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LITERARY ELEMENTS

SETTING
The novel is primarily set in Gorizia, a small town near the Italian-Austrian border, with World War I
as its backdrop. Italy, part of the Allied Powers, is opposed by Austria, part of the Central Powers. In
the final stages of the war, the U.S.A. supported the Allied Powers. The war was fought between 1914
and 1918. The protagonist, Frederic Henry, an ambulance driver and officer in the Italian army when
the novel opens, is stationed in Gorizia.

In Book II, the Protagonist is wounded and is sent to a Milan hospital. Therefore, the action now
moves to Milan. Here, the parallel theme of love between the Protagonist and the heroine, Catherine
Barkley, develops.

In Book III, upon the cancellation of his convalescent leave, Henry is sent back to the front, in Gorizia.
The novel is now set against not Gorizia, but the awesome Caporetto and the (in)famous retreat.
Historically, the Battle of Caporetto was fought in October 1917, between the Italian and German-
Austrian forces and as far as Italy was concerned, the battle was an disaster. Caporetto is a small
town on the banks of the river Isonzo in Italy. Though at some places the Italian army resisted the
German-Austrian army, it was fighting a losing battle. The battle and Caporetto were lost and the
Italian forces were compelled to withdraw. This is called the Retreat, whose details are realistically
presented in Book III. The setting then is Caporetto, the historically famous small town.

In Book IV, the action moves back again to Milan, Italy. From there, till the end of the novel, the
setting is in neutral Switzerland, where Henry and Catherine flee and stay till her death. Throughout
the novel, the setting offers a striking contrast between the mountains, which are majestic, lofty and
dignified and the plains, which are associated with death, decay, and degeneration.



CHARACTER LIST

Major Characters
Lieutenant Frederic Henry
The narrator and the protagonist. A former student of architecture who has volunteered to join the
Italian army as an ambulance officer, because he could speak Italian. An indifferent soldier, he finds
fulfillment in love, following his injury and subsequent desertion of his army post.

Catherine Barkley
An English nurse with whom Henry falls in love. Her bodily structure prevents her having a natural
delivery of a child; she dies following a Caesarian operation.



Minor Characters
Rinaldi
An excellent surgeon in the Italian army. He is witty, garrulous, highly sexual, has a habit of excessive
drinking, and is disillusioned by the war. A great friend of Henry’s.

The priest
A real man of God whose faith in Christianity and morals remain unshaken even in the face of the
absolute debauchery of the army. He is a friend, philosopher, and guide to Henry. True love for him
implies service and sacrifice. He is a butt of vulgar jokes in the officer’s mess. He is the Code Hero in
this novel, an embodiment of love, courage, honor and all that is positive in the world, from whom the
Hero (Henry) has to acquire learning.
Miss Helen Ferguson
A Scottish Catholic nurse and friend of Catherine’s. She is a moralist and appears ill tempered but
cares genuinely and deeply for Catherine. She believes firmly in morals and is to Catherine what
Rinaldi is to Henry (a friend, concerned and caring).

Miss Gage
A nurse in the hospital in Milan, a “friend” of Henry’s. Dislikes Catherine but helps Henry a lot.

Miss Walter
Another nurse who admits Henry into the hospital at Milan when he arrives there wounded.

Miss Van Campen
The hospital superintendent. She dislikes Henry and sees to it that his convalescent leave is cancelled
because she believes that his jaundice was self-inflicted due to excessive alcoholism.

Dr. Valentini
A competent surgeon of the rank of a major, performs excellent surgery on Henry’s knee and restores
its use to him.

Mr. and Mrs. Meyers
Eccentric friends of Henry’s in Milan. They do not trust each other: he with a shady past and she, big-
busted and calling every one “dear boy.” Both provide comic relief to an otherwise gloomy story.

