Spoiler alert: If you haven't finished the novel yet, do NOT read the comments posted here. If you do choose to read these comments, the author of this blog disclaims responsibility for a ruined ending.
*Where do they spend the winter? What is the mood?
*Why is Catherine unwilling to get married now?
*How does Catherine plan to change after the baby is born?
*How would you describe the relationship at this point? How has it changed?
*Describe the labor, the alternatives given, and note who makes the decisions. Could things have been different?
*How does Henry feel when he sees his son?
*What happens to Catherine and the baby? Why?
*What is the tone at the end of the novel?
*What do you predict will happen to Henry in the coming years?
This is also a great place to comment on themes or symbols you are thinking about exploring for your essay. Please post any questions you have about the essay here or send me an email: lisa.heartz@bedford.k12.mi.us. Thanks again for your insights!
Subscribe to:
Post Comments (Atom)
So I recently finished the book and I thought that it was one of the most captivating books that I have ever read. I was hooked from the very beginning, and I finished the book rather quickly. That said, I was a little disappointed in the ending of the book. I may be a little to much of a sappy ending kind of person but I don't like the death of both Henry's child and Catherine. But perhaps what I like less is how Hemingway just ends the book abruptly with Henry walking away. I loved the book, it was just the end that i would've preferred a happier ending.
ReplyDeleteI think that in the coming years Henry will stay in Europe a little while since the war is supposed to be over soon. If Henry feels the war is taking too long he would probably move back to the United States until the war is over. Once it is over, I imagine Henry going back to Italy to find his friends, mainly Rinaldi. I think that it will take Henry a while, if ever, to get over Catherine and love another woman.
ReplyDeleteSince this is my second time reading this book i really picked up on the aspect that love really doesnt come without pain. From the time Henry first met Catherine she was experiencing pain from the death of he fiance. As Henry and Catherine's relationship became stronger with love, the pain also became evident. When Henry had to leave the hospital to go back to the war the tone was melancholy throughout the time that they were away from each other. The rain also reoccured throughout that time as a symbol of of the pain both Henry and Catherine were bothe experiencing while away. At the end of the book Henry has to feel not only the pain of losing his child but Catherine as well. In both A Farewell to Arms and Their Eyes Were Watching God it seems as if the pain overpowers the love sacrificing both a loved one in the end. I feel as if the love displayed throughout both novels is a true and devoted love that pain and tradgedy eventually must overcome.
ReplyDeleteThe last sentence of the book, "After a while I went out and left the hospital and walked back to the hotel in the rain", shows much symbolism to the rest of the novel. Throughout the book it seems to be constantly raining at any time of pain, distraught, lonliness, and fear. Because Henry is in shock about the death of both his son and Catherine, of course that means it is raining. I believe that Hemingway made both Catherine and her son die to show that pain overcomes love. I honestly do not know what Henry would do. My best guess would be that he returns to America to be with his family. Overall i enjoyed the book for the second time although i do not nessacerily like how Hemingway broadens out the story in the middle of the novel.
ReplyDeleteI wasn't that suprised by the end of the book. There were many instances of foreshadowing with the rain. The constant reference back to the rain,which in Catherine's thoughts was always related to death, made me kind of assume that someone was going to die. I didn't really expect Henry and Catherine escape live in Switzerland, have the baby and live happily ever after. Hemmingway seems to dark to have an ending like that.
ReplyDeleteI have to disagree with Tyler on the aspect of a happy ending. Considering they were in the middle of a war, the whole book seemed kind of light hearted in the beggining. Then as you read farther you get some kind of inner torment on Henry's part when he has to part from Catherine. It becomes sort of evident how in love these two are and how they are ment for each other. To put a happy ending in this book it would of made it a little cheesy. In every good love story that has to be some tragedy.
ReplyDeleteAfter finishing this book, it has grown in to a favorite. Hemmingway has an odd way of writing, the fact that he put so deep of a love story into one of the least likely places makes it seem so interesting. Anyone can write a normal boy meets girl story in the middle of desolate suburbia. The plot and setting even just shows how ingenious Hemmingway is.
ReplyDeleteCatherine and her son end up dying at the end of the book. The mood is sad and kind of dark.(Because of the rain and the deaths.) Catherine is pretty gased up during her C-section. The settings on the gas are set on the highest. The labor was tragic and tiring. I think that Henry will try to search for his family and friends. Hopefully he survives and the war ends soon.
