Symbolism In A Farewell To Arms - Research Paper Example

? Topic: Symbolism in A Farewell To Arms is very crystal clear. April 25, Outline INTRODUCTION A. The farewell to arms is heartwarming war novelgrounded on literary symbolism. The research centers on the symbolism of Frederic Henry. B. The research includes focusing on the symbolism of Catherine Barkley. C. The novel’s symbolisms bring memories to the readers’ lives, as they read the novel masterpiece. BODY A. Symbolism of Frederic Henry B. Symbolism of Nurse Catherine Barkley C. Symbolism of Rinaldi CONCLUSION A. The farewell to arms is heartwarming war novel base don on literary symbolism. B. The character of Frederic Henry has many symbolism meanings. C. The character of Rinaldi and Catherine Barkley indicate several symbolism interpretations. D. Indeed, the novel’s symbolisms brings memories to the A Farewell to Arms novel readers’ lives, as they read the novel masterpiece. Topic: Symbolism in A Farewell To Arms is very crystal clear. INTRODUCTION The farewell to arms is heartwarming war novel grounded on literary symbolism. The research centers on the symbolism of Frederic Henry. The research includes focusing on the symbolism of Catherine Barkley. The novel’s symbolisms bring memories to the readers’ lives, as they read the novel masterpiece. Symbolism in A Farewell To Arms is very crystal clear. Symbolism is shown in the character of Frederic Henry. Symbolism is shown in the character of Nurse Catherine Barkley. Symbolism is shown in the war. Symbolism of Frederic Henry. First, the Frederic Henry character symbolizes a persons’ prioritizing the importance of love over all other mundane matters. Several time sin the novel, Frederic Henry does not show his feelings to the people around him (Rao 37). During times when he is in excruciating pain or force, the main character Frederic Henry acts like a statue, emotionless. He feels that he has to hide his inner feelings in order not to be criticized by other people in the community. Second, the Frederic Henry character symbolizes the typical person who drinks (Hemingway 50). Any person who reads the novel can easily relate to the story. For, the average person has taken a glass or two of intoxicating liquor during the life. Some had started drinking while they were in their early teen years. Others have tasted a glass of drowsiness –precipitating hard drinks during their later teen years. Still, those who are late bloomers have been labeled victims of the clutches during when they had reached the age of 20 and above, the early adult years. For the really late action persons, they had to indulge in drinking in order to be accepted by their friends, business associates, customers, and other acquaintances. Frederic Henry symbolizes the person on different levels of drinking. Some of the drinking individuals rarely drink intoxicating liquor. Other persons drink some glasses of liquor once a week. Other individuals drink liquor every day during certain times of their troubled lives. Still, other individuals drink liquor to entertain their associates. Third, the Frederic Henry character symbolizes a person who needs help. Different persons do different acts to remove their current problem or uncomfortable circumstance. Some individuals seek the help of the psychiatrist for their professional help. Other individuals seek the counsel of their relatives for a solution to their current predicament. Other individuals just don the feeling of giving up on their current unbearable situation stating “I don’t give care whatever happens to me.” Another group of individuals would take drugs to solve the unbearable pressures on their life. The news of people being too deep in the quagmire of the hallucinating world of drugs is depicted in the Frederic Henry character. Still others would just drink liquor to temporarily take them out of their current misery. A drank person would fall asleep. A sound sleeping person would not be thinking of the problems while the drunkard was awake. This is one of the reasons why drinking liquor is a favorite escape of many individual who could no longer handle the herculean arms of the world’s problems slowing ramming down on the problematic person’s chest, head, and ones entire person. Fourth, the Frederic Henry character symbolizes a person who loves life. The hero, Frederic Henry loves the company of beautiful women (Walker 13). Frederic Henry prefers to be by the side of Catherine Barkley, his wife. Any person who reads the novel will easily fit into the shoes of the main father