Ettore Moretti
A braggadocio, the braggart soldier. A San Franciscan of Italian descent; twenty-three, a true war
hero who looks unconvincing because of his habit of boasting too much about his exploits; disliked by
Catherine for boring her.

Edgar Saunders
A tenor and student of music; has adopted the name Eduardo Giovanni to impress the Italian
audience.

Ralph Simmons
Another music student who sang under the name Enrico del Credo; later helps Henry go to Stresa by
lending his civilian clothes and bag.

Court Greffi
The ninety-four year “young” billiards player; is worried that he is not devout even at that age; has
excellent taste in literature and advises Henry that love is religion and life, valuable.

The Barman
He has a wicked sense of humor and works at the Grand Hotel in Stresa. Fishing is his hobby; lends
his boat to Henry to escape to Switzerland and also brings him the important information that he is
about to be arrested by the Italian police.

Mr. and Mrs. Guttingen
The owners of the mountain Villa in Montreux where Henry and Catherine live during the winter
months. They take excellent care of Catherine in the advanced stages of her pregnancy.

Bonello, Aymo and Piani
Ambulance drivers. Aymo is killed; Bonello decides to be taken prisoner after the Retreat; and Piani
accompanies Henry till the point of the latter’s desertion from the army.

Almost all these characters, with a possible exception of Miss Van Campen, are uniformly good,
cheerful, and render valuable help to the lead pair at crucial points in the story.

http://thebestnotes.com/booknotes/Farewell_To_Arms/A_Farewell_To_Arms02.html
CONFLICT

Protagonist
Lieutenant Frederic Henry, who does not suffer from any grand illusions about honor, glory,
patriotism, or courage, deserts the army by leaving his post. He is wounded in the knee, is in love
with Catherine Barkley, lives with her, gets her pregnant, but in the end, loses both his son and
Catherine.



Antagonist
The war, with its devastating effect on the individual’s life, the tragic disillusionment it fosters, and the
despair that is its consequence, is the antagonist in the novel. On a secondary level, biology, that
claims Catherine’s life, is the second antagonist.



Climax
The climax occurs in Caporetto where a retreat is forced on the Italian army. Henry tries to put up a
brave and dogged fight but in the ensuing chaos, he is forced to desert his post. From now on, he
becomes the hunted rather the hunter and has to live incognito. The action too undergoes a marked
change after the climax. Before the retreat, it seems slow-paced but after it becomes faster and the
events unfold so quickly that they leave the reader breathless. Here the setting shifts from Italy to
Switzerland.



Outcome
The conflict ends in a tragedy that is double-edged or twin-peaked. Henry cannot pursue a military
career because he has abandoned his post. There are no more choices for him as far as professions go
because he had given up architecture to join the army and now he has given up the army too. He
intends to lead a life of married bliss with Catherine and his son but both die, leaving him a victim of
unalterable circumstances. As Henry says, though he lives on after Catherine’s death, his tragic story
has come to an end. This novel is tragic because it shows Catherine biologically double-crossed,
Europe war-crossed and life, death-crossed.



SHORT SUMMARY (Synopsis)


The novel opens with World War I raging all over Europe. A young American student, studying
architecture in Italy, offers his services to the Italian army. In Gorizia, he is wounded in the knee and
is sent to recuperate in a hospital in Milan. He falls in love with an English nurse, Catherine Barkley,
lives with her, and she becomes pregnant. He returns to the front in Gorizia and is caught in the
Italian retreat. In order to save his life, he deserts his post and goes away to a hospital in Milan to
take Catherine and go some place where they can start life anew. They go to Switzerland but cannot
live happily, for a fresh tragedy awaits them. Their eagerly awaited son is stillborn and Catherine who
can never have a normal delivery, dies after a Caesarian operation.



