Hemingway's A Farewell To Arms example essay topic

Existentialist Themes in Hemingway's A Farewell to Arms The philosophy of Existentialism demands much from its students; it requires one to view their life as a series of decisions and consequential repercussions in a world of alienation and meaninglessness, death being the only certainty. The great American author Ernest Hemingway also makes similar demands of his readers. He strips away the frills of descriptive writing, leaving only the bare bones of the story, often with no traces of hope or humanity. He leaves it up to the reader to draw conclusions about the lives of the characters and the mood of the situation. Both stylistically and thematically, major themes of Existentialism such as absurdity, existence preceding essence, and alienation can be traced in Hemingway's A Farewell to Arms. To begin, Existentialism can be found in Hemingway's writing style.

First, however, it is necessary to understand a basic, underlying theme of Existentialism; the notion that the world is without purpose, value, or meaning. It is only by personal choice that this is no longer so; the authentic decision to apply meaning to one's life. These decisions must be made based on the stimuli one has received from one's senses, for that is all the information man can use to make such choices. This concept is well described by Nietzsche, who says "All credibility, all good conscience, all evidence of truth comes only from the senses" (Nietzsche 134). How does this tie into Hemingway's style? Hemingway is characterized by his spare, 'no frills' writing.

He uses the "iceberg principle"; by describing the top part of the iceberg that is above the water, the reader must comprehend the remaining 7/8 ths that is submerged. He masters the art of implication and subtle nuances of dialogue. Here is an excerpt from A Farewell to Arms that exemplifies his style: "So you make progress with Miss Barkley?"We are friends."You have the pleasant air of a dog in heat". I did not understand the word.

"Of a what?" He explained. "You", I said, "have the pleasant air of a dog who -- -" 'Stop it", he said. "In a little while we would say insulting things". He laughed.

"Goodnight", I said. "Goodnight, little puppy". I knocked over his candle with my pillow and got into bed in the dark. Rinaldi picked up the candle, lit it and went on reading.

(Hemingway 27) In this passage, there are elements of infatuation, teasing, humor, and friendship. The scene is touching yet funny. These aspects are remarkably achieved through simple dialogue and small actions. By doing this, Hemingway is forcing the reader to make choices about the story based on the small information provided. This ties back into the Existentialist theme discussed earlier in regards to man's personal choice to add meaning to his life based on the data he receives from his senses. Hemingway's style, much like Existentialism, relies on the ability of man to reason and infer.

He collaborates with the reader to achieve emotion and mood, without actually writing about it. Secondly, there are Existential themes found in the story of Hemingway's A Farewell to Arms, the first being the absurdity of life. Existentialists believed that life was futile and purposeless. Nietzsche set forth the concept of Nihilism, which translates to nothingness.

This is a formula for this theory, which is largely Darwinian in nature: Universe = created not by God, but by Time + Space + Chance + Matter = since time, space, etc., are all impersonal, then the universe is impersonal (has no personality). Thus Man = having evolved from animals, man is part and parcel of the impersonal universe. Therefore, man is impersonal and meaningless. (Existentialism sec. 5) This dark and depressing reality that Nietzsche sets forth is obviously rejected by much of mankind, who naturally feels the need to attach meaning to his / her life. Absurdity results when man makes inauthentic and untruthful choices that do not add any more meaning than he had before.

For example, Henry and Catherine feel a sense of nothingness because of the grim reality of war in which they both are a part of. In the beginning of the novel they look to the wrong places (make the wrong choices), to add meaning to their unhappy lives. Catherine is in despair over the death of her fianc'e, and because of this she feels emptiness: "I wanted to do something for him. You see I didn't care about the other thing and he could have had it all. He could have had anything he wanted if I would have known. I would have married him or anything.

But then he wanted to go to war and I didn't know... I didn't know about anything then. I thought it would be worse for him. I though perhaps he couldn't stand it and then of course he was killed and that was the end of it". (Hemingway 19). As a result this she begins a relationship with Henry.

However, this relationship is fake and contrived in the beginning. They superficially pretend they are in love, playing with the idea of it as a diversion from their painful reality. We sat on the flat stone bench and I held Catherine Barkley's hand. She would not let me put my arm around her. "Are you very tired?" She asked. "No".