of the family, Frederic Henry. The reader will also recall what happens to one’s own life in the Frederic Henry character. The hero is just like any other person, falls in love with a woman. The character, just like the average mortal, tries to woo the woman’s heart. Frederic Henry courts the girl hoping that the girl will accept his love overtures. Some individuals win the hearts of their love interests. On the other hand, other men fail to convince the woman that he is sincere and true in his desire to shower her with his lifelong support and kisses. In the story, Frederic Henry wins the heart of Catherine Barkley. Thus, the main character, Frederic Henry, symbolizes the men who successful won the sweet “yes” of their love interests. Fifth, the Frederic Henry character symbolizes heroism. Frederic Henry joins the war to work. Frederic Henry joins the war for glory. Frederic Henry joins the war for his principles. For a person to gamble his life in the war would be a true symbolism of bravery. In the novel, Frederic Henry was wounded in battle. Frederic Henry symbolizes the life of the typical soldier. Just like other soldiers entering any war, Frederic Henry is wounded in battle. Frederic Henry lands in the hospital and slowly recuperates. Some of the soldiers end their war duty without a scratch. Several other soldiers return home from the war in a coffin. Frederic Henry symbolizes what a soldier does before joining the army, during the war campaign, and when the war is turned against the fate of the soldier. Frederic Henry symbolizes the soldier who runs away from battle. In the novel, Frederic Henry escapes the police interrogation. He escapes the interrogation by running away. By running away Frederic Henry was able to save his life. Frederic Henry symbolizes the typical individual’s love for the simple things in life. He thinks of food when he is hungry. Frederic Henry thinks of drinking liquor when he is in deep sinking crisis. Frederic Henry tries to survive whenever he is in danger. Frederic Henry symbolizes the typical persons’ need for company. Frederic Henry would be happy talking about worldly topics among his fellow soldiers. He enjoys talks to while away the time with the other soldiers in his unit. In addition, the soldiers enjoy conversations with Frederic Henry. Different soldiers would introduce different topics to the daily army conversations during each war duty and during each get together. In the same way, Frederic Henry loves to belch out different topics of his choice among the soldiers. In turn, Frederic Henry is happy that his fellow soldiers would listen to every word, sentence, or story given by the main hero. Frederic Henry symbolizes the man’s man. Each person who reads the novel can say, yes the story truly happened several decades ago because such things can happen to me, my neighbor, or any person within the community. The ordinary person strives to survive when in a dangerous situation. Frederic Henry escaped from the war in order to avoid being shot by the military police. Upon seeing that those who were investigated ahead of Frederic Henry were all shot in military execution for their army’s defeat in one war battle, Frederic Henry decided to run away. As he ran, he never looked back. As he ran, he only thought of one thing, he would rather ran to live another day than to face his accusers and end up a corpse after the investigation. Frederic Henry symbolizes the person who is religious. Frederic Henry is amazed at how the priest acts. Frederic Henry is not a religious person but he admires the holy acts of the priest. Frederic Henry is a person who does not waver in his religious beliefs, despite the war’s constant dangers on his person. Frederic Henry shows there is goodness in his heart by having a religious contact with the priest in the novel (Rao 39). Frederic Henry symbolizes a person who suffers painfully during one or more times in their lives (Marklein 3). In the novel, Shabnam Firdaus (3) insists rain (a symbol) occurs whenever death appears and the mountains resemble the peaceful comforts of home. The death of his unborn child wreaks havoc on the hero, Frederic Henry. Seeing his child dead and not able to see the world is very excruciating to hero. In addition, his wife, Catherine Barkley, dies while giving birth to his dead child is very tormenting. The shock of seeing one’s love one taken from the world can be classified as unbearable fate. Seeing one love one die is painful enough. Seeing two loved ones dying is pain that is not only doubled but