A Farewell To Arms Rhetorical Analysis

November 7, 2010

Essay

A Farewell to Arms Narrative (Page 231-232) “Hard as the floor of the car to lie and not thinking only feeling, having been away too long, the clothes wet and floor moving only a little each time and lonesome inside and alone with wet clothing and a hard floor for a wife. Doctors did things to you and then it was not your body anymore. The head was mine, but not to use, not to think with, only to remember and not too much remember.” Frederic Henry is feeling alone and is justifying himself. Frederic is doubting his actions on the train ride and contemplating his future with Catherine. Hemingway makes a dramatic pronoun switch by referring to himself in the second person pronoun of “you”. “… but you
(Page 232) “Anger was washed away in the river along with any obligation.” Henry believes the river ride purified him and provided the basis for rebirth. The river was a form of baptism and redemption. Henry believed the river provided absolution of commitment, duty and anger. Henry feels he is forced to become a deserter and he has no plans of returning to the army. (Page 232) “I had taken off the stars, but that was for convenience. It was no point of honor.” Stars on a uniform represent competency and duty. Henry cut off the stars to disguise himself, but he also is throwing away his responsibilities and his identity. “I was not against them. I was through. I wished them all the luck….It was not my show anymore.” He clearly has no intention of going back to the war. He doesn’t hate the people in the war; he just opposes the war itself. Henry even wishes those left in war the best of luck. Hemingway expresses his distinct feeling through his characters. It is easy to correlate the actions of Henry in this chapter to the title of the book, Farwell to
“I had done half the retreat on foot and swum part of the Tagliamento with his knee. It was his knee alright. The other knee was mine. Doctors did things to you and then it was not your body anymore. The head was mine, and inside the belly. It was very hungry in there….The head was mine, but not to use, not to think with, only to remember and not too much remember.” Both knees were Henry’s but, he is alluding to the fact that war changed him, even when Doctor Valentini fixed him. It is not his original knee and this expresses a change in him. Henry’s head was his but not to think or use, only to remember. Ever since the war he had had to follow orders and now that he is out of it, he can only remember. Henry can remember his friends and he also remembers the trying times of war. Yet he doesn’t want to remember too much because he will have nightmares. The tone of this chapter is serious. The seriousness is reflected in language manipulation. (Page 232) “You had lost your cars and your men as a floorwalker loses the stock of his department in a fire. There was, however, no insurance. You were out of it now. You had no more obligation.” The seriousness of the chapters tone is also exemplified when Henry stated, “The head was mine, but not to use, not to think with, only to remember and not too much remember.” The tone reflects Henry’s opinion of war and how it changes