A Farewell to Arms Summary and Analysis

Chapter 1 Summary

The novel opens with Lieutenant Henry, the narrator of the novel, describing the small Italian village on the Austro-Hungarian border where he resides. He narrates the physical setting of the novel in the past tense and uses the pronouns “we” or “us” for identification. It is summertime and World War I is ongoing. The narrator can often hear the fight that takes place in the mountains, which is across the plains where he lives. He also observes troops and officers in “small, gray motor cars” marching on the road—which is usually dusty but becomes wet during autumn—to the battlefront in the mountains. Whenever he sees a speeding car, the narrator speculates that the King must be inside it. Before winter sets in, the incessant rain brings in the cholera epidemic that kills seven thousand soldiers.

Chapter 2 Summary

By August of the following year, the narrator’s side of the war has managed to achieve several victories and his unit moves to the captured town of Gorizia. The battle continues in the mountain beyond. The town has not witnessed massive devastation as other towns; there are a few good cafés and two brothels for officers and enlisted men to go and enjoy themselves. Although the narrator is not identified until Chapter 7, he is Lieutenant Frederic Henry, a young American ambulance driver who has volunteered to join the Italian army. While sitting with other officers in the mess on a winter evening, he learns from his fellow mates that the war might be over for the year because of snow. Due to their loss of faith in religion, they start mocking and taunting the military priest with sexual innuendos and the captain reproaches the priest for not visiting the brothel. This leaves the priest blushing, and he accepts their taunts in good humor. However, Henry does not partake in the jibes. As Henry has a few leaves coming up, the priest suggests to Henry to visit Abruzzi, where the priest’s family resides. However, the officers want Henry to tour to larger cities, such as Palermo, Capri, Rome, Naples, or Sicily. Toward the end of the chapter, the conversation steers to opera singers when Henry, along with his fellow officers, bid goodbye to the priest and go to the brothel.

Chapter 3 Summary

It is springtime and Henry has returned from his leave. He is welcomed by his roommate Rinaldi, who is a lieutenant and surgeon. Henry tells Rinaldi all about his tour through Italy but Rinaldi, who is obsessed with pretty women, informs him that there are beautiful British women who are visiting the town, and that Henry does not have to go to Italy to find them. In order to make an impression on a British nurse named Catherine Barkley, with whom Rinaldi claims to be in love with, he asks Henry to loan him fifty lire. Henry agrees. At night in the mess hall, during dinnertime, the priest gets upset with Henry for not visiting the priest’s family in Abruzzi. Henry is drunk and feels guilty. In his state of drunkenness, Henry tries to explain how circumstances did not permit him to visit Abruzzi. In his drunken reverie, he realizes how different he and the priest are. However, at the end, Henry concludes that though they are different, they are still friends. The officers continue to mock the priest, this time for his dislike of violence. They accuse him of wanting the Austrians to win the war. Finally, the major intervenes and asks the officers to not bother the priest. Rinaldi, who is a lieutenant and surgeon. Henry tells Rinaldi all about his tour through Italy but Rinaldi, who is obsessed with pretty women, informs him that there are beautiful British women who are visiting the town, and that Henry does not have to go to Italy to find them. In order to make an impression on a British nurse named Catherine Barkley, with whom Rinaldi claims to be in love with, he asks Henry to loan him fifty lire. Henry agrees. At night in the mess hall, during dinnertime, the priest gets upset with Henry for not visiting the priest’s family in Abruzzi. Henry is drunk and feels guilty. In his state of drunkenness, Henry tries to explain how circumstances did not permit him to visit Abruzzi. In his drunken reverie, he realizes how different he and the priest are. However, at the end, Henry concludes that though they are different, they are still friends. The officers continue to mock the priest, this time for his dislike of violence. They accuse him of wanting the Austrians to win the war. Finally, the major intervenes and asks the officers to not bother the priest.

