Chapter 38 Summary

Chapter 39 Summary

Henry has grown a full beard within a month. The happy couple talks about how much they enjoy being alone together. They often wonder if having a child around will change everything. Catherine again brings up the topic of chopping off her long hair to make Henry fall in love again. But Henry says that he loves her so much that it is impossible to love her more.

Chapter 40 Summary

They decide to shift closer to the hospital by spring since Catherine is expected to deliver the baby soon. They stay in a hotel in Lausanne. Catherine buys the baby’s clothes and waits for its arrival.

Chapter 41 Summary

Catherine goes into labor early in the morning about three weeks after their stay in Lausanne. The couple goes to the hospital. In the beginning, everything seems normal. Catherine urges Henry to go and get some breakfast, assuring him that the nurse is taking good care of her. When Henry returns, she is already in the delivery room. As Catherine’s pain mounts, the doctor administers anaesthetics. As the day proceeds, Catherine’s pain increases but she is sedated from the aesthetic. Since the labor does not progress, the doctor advises for a Caesarean section. A baby boy is born, and the doctor comes out of the operation theater holding him. Henry feels detached from the baby and feels that the baby seems to have nothing to do with him. He goes in to see Catherine, who asks about their child. Henry tells her that their child is beautiful. A nurse later tells Henry that Catherine has given birth to a stillborn, who was strangled by his umbilical cord in the womb. Henry is asked to leave the room. He finds his way to a restaurant to eat dinner and ends up drinking several beers. When he returns, Catherine is haemorrhaging. Henry is terrified and prays frantically for Catherine as he does not want her to die. He sees her once more. She is aware of her impending death and jokingly refers to it as a “dirty trick.” Catherine dies. Henry is unable to bid farewell to her. He walks back to the hotel alone from the hospital in the falling rain.

Chapters 38–41 Analysis

For some time, hope is renewed in the couple, symbolized by the snow-capped mountains of Switzerland, which tragically will change to rain, symbolizing death, at the end of the novel. Hemingway cautiously does not abandon realism for a dreamy romantic interlude. Rather, he shifts the focus of his realism from war to the domestic sphere—for example, Catherine’s fears about Henry’s loss of interest in her sexually. She is also realistic about the changes the couple will face on the arrival of the baby. Their lack of enthusiasm for the baby is evident when Henry remarks, “We knew the baby was very close now and it gave us both a feeling as though something were hurrying us and we could not lose any time together.” Significantly, Catherine and Henry decide to move closer to the hospital when the spring rains arrive.

The section also highlights the lovers’ strong bond and devotion for each other. When Catherine starts hemorrhaging, we find Henry, who has been stoic so far, praying desperately. Although he has established himself as an atheist, he still prays, perhaps for a miracle. Catherine, on the other hand, maintains her stance as love being her religion and asks for Henry rather than a priest on her deathbed. Her stoicism is highlighted when she says, “It’s just a dirty little trick.” It is a message that is present throughout the novel: that tragedy in life is inevitable and without reason.