THEMES

Main Themes
The main theme of the novel is that war creates or makes a tragedy of everything. Therein, a person
has to bid farewell to everything she cherishes in life. It revolves round the yawning, aching loneliness
that exists in the midst of war, which ensures that one cannot even find solace in love. She has to pay
a very high price for wanting love, let alone achieving it, and most often death forms the most natural
and suitable price one could pay. Though one has struggled hard, at the end of the reckoning, she is
left with nothing.



Minor Themes
The minor theme of the novel is the passage of Henry from a cheap life to a noble one. When he
enters the army, he has not many feelings: he is disinterested and disillusioned with the war, eats and
drinks heavily, and regularly visits sordid brothels. He progresses from there to a sense of
participation in the war and to an elevated, dignified love life. His initiation into the vicissitudes of war,
molds him into a well-adjusted individual, who is competent enough to make a “separate peace” with
himself. His initiation into the pleasures of dignified love convert him from a drinking, debauched
soldier to a loving, caring husband. However, as the novel ends, the initiation, on both levels,
becomes inconclusive and inconsequential. For, Henry cannot make use of it in his future.



MOOD
The mood of the novel is pessimistic. Tragedy lurks behind every action and, as such, robs it of
meaning. Men and women, caught in the war, despair and move to bitterness and cynicism.
Throughout the novel, a mood of continuous boredom, disappointment, and apathy, generated from a
sense of inevitability of fate, dominates. The somber mood in the novel, describing the horrors of war,
turns tragic, as it details the problems of undergoing a Caesarian section. The mood throughout the
novel is one of disappointment, dullness, and pain.




Ernest Hemingway - BIOGRAPHY
Ernest Hemingway was born on 21 July, 1899 in Oak Park, Illinois. His father was a doctor and his
mother was an amateur musician. He was not academically successful and graduated from
high school in 1917, near the bottom of his class. He sought to enlist in the army but was rejected due
to his poor eyesight. He went to work as a cub reporter in Kansas City. He was doing moderately well
as a reporter when he heard that Italy was recruiting ambulance drivers to serve on the Italian front
and promptly offered his services. He was seriously injured and taken to a hospital where he fell in
love with an English nurse, Agnes. He was no longer a young man, with stars in his eyes and romantic
views about everything. War, death, disease, suffering, and decay changed his thinking. When he
went back to America, his relationship with Agnes came to an end.
Hemingway then went to Paris and was a major figure in a group of writers called the “Lost
Generation,” along with Gertrude Stein, Djuna Barnes, and Ezra Pound. He drew on his bitter
experiences and painful memories from World War I and wrote A Farewell to Arms (1929), which was
an instant success. Later, Hemingway went to Spain as a newspaper reporter. He was attracted by
bull fighting, a major sport in Spain. He covered the Spanish Civil War. Then, he went to live in Cuba.
He participated in World War II on submarine patrol duty. He became an expert on German rockets
and was among the first batch of troops to storm Normandy Beach in 1944. Later, he went back to
Cuba to deep-sea fish and write. In 1953, he received the Pulitzer Prize and the Nobel Prize for
Literature in 1954. After the Castro Revolution, he left Cuba and returned to America. War left him
disillusioned. He was disappointed in love, too; though he married four times in his life, he could not
understand the real meaning of life and love. He committed suicide in 1961. His literary masterpieces,
apart from his short stories, include The Sun Also Rises, For Whom the Bell Tolls, The Old Man and the
Sea, and Death in the Afternoon.



LITERARY/HISTORICAL INFORMATION
A Farewell to Arms is considered a great novel of World War I. It is a complex novel dealing with the
travails of a war-torn young man called Frederic Henry. A few details from Hemingway’s personal life
creep into this novel. For instance, Lieutenant Henry is with an ambulance unit, serving in the Italian
Army, just as Hemingway did. He falls in love with an English nurse when he is recuperating in a
hospital. Apart from these factual details, others in the novel are entirely different from those in
Hemingway’s life. The novel therefore deals with these two major themes, love and war, carefully
interwoven with each other. In fact, the title itself suggests these two themes, with a pun on the word
“Arms.” The hero, Henry, bids farewell to “Arms” as in weapons and also, when Catherine dies, to the
loving “arms,” of a human being.
A Note on the Structure of the Novel
This novel is divided into five books, each having eight to twelve chapters. In this respect, the novel
resembles a drama, which generally has five acts, further divided into scenes. Each book reveals a
carefully controlled action and finely detailed love. For, war and love are the two major themes
discussed in this novel. When one theme gets into the foreground, the other recedes into the
background. But the sequence of action runs parallel in both the themes, so that the reader gets the
feeling of having read a single major theme rather than two.