Chapter 4 Summary

Henry wakes up to the noise of a battery of guns the next morning. After coffee, he goes to the garage where the mechanics are repairing the ambulances. He has a brief chat with the men under his command and enquires about the state of the automobiles. He soon realizes that his presence does not matter; things will function the same way. He returns to his room to find Rinaldi busy studying an English Grammar book. He asks Henry to accompany him to the British hospital to meet Catherine Barkley. At the hospital, Rinaldi spends most of his time conversing with Helen Ferguson, Catherine’s Scottish friend who is also a nurse. When Henry meets Catherine, he is mesmerized by her beauty. He asks about the stick Catherine is carrying with her that looks like a “toy riding-crop.” She tells him that the stick belonged to her dead fiancé, who was killed in the Battle of the Somme not so long ago. She laments that she should have gotten married and asks Henry if he has ever fallen in love. Henry says that he has never been in love. On their way home, Rinaldi, with no trace of jealousy, tells Henry that clearly Catherine likes Henry more than him. Helen Ferguson, Catherine’s Scottish friend who is also a nurse. When Henry meets Catherine, he is mesmerized by her beauty. He asks about the stick Catherine is carrying with her that looks like a “toy riding-crop.” She tells him that the stick belongs to her dead fiancé, who was killed in the Battle of the Somme not so long ago. She laments that she should have gotten married and asks Henry if he has ever fallen in love. Henry says that he has never been in love. On their way home, Rinaldi, with no trace of jealousy, tells Henry that clearly Catherine likes Henry more than him.

Chapter 5 Summary

Henry again visits the hospital the next day and asks for Catherine. The head nurse, who is astonished to see an American in the Italian army, informs him that Catherine will not be available until seven o’clock that evening, when her shift will end. He decides to come back later and drives back to the barrack. On his way, he examines the road and thinks that whenever it will be completed, it will allow the Italians to launch an offensive attack on the Austrians. That evening, after dinner, Henry returns to the hospital to find Catherine with Helen in the hospital garden. Helen excuses herself and leaves the two alone. They both agree to not talk of the war, and instead talk about Catherine’s work. Henry tries to kiss her after she unwillingly lets Henry put his arms around her. She immediately retaliates with a slap. She starts apologizing immediately to which Henry draws her attention to the fact that at least they are not talking about the war. She lets Henry kiss her and breaks into tears. She tells Henry to be good to her and comments: “We’re going to have a strange life.” When Henry returns to his room, Rinaldi starts teasing him about his romantic glow and equates him to “a dog in heat.”

Chapter 6 Summary

Henry is unable to visit Catherine for two days as work keeps him away. Finally, on the third day, he goes to the hospital to meet her, and the two spend some time in the hospital garden. Catherine asks Henry whether he loves her too which Henry replies yes, although one can clearly understand that he does not mean so. Catherine then asks him to address her by her first name. They take a stroll in the garden when Catherine expresses how much she has missed Henry in the last couple of days. Henry kisses her and wishes to establish a sexual relationship with her. Although he thinks of her as someone who is a “little crazy,” he does not mind as he thinks it is better to make love to her than visit a brothel. His lack of affection for Catherine makes Henry feel that he is involved in a complicated game of bridge. Catherine admits that she has been playing the game too and calls it a “rotten game” that they are involved in. She declares that they do not need to keep pretending. However, Henry persuades her for a kiss before she sends him away for the night. Back in the barrack, Rinaldi notices Henry’s state of confused love and admits that he is relieved to not have been involved in a romantic relationship with Catherine.

Chapters 1–6 Analysis

The reader does not get to know the name of the protagonist till Chapter 7. Hemingway describes the setting of the novel in the initial chapters in straightforward yet powerful prose. Instead of characters, the initial chapters discuss the war and the Italian front. We come to know of the narrator/protagonist through his conversations with others. The readers can discern that the narrator is an observant but emotionally detached person. From the straightforward detailing of the war, the readers can figure out that his detachment is caused by the effect of the war on his emotional state. He behaves as a typical soldier who is bereft of emotions. He often visits brothels that hint at his urgency for sexual gratification. However, unlike other soldiers, he dislikes mocking the priest.

The narrator comes across Catherine Barkley, who is grieving the death of her fiancé. With this, the theme of doomed love is established that is set in the backdrop of the war. Although both of them immediately establish an intimate relationship, it is not love at first sight. Their rapid advancement of flirting hints at their desperate attempt to evade reality. Henry thinks of the seduction as playing bridge and knows that he does not really love her even though he says so. Catherine too confesses that she has been playing the same game. What started as a pretense will transform into a powerful love affair that will ultimately motivate Henry to leave the grim reality of the war. war.