Theme of Love and War in A Farewell to Arms:

Theme of Love and war besides other themes is the central theme of Hemingway’s “A Farewell to Arms”. In A Farewell to Arms, love and war are shown to be interlinked with each other. War easily puts love in danger, makes it unstable and creates strong disillusionment of love. It is also because of war that love can have its grounds; it is because the war that love is challenged and destroyed and does not survive the war at the end.

As the title of the novel makes clear, A Farewell to Arms concerns itself primarily with war. Hemingway's artistic creation is never independent from his life experience, and his personal beliefs. “After ten years of meditation and "digestion" of his experience, Hemingway lays before his readers a work which is far from a mere war experience, nor a story of love and death during the war”, says Baker.

With his unique artistic method and style, his profound writing technique, Hemingway describes vividly the cruelest slaughter in human history as well as its impact upon the human psyche. A Farewell to Arms is a war novel, not in the sense that it glorifies the war, but as all know, it describes the cruelty, madness of the war which deprives human life and happiness; that is to say, the antiwar attitude is perceived throughout this novel. 

In A Farewell to Arms the majority of the characters remain ambivalent about the war, resentful of the terrible destruction it causes. War is not only a physical struggle but also a psychological torture. Upon meeting, Catherine and Henry rely upon grand illusion of love and seduction for comfort. Catherine seeks solace for the death of her fiancé while Henry is doing anything to distance himself from the war. Firstly their declarations of love are transparent: Catherine reminds Henry several times that their courtship is a game. “This is a rotten game we play, isn’t it?” Catherine comments early on. Although cynical they start off, the war eventually brings out the best in them as they involve in a serious love affair. Their mutual trauma gives them enormous understanding of each other’s personalities. Henry himself admits: “God knows I had not wanted to fall in love with her. I had not wanted to fall in love with anyone.

As the romance developed from the stage of flirtation to a serious affair the war is changing from a "war in the movies" to a war that has become risky. Gradually, Catherine becomes an indispensable part of his life. The love of Catherine Barkley is so great that Henry deserts the army, as he puts it “declares separate peace”.

It is ironic that the love between Henry and Catherine blossoms in war but withers in peace. When Catherine sees Henry for the first time, the shadow of death hangs over their meeting--her fiancé has been blown “all to bits” in the war. She is frank with Henry, “You don't have to pretend you love me.” As a woman, Catherine particularly needs the love from a man to get rid of the terror caused by the brutality of the war.

The couple’s feelings for each other quickly pass from an amusement that distracts them to the very fuel that sustains them. Henry’s understanding of how meaningful his love for Catherine is outweighs any consideration for the emptiness of abstract ideals such as honour, enabling him to flee the war and seek her out. Henry is embarrassed by the words as “sacred, glorious and sacrifice”.  Reunited, they plan an idyllic life together. Far away from the decimated Italian countryside, each intends to be the other’s refuge. However they cannot escape the cruel clutches of their dark destiny as Catherine unfolds her inner fear: "I'm afraid of the rain because sometimes I see me dead in it". In fact the tragic tone of the writer is sustained throughout the novel. Hemingway points out: “The world breaks every one and afterward many are strong at the broken places. But those that will not break, it kills. It kills the very good and the very gentle and the very brave impartially.”

To conclude, in A Farewell to Arms, through revealing the tragedies of the protagonists, Hemingway attempts to point out that war is nothing more than a dark extension of the murderous world which refuses to protect or preserve the happiness of humankind. In addition, life itself is nothing more than an endless struggle, and the end of it is death and pain. Henry acknowledges: “No matter how hard we fight to live, we end up defeated.”

In the end, 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 clichés. Frederic even begins to pray to God in one last futile attempt but of no avail. After Catherine’s “murder” by the Biological Trap, Henry’s disillusionment is poignantly 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.”