quadrupled. With the two deaths, Frederic Henry is left alone to fight the harshness of living alone. The symbolism of Nurse Catherine Barkley. Catherine Barkley symbolizes the typical woman. The typical woman cares for her family. She joined the army in order to be where the action is. She wanted to see first hand how the war environment is. She takes care of the sick soldiers while they are recuperating from their wounds in battle. Meanwhile Nurse Catherine Barkley is waiting for her fiance, not Frederic Henry, to return from the battle front (Donaldson50). The typical woman always waits for her husband to come home to her outstretched welcoming arms. Nurse Catherine Barkley symbolizes the women who suffer during some days of their lives. Nurse Catherine Barkley could do nothing upon learning that her fiance died from battle. She could not bear the pain of future husband taken away from her, forever. Nurse Catherine Barkley had to accept that fate led her fiance to the Battle of Somme, where he was felled by the enemy. Just like the typical woman seeing her husband come home as a corpse, Nurse Catherine Barkley must accept her fate. Nurse Catherine Barkley symbolizes love (Rao 124). Nurse Catherine Barkley fell in love with her fiance. Nurse Catherine Barkley joined the war in order to be near her future husband. Nurse Catherine Barkley cried when her fiance died. She fell in love again. This time, her new love caused her death. With marriage to Frederic Henry ended with giving birth to a dead child. As the child died, her sorrow ended her life. Yes that is what love includes. Her craving to give everlasting love and receive undying love in return triggered her end. But it is not how long a person lives, but how a person lives ones’ life. Nurse Catherine Barkley died happy for she was able to touch the lives to two persons. Nurse Catherine Barkley was able to touch the lives of her fiance, who died in battle, and her new love, Frederic Henry. Further, Nurse Catherine Barkley symbolizes a person who loves challenges. Leaving her home in Scotland is a challenge. She had to leave her family behind to face the dangers of life in a strange new country. She accepted the challenge to bring back the sick soldiers back to their former physical health. Nurse Catherine Barkley accepted the challenge to stay within the war territories in order to be with her fiance. Nurse Catherine Barkley accepted the challenge to accept the questionable future with Frederic Henry. She accepted the challenge to marry Frederic Henry despite an unsure future. The unsure future is evident since the war was still ravaging in Europe. Many families were displaced because of the constant fighting among the enemy forces. Nurse Catherine Barkley symbolizes the typical woman who must handle all adversities with grace. Nurse Catherine Barkley must do her best to bring the wounded soldiers to their healthy selves. This is a very difficult adversity to cope with. At the same time, Nurse Catherine Barkley has to face the adversity of dividing her time between serving the needs of the wounded soldiers in the field and time needed for love to crop up, grow, and nurture between Frederic Henry and Nurse Catherine Barkley. Nurse Catherine Barkley symbolizes the typical woman who is intelligent. Being a nurse is not an easy task. Nurse Catherine Barkley must study the nursing procedures in a nursing school. Nurse Catherine Barkley has to bring all her school knowledge into action by working with the wounded in the battlefield. Injecting medicines, taking the blood pressure and other vital signs of the patients is truly an intellectual calisthenics, not all women can accept and accomplish with the same excellent finesse of Nurse Catherine Barkley. Taking care of the sick while their blood is oozing from their fresh wounds needs an intellectual decision to be made. This is reason why Nurse Catherine Barkley symbolizes the typical woman, specifically nurses, who must study and learn everything needed in school and on the job to make a difference in the wounded soldiers’ life. Nurse Catherine Barkley symbolizes the typical woman who cannot hide her desires in life. Every woman desires to have a family. Nurse Catherine Barkley desired to have a family with her fiance. However, her desire to have a family with her fiance came to naught. Nurse Catherine Barkley had the desire to help the sick when they were at the lowest I their life, wounded in battle Nurse Catherine Barkley had the desire to do her best to bring back the sick from their wound – inflected