She looked down at the grass. "This is a rotten little game we play, isn't it?"What game?"Don't be dull."I'm not, on purpose."You " re a nice boy", She said. "And you play it as well as you know how. But it's a rotten game."Do you always know what people think?"Not always.

But I do with you. You don't have to pretend you love me. That's over for the evening. Is there anything you'd like to talk about?"But I do love you."Please let's not lie when we don't have to. I had a very fine little show and I'm all right now". (31) Catherine and Henry choose to engage in a phony love affair, which satisfies neither of them, leaving them with the same feeling of meaningless that they had before.

This exemplifies the existential theme of absurdity; where man attempts to attach meaning to his life, only to find that his attempts have been futile. Henry also seeks significance in the wrong ways. He has become desensitized by war, and because of this does not take it seriously; it is absurd. He meets a wounded soldier on the side of the road, who tells him about the measures he has taken to stay out of the front lines. Henry sympathizes with him and aids him in escaping the lines one more time. There are several opportunities where Henry could have acted in line with the regulations of being a proper officer, but he does not because he does not take the war seriously.

He expresses this feeling to his friend Rinaldi after his leg is blown to pieces because of an explosion and is offered an award of honor: "They say if you can prove you did any heroic act you can get the silver. Otherwise it will be bronze. Tell me exactly what happened. Did you do any heroic act?"No", I said. "I was blown up while we were eating cheese."Be serious. You must have done something heroic either before or after.

Remember carefully."I did not". (63) Henry does not try to make himself seem honorable in any way. Because he does not see anything but absurdity, he tries to find a purpose while at war. He drinks with his fellow officers, "I drank wine because tonight we were not all brothers unless I drank a little...

". (38) in order to feel connected to them, but this only leads to further emptiness later in the night; I went out the door and suddenly I felt lonely and empty. I treated seeing Catherine very lightly, I had gotten somewhat drunk and had nearly forgotten to come but when I could not see her I was feeling lonely and hollow. (41) Henry feels 'lonely and hollow' because the choices he has made, such as drinking, have not compensated for his feeling of meaningless due to the absurdity connected to a life fighting a war. Hemingway's novel is seen as a human reaction to existentialism- man cannot accept that life is absurd and meaningless, so his characters reach a point where they try to defy this principle: His heroes are unable to "buy into" dominate social systems of thought, and therefore feel alienated by society. The solution that Hemingway proposes is individual as well: His protagonists must discover a code by which they can order their lives so that they can cope in a world that would otherwise make no sense to them.

(Smith Allen Par. 4) Henry is ready for the next phase of the book, where he chooses to add meaning to his life. The emptiness he feels is becoming unbearable and he seeks a purpose and reason to live. His relationship with Catherine has begun to take on more meaning. He begins to make different choices. This leads into the next Existential theme found in Hemingway's A Farewell to Arms, existence preceding essence.

Henry is beginning to develop his essence, which obviously, according to Existentialists, can only begin after one exists in the world. This is in line with John Locke's theory of the 'tabula rasa'- where man is a blank slate upon birth and is only 'written upon' as he experiences the world. Since, as described earlier, Hemingway's characters are trying to find a code by which to live so that their lives seem to hold meaning, choice plays an important role. At this point in A Farewell to Arms, Henry is choosing to develop his code; his essence.

Sartre would say that he is 'condemned to be free, because once thrown into the world, he is responsible for everything he does' (Famous). The first part of this 'code' Henry develops is his love for Catherine. No longer an illusion; their love has become real: God knows I had not wanted to fall in love with her. I had not wanted to fall in love with any one. But God knows I had and I lay on the bed in the room of the hospital in Milan and all sorts of things went through my head but I felt wonderful... (Hemingway 93) Later in the novel, Rinaldi comments to Henry that he acts like a married man, and that he is more serious than he used to be: "I've led a quiet life."You act like a married man", he said.

"What's the matter with you?" ... "I feel like hell."This war is terrible", Rinaldi said. "Come on. We " ll both get drunk and be cheerful.