Book I has war in the foreground; Henry meets Catherine, participates in the battle, and is grievously
wounded.

Book II has love in the foreground, for the wounded Henry is sent to a hospital, meets Catherine
again, and their love develops.

Book III also has war in the foreground, seen in Henry’s recuperation and recovery from his wound,
getting back to war, getting caught up in a retreat, and deserting his post, a serious military offense.

Book IV has love in the foreground when Henry seeks Catherine, who is pregnant, with his child.

Book V also has love in the foreground, while war looms ominously in the background, when the
lovers escape to a neutral territory, Switzerland, where Catherine dies of excessive internal
hemorrhaging after a Cesarean operation.

It is also quite interesting to note the flow of action in six phases in the unfolding of the two themes of
love and war. In the war, Henry goes through six stages: (1) a distant and casual participation, (2)
followed by a rather serious action (3) which results in a knee-wound, (4) his being sent to a hospital
to recover, (5) his going back to war and getting caught in a retreat, and (6) his desertion of his
military post. Likewise, Catherine goes through six stages: (1) an inconsequential flirtation (2) that
develops into genuine love (3) which culminates in her pregnancy, (4) her stay along with Henry in a
Villa in Switzerland, (5) after which she goes into a hospital for delivery (6) and has the Cean which
results in her death.

By the time the novel reaches its end, the two themes merge and the grimness of war is conveyed in
no uncertain terms to the reader.

The novel contains a first person narrator. Love and war are seen through his eyes. As such, it
becomes easier for the reader to understand him and sympathize with him when the situation arises.