ReplyDeleteI agree with Tyler about the ending. I wish it would have been more happy and less abrupt. I am still trying to figure out the full meaning of the ending. The last sentence says how Henry walks back to the hotel in the rain after Catherine dies. It brings you back to earlier in the book when Catherine tells Henry that she was afraid of the rain, because she saw herself dead in it. The loss of Catherine and the loss of his child made the ending so abrupt and almost disappointing. I didn't like how Hemingway put "The End" and the end. It sort of left me feeling like any unresolved feelings were stopped. I have learned that that is Hemingway's style of writing, writing simply but having a much deeper meaning behind his words.
ReplyDeleteThe ending to a Farewell to Arms was sort of expected. Based on the foreshadowing from the book about Catherine and her pregnancy it was easy to tell that everything wasn't going to go as planned. Such as when Henry found Catherine in Stresa and noticed that her figure had not changed despite the fact that she was months pregnant and then when Catherine had mentioned that she wasn't experiencing any morning sickness at all it was obvious there was something wrong with the pregnancy. Both of those thoughts were signs pointing towards how the book would end. When Henry saw his son, he felt really detached from him and didn't even feel he was worth his time because of the pain and suffering Catherine had gone through. Henry kept hitting on how he didn't was Catherine to die, constantly saying that in the last pages of the book you just knew that Catherine wasn't going to make it. It was just sort of a double whammy that both Catherine and her baby died at the end, leaving Henry completely alone. I agree with Rachel about the rain, and how Catherine had foreshadowed that she saw herself dead in it and then to have Henry walking it in to the hotel after her death. The rain throughout the book was that symbol of bad things to come, and for Catherine that bad thing to come was her death. I also agree that the ending of this book could have been so much better. It was very curt and unemotional, I just really wish Hemingway had made the end more interesting, and made me feel sad about Catherine and the baby's death and feel sorry for Henry rather than feeling slightly indifferent. However I could see that perhaps Hemingway was simply trying to keep in line with the rest of the book and its darker feel. Despite the unappealing ending, I still really liked this book!
ReplyDeleteThe last couple chapters were full of foreshadowing, towards the death of Henry's son. When it was noted Catherine's figure barely changed while she was pregnant hinted something might be wrong. Also when she was in labor and the doctor did the checkups on her he relayed to Henry that the process wasn't moving along as it should so something was already off with the birth. Right before they take Catherine for the C-section she has a breakdown claiming she won't be able to deliver the baby and she thinks she will die in surgery as well. This is the biggest piece of evidence that her and the baby's death is inevitable and going to happen. I also agree with others, the ending was abrubt and the book just seemed to stop. I would have enjoyed to read what Henry did after the deaths, but appart from that I really enjoyed to novel.
ReplyDeleteIn Ernest Hemingway's, A Farewell to Arms, Catherine, in Book Five is unwilling to get married to Henry because she is afraid that people will notice that she is pregnant. In the period of time that the novel takes place, it was unacceptably and morally wrong for a women to be pregnant and not married. As a result, Catherine and Henry tell several different lies to keep the secret. For example, when Catherine and Henry enter Switzerland and get arrested, they tell the police that they are cousins coming to Switzerland for the winter sport. Because they had different names on their passports, Henry and Catherine did not want anyone to know Catherine was pregnant and not married. Another example of the lies that Henry and Catherine tell is when Catherine is admitted in the hospital. They tell the people at the hospital that Catherine's last name is Henry, rather than Barkley. Therefore, Hemingway accurately describes the time period in which the novel takes place.
ReplyDeleteHemingway's tone at the end of the novel, A Farewell to Arms, is very similar to what it is in the beginning of the novel. The tone at the beginning and end of the novel is very somber and boring. Henry at the end of the novel seems to act in the "I have nothing to live for" attitude that was also shown in the beginning of the novel. Henry no longer acts like he knows what to do. When the doctor from the hospital asks him if he would like him to walk Henry back to his hotel, Henry does not know what to say. He seems so depressed that he can not even think straight. Likewise, at the beginning of the book, Henry has the same sort of attitude and outlook on life.
