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Although there were numerous prerequisites and indications of a military crisis approaching the world in the early 1910s, World War I swept the humankind into massive bloodshed and introduced it to chaos. “A Farewell to Arms” by Ernest Hemingway deserves to be titled as the most prominent of prose pieces that strip war of its glory and represent it in all its ugliness. By presenting his characters as humanists amidst violence, centering the plot on a romance, and presenting the story from the perspective of an unreliable narrator, Hemingway conveys the message of the atrocity of war.
The contrast between the characters and the setting discloses the atrocities of war in a most glaring light. Instead of following a well-trodden path and depicting his characters as fearless war heroes, Hemingway makes it obvious that fear is the first and most natural response to the terror of war: “I’m not brave any more darling. I’m all broken. They’ve broken me” (Hemingway).
The setting, in which the story of “A Farewell to Arms” unfolds, also plays a key role in establishing the significance of the theme (Mazzeno 186). The contrast between the Italian and Swiss setting, one representing the devastating effects of WWI and the other signifying peace, contributes to the argument that Hemingway makes and emphasize the cruel reality of war (Murdoch 109).
Overall, the author’s choices have affected the story significantly, creating an unsettling atmosphere of despair. While Hemingway’s characters are redeemable and worthy of sympathy, they succumb to the harshness of their situation and develop the cynicism that serves as the coping mechanism allowing them to deal with the cruel reality of war: “All thinking men are atheists” (Hemingway). Therefore, the choices that Hemingway made when selecting character arcs, the settings, and the plot, align with the general theme of war as the most horrific experience, which ruins the lives of millions of people.
Juxtaposing the harsh reality of war to the plot that is rooted deeply in the personal lives and feelings of its protagonists, “A Farewell to Arms” portrays the atrocities of war and the horrifying nature thereof very clearly. Hemingway creates the setting that incorporates stark contrasts and uses metaphor as one of the essential tools for exposing the cruel reality of war. Masterfully written, the novel remains an unparalleled depiction of the effects that WWI had on relationships between people and on the overall presence of humanity in them.
Works Cited
Hemingway, Ernest. “A Farewell to Arms.” Archive.org, n.d., Web.
Mazzeno, Lawrence W. The Critics and Hemingway, 1924-2014: Shaping an American Literary Icon. Boydell & Brewer, 2015.
Murdoch, Brisan. German Literature and the First World War: The Anti-War Tradition: Collected Essays by Brian Murdoch. Routledge, 2015.
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