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Literary elements

  • 1. LITERARY ELEMENTS SETTING The novel is primarily set in Gorizia, a small town near the Italian-Austrian border, with World War I as its backdrop. Italy, part of the Allied Powers, is opposed by Austria, part of the Central Powers. In the final stages of the war, the U.S.A. supported the Allied Powers. The war was fought between 1914 and 1918. The protagonist, Frederic Henry, an ambulance driver and officer in the Italian army when the novel opens, is stationed in Gorizia. In Book II, the Protagonist is wounded and is sent to a Milan hospital. Therefore, the action now moves to Milan. Here, the parallel theme of love between the Protagonist and the heroine, Catherine Barkley, develops. In Book III, upon the cancellation of his convalescent leave, Henry is sent back to the front, in Gorizia. The novel is now set against not Gorizia, but the awesome Caporetto and the (in)famous retreat. Historically, the Battle of Caporetto was fought in October 1917, between the Italian and German- Austrian forces and as far as Italy was concerned, the battle was an disaster. Caporetto is a small town on the banks of the river Isonzo in Italy. Though at some places the Italian army resisted the German-Austrian army, it was fighting a losing battle. The battle and Caporetto were lost and the Italian forces were compelled to withdraw. This is called the Retreat, whose details are realistically presented in Book III. The setting then is Caporetto, the historically famous small town. In Book IV, the action moves back again to Milan, Italy. From there, till the end of the novel, the setting is in neutral Switzerland, where Henry and Catherine flee and stay till her death. Throughout the novel, the setting offers a striking contrast between the mountains, which are majestic, lofty and dignified and the plains, which are associated with death, decay, and degeneration. CHARACTER LIST Major Characters Lieutenant Frederic Henry The narrator and the protagonist. A former student of architecture who has volunteered to join the Italian army as an ambulance officer, because he could speak Italian. An indifferent soldier, he finds fulfillment in love, following his injury and subsequent desertion of his army post. Catherine Barkley An English nurse with whom Henry falls in love. Her bodily structure prevents her having a natural delivery of a child; she dies following a Caesarian operation. Minor Characters Rinaldi An excellent surgeon in the Italian army. He is witty, garrulous, highly sexual, has a habit of excessive drinking, and is disillusioned by the war. A great friend of Henry’s. The priest A real man of God whose faith in Christianity and morals remain unshaken even in the face of the absolute debauchery of the army. He is a friend, philosopher, and guide to Henry. True love for him implies service and sacrifice. He is a butt of vulgar jokes in the officer’s mess. He is the Code Hero in this novel, an embodiment of love, courage, honor and all that is positive in the world, from whom the Hero (Henry) has to acquire learning.
  • 2. Miss Helen Ferguson A Scottish Catholic nurse and friend of Catherine’s. She is a moralist and appears ill tempered but cares genuinely and deeply for Catherine. She believes firmly in morals and is to Catherine what Rinaldi is to Henry (a friend, concerned and caring). Miss Gage A nurse in the hospital in Milan, a “friend” of Henry’s. Dislikes Catherine but helps Henry a lot. Miss Walter Another nurse who admits Henry into the hospital at Milan when he arrives there wounded. Miss Van Campen The hospital superintendent. She dislikes Henry and sees to it that his convalescent leave is cancelled because she believes that his jaundice was self-inflicted due to excessive alcoholism. Dr. Valentini A competent surgeon of the rank of a major, performs excellent surgery on Henry’s knee and restores its use to him. Mr. and Mrs. Meyers Eccentric friends of Henry’s in Milan. They do not trust each other: he with a shady past and she, big- busted and calling every one “dear boy.” Both provide comic relief to an otherwise gloomy story. Ettore Moretti A braggadocio, the braggart soldier. A San Franciscan of Italian descent; twenty-three, a true war hero who looks unconvincing because of his habit of boasting too much about his exploits; disliked by Catherine for boring her. Edgar Saunders A tenor and student of music; has adopted the name Eduardo Giovanni to impress the Italian audience. Ralph Simmons Another music student who sang under the name Enrico del Credo; later helps Henry go to Stresa by lending his civilian clothes and bag. Court Greffi The ninety-four year “young” billiards player; is worried that he is not devout even at that age; has excellent taste in literature and advises Henry that love is religion and life, valuable. The Barman He has a wicked sense of humor and works at the Grand Hotel in Stresa. Fishing is his hobby; lends his boat to Henry to escape to Switzerland and also brings him the important information that he is about to be arrested by the Italian police. Mr. and Mrs. Guttingen The owners of the mountain Villa in Montreux where Henry and Catherine live during the winter months. They take excellent care of Catherine in the advanced stages of her pregnancy. Bonello, Aymo and Piani Ambulance drivers. Aymo is killed; Bonello decides to be taken prisoner after the Retreat; and Piani accompanies Henry till the point of the latter’s desertion from the army. Almost all these characters, with a possible exception of Miss Van Campen, are uniformly good, cheerful, and render valuable help to the lead pair at crucial points in the story. http://thebestnotes.com/booknotes/Farewell_To_Arms/A_Farewell_To_Arms02.html
