Robbie Schmidt

Period 2
3/1/11
AP English Bisera

Farewell to Arms Argument Essay

In A Farewell to Arms by Ernest Hemingway, Fredric Henry meets Catherine Barkely.

Soon after, Frederic loves Catherine and she loves him. The situation of war at hand and fate

caused both of them to meet and fall in love. Hemingway’s argues in his novel how the power of

love makes all other problems seem to disappear and not seem to matter.

When Henry first met Catherine, all his problems did not go away, but his life did seem

to get a little easier. Henry describes Catherine saying, “Miss Barkley was quite tall. She wore

what seemed to be a nurse's uniform, was blonde and had a tawny skin and gray eyes. I thought

she was very beautiful” (18). With now Catherine on Henry’s mind, the tensions about the war

seem to not be so extreme to him. He now has something to look forward to during the war

instead of it just ending. Soon after him and Catherine start to mess around he describes the

situation saying, "I did not love Catherine Barkley nor had any idea of loving her. This was a

game, like bridge, in which you said things instead of playing cards. Like bridge you had to

pretend you were playing for money or playing for some stakes. Nobody had mentioned what the

stakes were. It was all right with me” (30-31). This situation he has now placed himself in with

Catherine was now keeping his mind off the war. This, for Henry, was bigger than the war to

him. To Fredric Henry, it had seen that he had separated himself from war and seemed to have a

bigger problem at hand now. In one part of the novel, Fredric confronts Catherine saying, "You

see I've been leading a sort of a funny life. And I never even talk English. And you are so very

beautiful" (26). He tells her that he has legitimate feelings for her and wanted her to know that.
Also, Henry describes how he has been acting different during the war since he was first met her.

Through meeting Catherine, Fredric Henry now has a way to deal with escaping from the war at

hand mentally for he has found another place symbolically with Catherine.

Finally, after falling in love with Catherine, it has seemed to Henry that now his
relationship is the big problem at hand and that the war is second to this. During an intimate
scene with Henry and Catherine, Catherine tells him that, "We're going to have a strange
life" (27). What she means is that even though both of them are in the war, both of them are
going to make it work so that their relationship last. At this point, Fredric needs a way to
escape immediately from the war that’s taking place and ends up separating himself from
the war through love with Catherine. During another night with Catherine, Henry puts in
detail what was happening and his thoughts saying, "I kissed her and saw that her eyes were
shut. I kissed both her shut eyes. I thought she was probably a little crazy. It was all right if
she was. I did not care what I was getting into. This was better than going every evening to
the house for officers where the girls climbed all over you and put your cap on backwards as
a sign of affection between their trips upstairs with other officers" (30). Now that his mind is
off the war for he is greatly satisfied with the situation he has put himself in with Catherine.
Not even the occasional messing around with the girls from the officer’s houses top this for
he now has a full time relationship which keeps his mind busy throughout this war that he is
fighting in, even though he isn’t in the war mentally now. One random night when Henry
isn’t with Catherine, he tells the reader that, "I went out the door and suddenly I felt lonely
and empty. 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"
(41). Instead of most people in his situation of who were worrying about the war, Fredric
was worrying about Catherine at this time. He shows that because of his love for Catherine,
his problems, like the war, for example, have no longer seemed like a major problem to him
for his love of Catherine has overtaken this problem. After not seeing Catherine for a couple
days, Henry finally reunites with her and describes her boasting, "She looked fresh and
young and very beautiful. I thought I had never seen anyone so beautiful" (91). This thought
by Henry lets the reader know how much he adores her and how fond of her he is. Not many
people can be in this good of a mood while they are serving in war which shows how his
love for her has taken his mind of the war almost completely. It is now apparent that the
Henry’s love of Catherine has completely and utterly taken his mind of his problem which
used to be, that of which was the war he was serving in.

After Henry has been in love with Catherine for a while since he first met her, his mind
is focused on one thing only: her. When Catherine leaves for three days, Henry tells about her
return saying, "Catherine Barkley took three days off night duty and then she came back on
again. It was as though we met again after each of us had been away on a long journey" (111).
This quote shows how much Fredric loves her and loves being with her. While with Catherine,
Henry never is in a bad mood at all or has other things on his mind. While Henry is off
fighting the war while Catherine is back at camp, he thinks to himself, "Often a man wishes to
be alone and a girl wishes to be alone too and if they love each other they are jealous of that in
each other, but I can truly say we never felt that. We could feel alone when we were together,
alone against the others. It has only happened to me like that once" (249). Fredric tells how he
and Catherine never wished to be apart from each other at all for they are much in love with
each other. Henry’s only problem now is to continue to stay together with Catherine for he
loves her and has no other problems because of this. Towards the end of the novel, Henry talks
about his relationship with Catherine, describing being with her saying, "When there was a
good day we had a splendid time and we never had a bad time. We knew the baby was very
close now and it gave us both a feeling as though something were hurrying us and we could
not lose any time together" (311). Now that a baby is due, Catherine and Henry feel that they
most be together as much as possible for they do not want they baby to hurt their love affair.
He also tells how he never had one bad time with Catherine for he loves her and love causes
no problems whatsoever. By Henry’s love for Catherine, his life seems to get nothing but
better and better for the love that he has for her makes his life seem perfect for no problems
seem to arise while he loves her.

From the time Henry meets Catherine, all his problems seem to not matter and his life
seems to get better and better because of the power of love. It is apparent that Henry loves
Catherine and it is shown in the novel that nothing bad at all comes out of this love, only
positive things. During a time of war, Henry somehow finds salvation through the form of his
love for Catherine Barkley for love causes life to seem a breeze for once what were problems,
seem not to matter or that big of a deal.