the topic and to consider what assumptions
are being made within the topic.”
“Students must ensure that they explore all elements
presented in the topic.”

8. Past exam questions
‘Although Frederic Henry retells the events many years later, there
is still a strong sense of immediacy in the narration.’ How is this
achieved?
To what extent is love an escape from the horrors of war in A
Farewell to Arms?
Rinaldi tells Frederic: “Underneath we are the same. We are war
brothers”. Is the seemingly endless war in A Farewell to Arms more
important than the relationships between the characters?
In what ways might A Farewell to Arms be described as an anti-
war novel?

9. The Structure
Orienting yourself around what
happens where

10. How does a 5-act tragedy work?
Act 1: Orientation: background
information
Act 2: Rising action: the basic conflict is
introduced
Act 3: Climax: the turning point in the
protagonist’s life

11. Act 4: Falling action: heading to the
ultimate conclusion (tragedy)
Act 5: Denouement: the protagonist
meets with tragedy and the tension is
ended

12. A Five-Act Tragedy
Book 1: A meaningless war made even
more meaningless by the drunken
soldiers who are in charge. Henry is
injured.
Book 2: Summer. Convalescence and
romance. The war goes on outside the
action.

13. Book 3: Autumn. Henry returns to the
war with a renewed sense of pessimism.
Henry’s unit retreats & he ultimately
deserts
Book 4: Henry and Catherine flee to
Switzerland, first meeting up in Stresa.
Book 5: Winter. Increased sense of
foreboding and separation from the
world, ultimately ending in death.

14. Characters
Who they are, why are they
important

15. Frederic Henry
‘I explained, winefully, how we did not do the things we wanted to do; we never
did such things’ p12
‘Evidently it did not matter whether I was there or not’ p16
‘I had treated seeing Catherine very lightly, I had gotten somewhat drunk and had
nearly forgotten to come but when I could not see her there I was feeling lonely
and hollow’ p39
‘In civilian clothes I felt a masquerader’ p217
‘Poor, poor dear Cat. 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’ p283

16. Frederic Henry
Seems to have one existential crisis after
another
Thinks the war is pointless, but likes
wearing a uniform
Is constantly eating and drinking to fill
up his ‘hollowness’

17. Catherine Barkley
‘I loved to take her hair down…and we would both be
inside of it, and it was the feeling of inside a tent or
behind a falls’ p102
“And you’ll always love me?” / “Yes.” / “And the rain
won’t make any difference?” p113
“I’ve always been afraid of the rain” p113
“I’m not brave anymore, darling. I’m all broken.
They’ve broken me” p285

18. Catherine Barkley
We have to infer most of what Catherine
is thinking
Like Henry, she begins by playing at
‘being in love’
She is contrasted to other women in the
novel

19. Rinaldi
•
We never get anything. We are born with all we have
and we never learn. P. 153
•
By God, baby, I’m becoming a lovely surgeon. P. 150
•
I am only happy when I am working…I only like two
other things; one is bad for my work and the other is
over in half an hour or fifteen minutes. P. 153

20. Helen Ferguson
You will die then. Fight or die. That’s what people do.
P. 98

21. The Priest
‘I myself felt as badly as he did and could not
understand why I had not gone’ p12
‘I explained, winefully, how we did not do the things
we wanted to do; we never did such things’ p12

22. Count Greffi
Passage on pages 232-234
Older, wiser than Henry, living each day
as a sort of celebration of life

23. The Medical Staff
Miss Van Campen
Nurse Gage
Nurse Walker
Dr Valentini

24. Ambulance Drivers
Book 1: Passini (legs blown off);
Gavuzzi (survives); Mera (survives);
Gordini (injured)
Book 3: Bonello (kills another soldier);
Aymo (is killed during retreat); Piani
(goes with Henry during retreat)

25. Other Characters
Mr & Mrs Meyers
Ettore

26. Themes
An interpretation

27. Different Themes
Masculinity
Hopelessness
Disconnection
Fear
Grief
Loyalty

28. Masculinity
‘You really are an Italian. All fire and smoke and
nothing inside’ p61
‘I have noticed that doctors who fail in the practice of
medicine have a tendency to seek out oe another’s
company’ p87
‘This war is terrible..Come on. We’ll both get drunk
and be cheerful’ p151
‘In civilian clothes I felt a masquerader’ p217

29. Hopelessness
We never get anything. We are born with all we have
and we never learn’ p153
‘The whole bloody thing is crazy’ p188
‘There isn’t always an explanation for everything’ p17
‘Now Catherine would die. That was what you
did’p289

30. Disconnection
‘the world all unreal in the dark’ p13
‘seeing it all ahead like the moves in a chess game’
p24
‘all that was happening was without interest or
relation’ p56
Chapter 16 - enema and sex
‘The war was a long way away. Maybe there wan’t any
war.’ p219

31. Fear
‘the ridiculousness of carrying a pistol at all came
over me’ p28
‘It did not have anything to do with me. It seemed no
more dangerous than war in the movies’ p35
‘I’ve always been afraid of the rain’ p113
“Everybody has babies. It’s a natural thing’p124

32. Grief
‘we did not do the things we wanted to do; we never
did such things’ p12
p18 - Catherine explaining why she didn’t marry
Aymo : ‘He looked very dead...I had liked him as well
as anyone I ever knew’ p191

33. Loyalty
‘I am very moved to so you badly wounded’ p60
‘When you love you wish to do things for’ p66
‘I feel like a criminal. I’ve deserted from the army’
p224
‘we could not lose any time together’ p275

34. Symbols
What are they, how do you
interpret them?

35. Rain
Heralds almost all tragic events in the
novel
Connected especially with Catherine,
giving us a foreboding about her
character

36. The Seasons
Henry’s mood is generally reflected in
the seasons, Spring is the time of hope,
Summer is the fruition of love, Autumn is
the return of the rain and the return to
the front, Winter is an absence, a death.

37. Hunger & Eating (and drinking)
Henry often feels empty and hollow
He tries to fill a void within him with
food and especially drink
At times of sorrow (and danger) he tries
to fill himself with food and drink

38. Foreboding
Five act tragedy
Catherine and Helen both predict the
tragic end
There are pairs of images - bats, statues
and chess that link the beginning and
end of the narrative

39. Catherine’s Hair
Her hair symbolises the escape from the
outside world that Catherine embodies
‘I loved to take her hair down...And we would both be
inside of it, and it was the feeling of inside a tent or
behind falls’ p102
‘She had taken her hat off and her hair shone under
the light’ p137

40. The End...