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What's the main thematic similarity between A Farewell to Arms and The Catcher in the Rye?

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The main thematic similarity between A Farewell to Arms and The Catcher in the Rye is the exploration of alienation and loneliness. Hemingway's work focuses on isolation and identity amid the devastation of World War I, while Salinger's novel deals with Holden's struggle for identity and connection in a world he finds false and isolating. Both protagonists experience a profound sense of disconnection from society and personal relationships.

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The main thematic similarity in these books--which have very different kinds of themes, such as war versus idealized nature--are those of alienation and loneliness in Salinger's The Catcher in the Rye and isolation and identity in Hemingway's A Farewell to Arms. In Hemingways' story, Frederick struggle with the isolation war imposes and with holding onto his identity, which he merges with Catherine's. On a deeper level, Hemingway is also exploring the identity of humankind after the vast death and destruction caused by World War I.

In Salinger's story, Holden struggles for a satisfying and plausible identity in a world marked for him by grief--he is ever grieving for Allie--and falseness; he even decides Mr. Antolini is false prompting him to flee the sanctuary he had found there:

"I have to go away," I said--boy, was I nervous! I started putting on my ... pants in the dark. I could...

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hardly get them on I was so ... nervous.

Since he can not find his true--and stable--identity in a world full of things he dislikes, as Phoebe tells him, or even hates, as Antolini tells him, he has a growing sense of personal and social isolation: he is isolated from personal relationships and isolated from social interaction in a society for which he has neither respect nor trust, but from which he hopes to save the innocent next generation, like the catcher in the rye in his dream:
That's all I'd do all day. I'd just be the catcher in the rye

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What are the main theme similarities in A Farewell to Arms and "Barn Burning"?

While the backgrounds are different, there are a number of thematic elements that, though different, have similar meaning because they overlap or relate to each other. In Hemingway's A Farewell to Arms, war is a dominant theme. In Faulkner's "Barn Burning" anger and hatred are dominant themes. While war is on a large scale that involves governments and universal questions of moral right and wrong, it is undeniably true that the individuals in the war face anger and hatred and individualistic questions of moral right and wrong. Therefore, this is an instance in which, though the themes are different, they overlap with similar thematic elements.

Another different yet similar set of themes is patriotism from Hemingway's story and loyalty and betrayal from Faulkner's story. Patriotism involves loyalty and devotion to one's country; one is a traitor if one betrays one's country. In Heminway's story, the blind loyalty of patriotism to a country's wars is questioned by Frederick on moral grounds. In Faulkner's, Sarty renounces blind loyalty to family on grounds that crime and violence are immoral, regardless of his father's principle of for "mine and hisn both."

He did not knock, he burst in, sobbing for breath, incapable for the moment of speech; he saw the astonished face of the Negro in the linen jacket without knowing when the Negro had appeared.

"De Spain!" he cried, panted. "Where's…" then he saw the white man too emerging from a white door down the hall. "Barn!" he cried. "Barn!"

In Hemingway's story, identity and individualism are explored. In Faulkner's, Sarty's alienation and loneliness are explored. Sarty is liberated from the loneliness and alienation that his family impose upon him when he begins to find his own identity. Conversely, in Hemingway's, Frederick loses his individualism when his identity becomes entangled with Catherine's: "I want you so much I want to be you too."

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What are the main thematic similarities between A Farewell to Arms and "Barn Burning"?

Interesting choice of texts to compare. You might want to analyse the concept of individualism in both of these texts and explore how this theme is presented. For example, Hemmingway's novel examiness the way in which World War I resulted in the death of loyalty to institutions and traditions that typically commanded great respect and obedience. The characters in this bleak novel deliberately are shown to eschew the demands of tradition, society and the various institutions that exist. Traditional moral viewpoints are rejected and the characters follow lives that are focussed on their own individual wants and desires. Consider Rinaldi, for example, who is focussed on being a better surgeon and being a better lover. When Frederic asks whether there is anything more to life than this, Rinaldi responds with a statement that makes clear how individualistic he has become: “We never get anything. We are born with all we have and we never learn. We never get anything new." This novel therefore paints a rather despairing picture of a humanity that has lost its moral compass, leaving its inhabitants to wonder around without the guidance of any higher morals.

"Barn Burning" takes a slightly different approach, as Sarty is challenged by the conflict of being true and honourable to his father, as tradition demands, but then the deeper conflict of doing what he thinks is right. The way that his father deliberately engages in acts of illegal arson brings this conflict to the fore. Note how Abner Snopes responds to Sarty's temptation to testify against his father during the trial at the beginning of the story:

You're getting to be a man. You got to learn. You got to learn to stick to your own blood or you ain't going to have any blood to stick to you.

The traditional concept of "sticking to your blood" and staying loyal to your family is thus balanced against Sarty's own feelings of what is right and wrong. He is forced by the end of the story to abandon family loyalty to follow what his higher sense of moral justice.

Thus both texts have a similarity in the way that they approach traditional morals and institutions such as the family. However, the characters in Hemmingway's classic seem to have forsaken any sense of tradition or right or wrong, whereas Sarty at least still clings on to some kind of understanding of an ultimate right and wrong.

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