ReplyDeleteI really agree with Elizabeth about the end of the book. I did think the foreshadowing with Cathrine and the rain was cool. So because of that I wasn't all that surprised when Cathrine died. For me this book was kind of a disappointment. I was really looking forward to reading Ernest Hemmingway, but I don't think I liked his style too much. It was a lovely story but the way he wrote it seemed so bland and emotionless at times, it became rather mind-numbing. For me, this whole novel left me feelign frustrated and confused and these feelings were only intensified by the ending. Everything seemed so unresolved and strangely nonchalant for what I would imagine could be a very dramatic scene. But maybe that's why people like him. I don't want to sound ignorant, but I was kinda hoping A Farewell to Arms would be better. I'm sorry.
ReplyDeleteWell now that almost everyone in almost every book has posted a comment that was about foreshadowing, I am going to go away from it a little bit to something that I noticed throughout the book. During this time in the world there is great pain that affected everyone, from the priest all the way to Catherine. Many characters needed something to take this pain away. The priest found refuge in God, most people in alcohol, Catherine and Henry in love, and Rinaldi in sex. In the end, it is kind of ironic that Catherine dies in part due to something that was trying to help dull the pain, anesthetic. This shows that all the pains in the world cannot always be overcome.
ReplyDeleteA Farewell to Arms is one of my favorite books by far. I loved the ending and I loved Hemmingway’s style. I was in tears at the end of the book because of everything that happened leading into Catherine’s death. I didn’t like it how the nurses just shooed Henry away and how he was not allowed to be in the room for most of the labor. That just shows a difference between the past and the present. In my opinion, in the beginning of the novel when Henry does not want to fall in love, foreshadows Catherine’s death. Henry felt trapped by it and hurt by it, so when Henry walks out of the hospital it goes back to why he did not want to fall in love because it is nothing but a dirty trick.
ReplyDeleteI really ended up liking the book more than I thought I was going to. The end of the book had a extremely depressing mood and I was really upset that both Catherine and the baby died. Even though I already knew what was going to happen from the foreshadowing in the novel, I still hoped that she would make it. Before her death, Catherine and Henry had multiple conversations with each other saying that they didn’t want to be with anyone else and that they only needed each other. Now I feel like Henry is going to have nobody to turn to. I also thought that it was sad when Henry didn’t feel any sort of fatherhood when he first saw the baby. Just as I had figured, the rain ended up being a major symbol in the book. The fact that it was raining the entire day that Catherine was in labor made it evident that the delivery wasn’t going to go well.
ReplyDeleteI agree with Sara Smith, Hemingway does point out that love is not a fair deal. When Catherine died, Henry seemed like he was back to point A, like in the beginning of the book, where he's going through the motions and not living his life to its full potential. In the beginning of the story, Catherine flirted with Henry when they first met because she wanted to get rid of the the pain of her fiances death. Likewise, Henry was looking for an escape from talk of the war. Together, Catherine and Henry formed a seclusion from the harsh outside world and found peace from each other. In the end, the pain still came out on top for Henry lost the love of his life, Catherine.
ReplyDeleteThroughout book five, it became quite inevitable to me that the ending to this novel would be nothing more than depressing. I figured that maybe the baby or Catherine would die, but never had I thought both of them! I was completely disappointed in Henry with the way he reacted when the baby came. It was obvious that his own son meant nothing to him. That to me is shocking, but I suppose that it didn't matter to Henry. As depressing as the ending was I thought it fit well with the book as a whole. I also loved how the rain just tied everything together! Everything horrible in Henry's life was always accompanied with rain.
ReplyDeleteBook five was definitely my favorite and the end left me wanting more. It is terribly sad that Catherine and Henry have made all these marvelous plans and they can’t be followed through. When I read not only did the baby die but Catherine did too, my heart nearly jumped out of my chest. I was in complete and utter dismay. I think Henry will now go back to America and back to his family. I don’t know how he will cope with the death of his loved ones but in real life, most people have an awful time. Overall, there were parts of this book I enjoyed and others I did not. The blossoming love between Henry and Catherine was the only thing that truly kept my interest throughout the novel. I saw some symbols in the novel such as the rain. Catherine admits to Henry that the rain scares her. At first I thought, well she is a little odd so maybe it is true. I now think that Hemingway used the rain as a symbol of doom and tragedy; somewhat forewarning the calamity that would forever split the lovers up. After Catherine and the baby die and Henry leaves the hospital, I noticed it was also raining. I read as Henry’s character greatly changed throughout the novel. We are first introduced to him as a man of duty. He seems to have no faith, or patriotism. His top priorities are the war and drinking all the time. Catherine greatly changes his personality and Henry begins to realize there is more to life than just drinking and hanging with friends. The love between Catherine and Henry can only be described of that in a fairytale. You can immediately feel the strong bond within the two. I feel that Hemingway may have used the death of Catherine and the baby as a sort of revenge on Henry. Not that he disliked Henry as a character, but I always felt some sort of resentment. I don’t know why and can’t exactly explain it but I could tell the end of the story would be unfortunate. I liked Hemingway’s style of writing too. He did switch point of views a few times but I thought it kept the book interesting and really pulled the reader into the novel. The entire novel was not nearly as dreadful as I imagined it to be after reading book one.