sufferings. The nurse desired to love someone. The nurse desired for someone to love her for what she was, a busy hardworking nurse. Nurse Catherine Barkley desired to have a child. Yes, Nurse Catherine Barkley symbolizes is a typical woman. Nurse Catherine Barkley symbolizes what some women had to go through. Nurse Catherine Barkley went through the stage of falling love. Nurse Catherine Barkley went through the happy courtship days of her life. The nurse also happily chose who she preferred to love. Nurse Catherine Barkley had to care for other people, especially the soldiers. Nurse Catherine Barkley had to endure the untimely death of her fiance. The nurse also had to accept a new love, Frederic Henry, in order to take another chance at life. Nurse Catherine Barkley had to go through the labor pains of giving birth to her child. The nurse had to go through the untimely death scene in her life. Nurse Catherine Barkley had to hide her pain of having to go through pain of childbirth. Yes, Nurse Catherine Barkley symbolizes what the typical woman had to go through while on their short journey on earth (Rao 99). Nurse Catherine Barkley symbolizes heroism. The average person would ran away from trouble. Most of the people avoid places where the war is at its worst. Nurse Catherine Barkley thought the opposite. Nurse Catherine Barkley preferred to be assigned to the war front. She preferred to be where a nurse is most needed. For the nurses’ job is to help the medical doctors. The medical doctors are sent to the battle field to cure the wounded soldiers. The nurses are needed to remove the bullets and other metals lodged deep inside the soldiers’ wounds. Her last heroic act occurred when she had to bear the death of her own child, which also ended her life. Harold Bloom (77) theorizes “In its own way, however, as a dramatic piece of tightly rendered fiction, it proves to be as structurally sound and effective as the evocative ‘overture’ (chap. 1) with which the novel opens. Long admired critically, this conclusion has become one of the most famous segments in American fiction—having been used in college classrooms across the land as a model of compositional compression and as an object lesson in authorial sweat, in what Horace called "the labor of the file." It is clear that Nurse Catherine Barkley was brave enough to fight against all odds stacked high against her favor. The death of her fiance is a big thorn on her living heart, the death of her own son at childbirth, was something that could have been avoided. Through all her miseries she held on to the one that brings meaning to the life. The person who is the special ingredient keeping Nurse Catherine Barkley alive is her love, Frederic Henry (Fetterley 61). Symbolism of Rinaldi. Medical Doctor Rinaldi symbolizes hope. Medical Doctor Rinaldi focuses his time and energy to healing the wounded soldiers. Medical Doctor Rinaldi prefers to spend his time within the war’s battle zones to focus on the rehabilitation of the wounded and dying soldiers. The doctor symbolizes all medical doctors who have sworn on an oath to do their best to save a life. Medical Doctor Rinaldi symbolizes the other medical doctors, around the world, who are still human beings. Some Medical Doctor, including medical doctor Rinaldi, drink intoxicating liquor (Rao 125). All medical doctors, including Medical Doctor Rinaldi, fall in love. CONCLUSION Based on the above discussion, the farewell to arms is heartwarming war novel base don on literary symbolism. The character of Frederic Henry has many symbolism meanings. The character of Rinaldi and Catherine Barkley indicate several symbolism interpretations. Indeed, the novel’s symbolisms brings memories to the A Farewell to Arms novel readers’ lives, as they read the novel masterpiece. Works Cited Bloom, Harold. Ernest Hemingway's A Farewell to Arms. Philadelphia: Chelsea House, 1987.Print. Donaldson, Scott. New Essays on A Farewell to Arms. New York: University Press, 1990. Print. Fetterley, Judith. The Resisting Reader: A Feminist Approach to American Fiction. New York: Indiana University Press, 1978. Print. Firdaus, Shabnam. A Guide to English Literature. New York: Atlantic Press, 2003. Print. Hemingway, Ernest. A Farewell to Arms. New York: Barron's Education Press, 1984. Print. Marklein, Christine. Symbols in Farewell to Arms. New York: Grin Press, 2003. Print. Rao, Rama. Ernest Hemingway's A Farewell to Arms. New York: Atlantic PRess, 2007. Print. Walker, Ross. A Farewell to Arms. New York: Insight Press, 2009. Print. Read More