A Farewell to Arms (Cyclopedia of Literary Characters)
At a glance:
- Author: Ernest Hemingway
- First Published: 1929
- Type of Work: Novel
- Type of Plot: Impressionistic realism
- Time of Work: World War I
- Setting: Northern Italy and Switzerland
- Genres: Long fiction, Impressionistic literature
- Subjects: Values, Love or romance, Escapes, 1910’s, Pregnancy, Moral conditions, World War I, Fate or fatalism, Soldiers, Nursing or nurses, Italy or Italians, Switzerland or Swiss people
- Locales: Italy, Switzerland
Characters Discussed
Lieutenant Frederic Henry, an American who has volunteered to serve with an Italian ambulance unit during World War I. Like his Italian companions, he enjoys drinking, trying to treat the war as a joke, and (it is implied) visiting brothels. Before the beginning of a big offensive, he meets Catherine Barkley, one of a group of British nurses assigned to staff a hospital unit. Henry begins the prelude to an affair with her but is interrupted by having to go to the front during the offensive; he is wounded, has an operation on his knee, and is sent to...
[The entire page is 877 words long]
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