A Farewell To Arms Entrapment Essay
Kurt Anderson
Ms. Westmoreland
American Literature
January 4th, 2013
The Themes of Doom and Entrapment in a Farewell to Arms
“If two people love each other there can be no happy end to it” (Avanzo 122). This quote applies to the main relationship in A Farewell to Arms between Catherine and Frederic. Frederic is an American ambulance driver in the Italian Army who is serving at the Italian front. Catherine is an American nurse who is stationed in the same location as Frederic, nursing the injured there. The novel is a tragedy starting with the relationship between the two previously mentioned, and ending with the death of Catherine and their child during childbirth. The two seemed to be trapped from the beginning, not able to escape the …show more content…
“If two people love each other there can be no happy end to it.” (Avanzo 122) This is a very ominous but true statement in regards to this story. Catherine and her fiancé loved each other and he ended up dying. Catherine and Frederic’s relationship also ended in death and pain. This shows the entrapment that love brings. “On his monologue where he constantly says “but she can’t die” (Tetlow 11). In the monologue Frederic mentions “but she can’t die” over seven times always coming back to that same point. (Tetlow 11) This shows the entrapment of the situation. No matter what he keeps coming back to the fact that Catherine is going to die and he cannot do anything to save her. These elements help to show the entrapment of the book. Hemingway’s A Farewell to Arms is like an onion. You can take it for what it is or you can peel away the layers and go deeper into the novel. He uses the scenery and dialogue to help display the mood of the scenario and to foreshadow the end of the book. The use of rain helps also with the foreshadowing as it is always present during and before a tragic event. The use of these three elements helps to carry the themes of entrapment and doom through Hemingway’s A Farewell to
Ms. Westmoreland
American Literature
January 4th, 2013
The Themes of Doom and Entrapment in a Farewell to Arms
“If two people love each other there can be no happy end to it” (Avanzo 122). This quote applies to the main relationship in A Farewell to Arms between Catherine and Frederic. Frederic is an American ambulance driver in the Italian Army who is serving at the Italian front. Catherine is an American nurse who is stationed in the same location as Frederic, nursing the injured there. The novel is a tragedy starting with the relationship between the two previously mentioned, and ending with the death of Catherine and their child during childbirth. The two seemed to be trapped from the beginning, not able to escape the …show more content…
“If two people love each other there can be no happy end to it.” (Avanzo 122) This is a very ominous but true statement in regards to this story. Catherine and her fiancé loved each other and he ended up dying. Catherine and Frederic’s relationship also ended in death and pain. This shows the entrapment that love brings. “On his monologue where he constantly says “but she can’t die” (Tetlow 11). In the monologue Frederic mentions “but she can’t die” over seven times always coming back to that same point. (Tetlow 11) This shows the entrapment of the situation. No matter what he keeps coming back to the fact that Catherine is going to die and he cannot do anything to save her. These elements help to show the entrapment of the book. Hemingway’s A Farewell to Arms is like an onion. You can take it for what it is or you can peel away the layers and go deeper into the novel. He uses the scenery and dialogue to help display the mood of the scenario and to foreshadow the end of the book. The use of rain helps also with the foreshadowing as it is always present during and before a tragic event. The use of these three elements helps to carry the themes of entrapment and doom through Hemingway’s A Farewell to