  • 3. CONFLICT Protagonist Lieutenant Frederic Henry, who does not suffer from any grand illusions about honor, glory, patriotism, or courage, deserts the army by leaving his post. He is wounded in the knee, is in love with Catherine Barkley, lives with her, gets her pregnant, but in the end, loses both his son and Catherine. Antagonist The war, with its devastating effect on the individual’s life, the tragic disillusionment it fosters, and the despair that is its consequence, is the antagonist in the novel. On a secondary level, biology, that claims Catherine’s life, is the second antagonist. Climax The climax occurs in Caporetto where a retreat is forced on the Italian army. Henry tries to put up a brave and dogged fight but in the ensuing chaos, he is forced to desert his post. From now on, he becomes the hunted rather the hunter and has to live incognito. The action too undergoes a marked change after the climax. Before the retreat, it seems slow-paced but after it becomes faster and the events unfold so quickly that they leave the reader breathless. Here the setting shifts from Italy to Switzerland. Outcome The conflict ends in a tragedy that is double-edged or twin-peaked. Henry cannot pursue a military career because he has abandoned his post. There are no more choices for him as far as professions go because he had given up architecture to join the army and now he has given up the army too. He intends to lead a life of married bliss with Catherine and his son but both die, leaving him a victim of unalterable circumstances. As Henry says, though he lives on after Catherine’s death, his tragic story has come to an end. This novel is tragic because it shows Catherine biologically double-crossed, Europe war-crossed and life, death-crossed. SHORT SUMMARY (Synopsis) The novel opens with World War I raging all over Europe. A young American student, studying architecture in Italy, offers his services to the Italian army. In Gorizia, he is wounded in the knee and is sent to recuperate in a hospital in Milan. He falls in love with an English nurse, Catherine Barkley, lives with her, and she becomes pregnant. He returns to the front in Gorizia and is caught in the Italian retreat. In order to save his life, he deserts his post and goes away to a hospital in Milan to take Catherine and go some place where they can start life anew. They go to Switzerland but cannot live happily, for a fresh tragedy awaits them. Their eagerly awaited son is stillborn and Catherine who can never have a normal delivery, dies after a Caesarian operation. THEMES Main Themes
  • 4. The main theme of the novel is that war creates or makes a tragedy of everything. Therein, a person has to bid farewell to everything she cherishes in life. It revolves round the yawning, aching loneliness that exists in the midst of war, which ensures that one cannot even find solace in love. She has to pay a very high price for wanting love, let alone achieving it, and most often death forms the most natural and suitable price one could pay. Though one has struggled hard, at the end of the reckoning, she is left with nothing. Minor Themes The minor theme of the novel is the passage of Henry from a cheap life to a noble one. When he enters the army, he has not many feelings: he is disinterested and disillusioned with the war, eats and drinks heavily, and regularly visits sordid brothels. He progresses from there to a sense of participation in the war and to an elevated, dignified love life. His initiation into the vicissitudes of war, molds him into a well-adjusted individual, who is competent enough to make a “separate peace” with himself. His initiation into the pleasures of dignified love convert him from a drinking, debauched soldier to a loving, caring husband. However, as the novel ends, the initiation, on both levels, becomes inconclusive and inconsequential. For, Henry cannot make use of it in his future. MOOD The mood of the novel is pessimistic. Tragedy lurks behind every action and, as such, robs it of meaning. Men and women, caught in the war, despair and move to bitterness and cynicism. Throughout the novel, a mood of continuous boredom, disappointment, and apathy, generated from a sense of inevitability of fate, dominates. The somber mood in the novel, describing the horrors of war, turns tragic, as it details the problems of undergoing a Caesarian section. The mood throughout the novel is one of disappointment, dullness, and pain. Ernest Hemingway - BIOGRAPHY Ernest Hemingway was born on 21 July, 1899 in Oak Park, Illinois. His father was a doctor and his mother was an amateur musician. He was not