ReplyDeleteThe ending of the novel was really depressing as many of you would agree. First the baby takes forever to finally come out of Catherine. Then the little baby boy dies. It's sad how Henry doesn't even feel like a father when he see's his own son! It's like he doesn't even care for him and never would have if he had survived. The final sad thing that happened was that Catherine died. I figured something like this would happen as I began to read the ending chapter though. I believe Henry will be in depression for awhile and then set out to find Rinaldi and the priest. I agree with Tyler that this novel shows that no matter what you have in life whether it be love, alcohol, sex, or religion that pain and death will always find you. A person can be the happiest person in the world, but death will find them sooner or later. I also find it ironic how in the beginning of the novel Catherine says she see's herself dead in the rain and it's raining as Henry leaves the hospital. Overall I like this book, but only when Henry and Catherine were together. The war and descriptive parts bored me till no end. I believe Henry grew into more of a well-rounded person because of Catherine. If it wasn't for her, he would have lived no real life at all.
ReplyDeleteMr. Hemmingway's last few pages in "A Farewell to Arms" are full of satisfyingly bitter irony. When Catherine finally agreed she'd marry Lt. Henry, after the birth of the child, she died. In one day so many hopes and plans were ruined. The marriage won't happen, little Catherine turned out to be a boy, and Catherine, who only wanted to be a good wife failed at what was once thought of as a very important thing in a wife- birthing a son. Within the last two pages Mr. Hemmingway managed to destroy his carefully built 313-page relationship between Catherine and Lt. Henry. It was a more realistic ending than most stories on a happy relationship, and written in a way that readers can accept one of the main character's deaths.
ReplyDeleteIn my opinion, "A Farewell to Arms" was a very lovely read. I really enjoyed the quite obvious amount of thought and time Hemingway clearly put into his writing. The book has easily painted many mental pictures for me with Hemingway's very descriptive writing. But The one part of "Farewell" that I did not care for was the storyline. Call me a sucker for cheesy, happy endings, but for god's sake I like hearing about people living happily after!!! I blissfully turn through this entire book thinking about how it will end with them escaping the hell-hole (excuse me) that is war, and find a beautiful place to stay and live happily ever after! But no, Catherine gives birth that Henry barely has a care in the world for that dies, and then she dies!!! Poor Henry was left to walk to his hotel in the miserable rain that surrounds him. Though the ending was completely miserable and morbid, I did notice that in the last sentence of the book it describes him walking back to his hotel IN THE RAIN. Perhaps now Henry only cries when it rains? I found out that I was correct when I guessed earlier in the novel that it could be a hint of foreshadowing when Catherine talks about seeing herself or Henry dead when it rains. Anyways, all in all I still found this an interesting and well written book to read.
ReplyDeleteEvan Madden
After finishing the novel, I saw that my initial thought that this would be only a war novel was wrong. The title A Farewell to Arms suggests the fact that it is more of an anti war book because of the word "farewell" but Hemingway did not write it in a position of being against the war. Yes, there were characters in the book that were opposed to the war but for the most part Hemingway simply described the war. This was a happy surprise that made me like the book even more!
ReplyDeleteChelsea Malak how could the ending of book five leave u wanting more? i personally feel that the book would have been better without book five i'd rather have the book end in a clif hanger than the disturbing way it did. From reading chealsea's bolg i just realized that what cat meant by seeing her death in the rain was that she is going to die in the rain which happens because it as raining when she and the baby die. I also noticed that nearly every major event in the book is played out in the rain, can some one please help me figure out why?
