Lt. Fredric Henry, the protagonist in A Farewell to
Arms, exemplifies Hemingway's code hero in several ways. Like a typical
Hemingway’s hero he is a wounded man not only physically but also
psychologically. He is a man who engages in life, rather than observing it as a
bystander. He maintains self-control in the face of overwhelming adversity, and
he does not demonstrate self-pity. Like Hemingway’s other code
heroes, Lt. Henry is existentially removed from the world. He possesses
personal integrity, often feels isolated and remains stoic for most of the
time. He is a rationalist and pragmatist who brings everything to the test of
experience. Most of all, Lt. Henry functions as a Hemingway code hero because
he faces life with courage, and he endures life with dignity.
The character of Lt. Henry is a prime example of a Hemingway hero.
He shows a general loss of faith in conventional morality. Henry respects the
priest, but he says flat out that he does not believe in God. In the start of the novel, Henry
immerses himself into the sensual pleasures that surround him.
In the beginning, his views on life and the war are extremely
naive, innocent, and idealistic. "Only
seven thousand have died" of war
and cholera, he comments early on. This illustrates his innocent perception
of the war because he doesn't acknowledge how many people have actually died. Like a typical Hemingway’s hero, he
enjoys much of drinking and love-making in the beginning but undergoes
tremendous development during the course of the novel.
“American Tenete” Fredrick
Henry is stoic under duress or pain; he is unflappable under fire, he does his
work. He is “man’s man” in that his thoughts revolve on
women and drink. He is an
American who enlists in the Italian army during World War I,
a dangerous role he assumes by choice. As an officer who commands an
ambulance unit, he serves on the front lines, exposing himself to the greatest
danger. Henry endures a lot of
pain, but always understates his condition. Even
When he is severely wounded in the battle, he does not let his suffering show.
"I...leaned over and put my hand on my knee. My knee
wasn't there."
He does not freak out and complain, he just realizes it is
what it is.
Indigenous to nearly all of Ernest Hemingway’s novels, the “Hemingway
man” lives by one simple rule: “Man the player is born; life the
game will kill him”. Frederic’s
development is enhanced by his relationship with the English nurse, Catherine
Barkley. Originally, Catherine is nothing more than an object of sensual
desire, but as the novel progresses, Catherine becomes symbolic of Frederic’s
final resolution. Having discovered the value of his relationship with
Catherine, Frederic returns to the front, only to find the army in complete and
utter chaos. Frederic is welcomed by his old friends but is greatly disturbed
by their low morale.
As the novel continues, Lt. Henry eventually deserts the army, but
this is not as an act of cowardice. Caught up in the chaos and carnage of a
military retreat, he leaves the army to save his own life. Frederic no longer feels obligated to
serve a country to which he does not belong. His allegiance is shattered when
he witnesses Italian officials shooting their own men. He will not sacrifice his life to a
senseless death. He no longer feels a part of the war; he feels isolated from
it. He declares an individual separate peace and acts decisively to make his
way back to Catherine.
Despite the cruelty of the world, Henry is able to find some moments of
solace. Reunited with Catherine,
and far away from the decimated
Italian countryside Lt. Henry
enjoys a period of peace and happiness with her as they await the birth of
their baby. When she dies in childbirth and the baby dies, also, Lt. Henry is
truly alone. Catherine’s untimely
death has driven Frederic into a senseless cesspool of babbling thoughts.
“Get away hell! It would have been the same if we had been married
fifty times. And what if she should die? She won’t die. People don’t die in
childbirth nowadays. … It’s just nature giving her hell”.
These words show Frederic’s scattered train of thought. He
attempts to shield himself from death with these cliches. Frederic even begins
to pray to God in one last futile attempt but in vain. Nolan remarks:
“What
Hemingway portrays, in fact, is a good, albeit a disappointed and disillusioned
man trying to fulfill his various obligations.”
After Catherine’s “murder” by the Biological Trap, Henry’s disillusionment is revealed in his last tragic note:
After Catherine’s “murder” by the Biological Trap, Henry’s disillusionment is revealed in his last tragic note:
“But
after I had got them out and shut the door and turned off the lights it wasn't
any good. It was like saying good-by to a statue.”
He walks away, in the rain. He is isolated
in his grief, but he will endure this greatest of all his losses.
To
conclude, by the end of the novel Henry’s
metamorphosis is complete and he is fitting into the definition of Hemingway’s
code hero because he has progressed so much from the beginning to the end.