academically successful and graduated from high school in 1917, near the bottom of his class. He sought to enlist in the army but was rejected due to his poor eyesight. He went to work as a cub reporter in Kansas City. He was doing moderately well as a reporter when he heard that Italy was recruiting ambulance drivers to serve on the Italian front and promptly offered his services. He was seriously injured and taken to a hospital where he fell in love with an English nurse, Agnes. He was no longer a young man, with stars in his eyes and romantic views about everything. War, death, disease, suffering, and decay changed his thinking. When he went back to America, his relationship with Agnes came to an end. Hemingway then went to Paris and was a major figure in a group of writers called the “Lost Generation,” along with Gertrude Stein, Djuna Barnes, and Ezra Pound. He drew on his bitter experiences and painful memories from World War I and wrote A Farewell to Arms (1929), which was an instant success. Later, Hemingway went to Spain as a newspaper reporter. He was attracted by bull fighting, a major sport in Spain. He covered the Spanish Civil War. Then, he went to live in Cuba. He participated in World War II on submarine patrol duty. He became an expert on German rockets and was among the first batch of troops to storm Normandy Beach in 1944. Later, he went back to Cuba to deep-sea fish and write. In 1953, he received the Pulitzer Prize and the Nobel Prize for Literature in 1954. After the Castro Revolution, he left Cuba and returned to America. War left him disillusioned. He was disappointed in love, too; though he married four times in his life, he could not understand the real meaning of life and love. He committed suicide in 1961. His literary masterpieces, apart from his short stories, include The Sun Also Rises, For Whom the Bell Tolls, The Old Man and the Sea, and Death in the Afternoon. LITERARY/HISTORICAL INFORMATION
  • 5. A Farewell to Arms is considered a great novel of World War I. It is a complex novel dealing with the travails of a war-torn young man called Frederic Henry. A few details from Hemingway’s personal life creep into this novel. For instance, Lieutenant Henry is with an ambulance unit, serving in the Italian Army, just as Hemingway did. He falls in love with an English nurse when he is recuperating in a hospital. Apart from these factual details, others in the novel are entirely different from those in Hemingway’s life. The novel therefore deals with these two major themes, love and war, carefully interwoven with each other. In fact, the title itself suggests these two themes, with a pun on the word “Arms.” The hero, Henry, bids farewell to “Arms” as in weapons and also, when Catherine dies, to the loving “arms,” of a human being. A Note on the Structure of the Novel This novel is divided into five books, each having eight to twelve chapters. In this respect, the novel resembles a drama, which generally has five acts, further divided into scenes. Each book reveals a carefully controlled action and finely detailed love. For, war and love are the two major themes discussed in this novel. When one theme gets into the foreground, the other recedes into the background. But the sequence of action runs parallel in both the themes, so that the reader gets the feeling of having read a single major theme rather than two. Book I has war in the foreground; Henry meets Catherine, participates in the battle, and is grievously wounded. Book II has love in the foreground, for the wounded Henry is sent to a hospital, meets Catherine again, and their love develops. Book III also has war in the foreground, seen in Henry’s recuperation and recovery from his wound, getting back to war, getting caught up in a retreat, and deserting his post, a serious military offense. Book IV has love in the foreground when Henry seeks Catherine, who is pregnant, with his child. Book V also has love in the foreground, while war looms ominously in the background, when the lovers escape to a neutral territory, Switzerland, where Catherine dies of excessive internal hemorrhaging after a Cesarean operation. It is also quite interesting to note the flow of action in six phases in the unfolding of the two themes of love and war. In the war, Henry goes through six stages: (1) a distant and casual participation, (2) followed by a rather serious action (3) which results in a knee-wound, (4) his being sent to a hospital to recover, (5) his going back to war and getting caught in a retreat, and (6) his desertion of his military post. Likewise, Catherine goes through six stages: (1) an inconsequential flirtation (2) that develops into genuine love (3) which culminates in her pregnancy, (4) her stay along with Henry in a Villa in Switzerland, (5) after which she goes into a hospital for delivery (6) and has the Cean which results in her death. By the time the novel reaches its end, the two themes merge and the grimness of war is conveyed in no uncertain terms to the reader. The novel contains a first person narrator. Love and war are seen through his eyes. As such, it becomes easier for the reader to understand him and sympathize with him when the situation arises.