Then we " ll go get the ashes dragged. Then we " ll feel fine."I've had the jaundice", I said. "and I can't get drunk."Oh, baby, how you " ve come back to me. You " ve come back serious and with a liver. I tell you this war is a bad thing.

Why did we make it anyway". (167-168) Rinaldi notices how Henry has begun to change- instead of escaping the war by drinking, he now turns to love. He also makes the decision to give up in terms of the war; he sees how it is ruining his life and those of his friends: Anger was washed away in the river with any obligation. Although that ceased when the carabiniere put his hands on my collar. I would like to have had the uniform off although I did not care much about the outward forms.

I had taken off the stars, but that was for convenience. It was no point of honor. I was not against them. I was through. I wished them all the luck. There were the good ones, the brave ones, and the calm ones and the sensible ones, and they deserved it.

But it was not my show any more and I wished this bloody train would get to Mestre and I would eat and stop thinking. I would have to stop. (232) Since Henry is now at the point where he is developing his essence, he is making choices to try to add meaning to his life. The characters in Hemingway's novels cannot accept the fact that life is absurd and futile, so they seek a reason to live. For Henry and Catherine, the war has caused this feeling of emptiness and absurdity.

They develop a love for each other to fill the void they feel inside. Existentialists would say that they are forming their essence by making different choices. Lastly, the existentialist theme of alienation is found throughout A Farewell to Arms. Nietzsche's famous quote "God is dead" reflects this theme, he felt that modern man had "embraced science and thus shut out God" (Existentialism sec.

3). War is a major cause of such feelings of detachment in many works of literature. A Farewell to Arms is a story about Frederick Henry's process by which he removes himself from the war and leaves it behind. Even the priest that is with Henry in Italy has begun to feel alienation: "Now I am depressed myself", I said". That's why I never think about these things. I never think and yet when I begin tot alk I say the things I have found out in my mind without thinking."I had hoped for something."Defeat?"No.

Something more."There isn't anything more. Except victory. It may be worse."I hoped for a long time for victory."Me too."Now I don't know."It has to be one or the other."I don't believe in victory anymore."I don't. But I don't believe in defeat. Though it may be better."What do you believe in?"In sleep", I said. (Hemingway 179) The war has caused the men to lose hope and faith.

As discussed earlier, Henry turned to his love with Catherine throughout the war to get him through. When he leaves and lives with her to have their child, her painful labor threatens to take her life. Henry prays and begs for her to live: Poor, poor dear Cat. And this was the price you paid for sleeping together.

This was the end of the trap. This is what people got for loving each other... So now they got her in the end. You never got away with anything. Get away hell! ... what if she should die? She won't die...

She can't die. (320-321) When Catherine and the child die, Henry does not know what do but see Catherine again. He enters her room but seeing her does not help; he is completely alienated. But after I had got them out and shut the door and turned off the light it wasn't any good. It was like saying good-by to a statue.

After a while I went out and left the hospital and walked back to the hotel in the rain. (332) Henry has lost his love and his child, he has deserted the war, and the book ends with him alone in the rain, completely alienated. Existentialism takes a pessimistic view on life and man's existence, so the way in which A Farewell to Arms ends is very existentialist. To conclude, existential themes are plentiful in A Farewell to Arms.

Full of anguish and grief, the characters of Ernest Hemingway's novel experience the absurdity of life, and try as they might to develop a positive essence by their choices, their lives end in sorrow and alienation. Just as Samuel Beckett's Waiting for Godot proves 'there is nothing to be done'; A Farewell to Arms shows that there is no solace to be found from a life in love and war.

Bibliography

Existentialism. Truest- McConnell College. 1 April 2003.
Famous quotes: Jean-Paul Sartre. 5 April 2003.
Hemingway, Ernest. A Farewell to Arms. New York: Simon & Schuster Inc., 1995.
Nietzsche, Friedrich". Beyond Good and Evil: Prelude to a Philosophy of the Future". Great Books. Ed. Mortimer J. Adler. Volume 43. Chicago: Encyclopedia Britannica, 1990.
Smith Allen, Paula J. Existentialism and Absurdism. Southeastern Oklahoma State University. 3 April 2003 web.