ReplyDeleteI think that the ending of the book could of been better. Even though it didn't say much after Catherine died, it seemed like Henry really wasn't concerned. When the baby died, he didn't react at all and although some people have shock, I would have thought he would've been at least a little upset. When he realized Catherine was going to die he didn’t have that much reaction in him either, it just seemed like he only really cared once, and the rest of the time he was just in his own world like at the beginning. Although it wasn't a happy ending, I think that was Hemingway's way of tying the knot on the story and making the book complete. After finishing the novel, I still don’t think it was that great, but it did turn out a little better than I thought it would because the last 2 books seemed to interest me a lot more than the rest of the novel.
ReplyDeleteHey guys! since this is a very weird comment i actually have no idea where to put it, so i assumed the last one would be the best? (idk) but anyways, during this book (as with the last one) i got kind of bored, so i desided to come up with songs for the charectors. This one seemed harder then "Their eyes were watching god" so if you have any better ones let me know
ReplyDeleteHenry- Keep Fishin' by Weezer
Catherine- Crazy by Gnarls Barkley
Rinaldi- Womanizer by britney spears (yeah i know that is a lame one, my apologies)
I feel as though these charectors were harder to generalize because they change so much throughout the book, but i like the idea of trying to put songs to charectors. Im not fully sure why, but i find it interesting to see what other people may come up with or think about.
After reading the final book in the novel, I have decided that I liked book four the best, simply because Catherine and Henry were together and were happy for the most part. I found the book hard to read at first with all the descriptions, but soon I was hooked, and I was devastated by Hemingway's ending to the novel. I believed that when Henry was walking away from the hospital at the end, it was appropriate to include the ever-present theme of rain, because for Henry this symbolized that not all good things can last. Helen Ferguson foreshadowed this earlier in the book when she scolded Henry for making a mess of Catherine's life, and she didn't believe that he truly loved Catherine, because she didn't accept that true love could be found in such a time of despair like during the war. I was disappointed with Henry's reaction to the deaths of both Catherine and his child though, he seemed as though he lacked emotion altogether. After finishing the novel, I do admit that I liked it a lot better than I thought I would in the beginning, mostly because of Books Four and Five.
ReplyDeleteWhen I finished the book, I realized that I liked the book a lot more than I would have ever guessed. The ending was abrupt and upsetting, however, it was not out of place with the rest of the novel. The whole book eluded a sense of darkness and torment, and the ending followed through on that. The death of both Catherine and the baby was very much foreshadowed throughout the end of the book. The rain was mentioned at least twice in every chapter, which was obviously a symbol of a tragic event. Tyler made a very good point about every character having something to take refuge in, and I completely agree. The book showed that pain is imminent, and I think that both love and pain played off each other in the novel. If the story were to continue, I think that Henry would, like Courtney pointed out, go back to life before Catherine- just living life with no real purpose.
ReplyDeleteWhat I like about A Farewell to Arms was that it was so different than any other love story I have ever read. It focuses on two characters, Catherine and Henry, that are dealing with the pain of the world through love. I love that the characters aren't the average charming prince and beautiful princess. Hemingway portrays two characters that were so deep and real. Catherine and Henry are too tortured souls that only experience happiness when together. Unlike most love stories the theme is not about everlasting love, but that even the strongest love can be torn apart.
ReplyDeleteAfter finishing this book, i honestly had no idea what to say. I mean after the description of all that romance and charector developement, it just ended. and in the most graphically depressing way possible. I mean i expected a sad ending, but that was just a kick to the chest! I personally would have to put it on par with the tragety of Julius Cesar or Romeo and Juliet, i dont even know how i feel after reading it. I mean i have the slightly disturbing happyness feeling that comes after reading a tragety, but i feel as though the ending just ruined all of that charector developement. I honestly dont know if i liked it or not, but ill definitely remember it lol
ReplyDeleteCatherine and Henry's relationship throughout the novel was one that I found interesting at the very least. Their romance started out as not a romance at all, but rather a "game" in which they both played as a distraction from the pain in their lives. Henry needed a distraction from the war and Catherine needed a distraction from the hurt of losing her fiance; both characters found what the needed in each other even though love was not there at first.
ReplyDeleteAs their lustful game intensifies though, it actually does turn into real love. I found this the most peculiar part of the couple's relationship. It's hard for me to pick out where exactly the transition occurs, but it most definately is a noticable change of heart for both characters; by the end of the novel the love between them is strong and undeniable.
In the beginning of Book 5, similar to the beginning of many other chapters, Hemingway paints a beautiful picture that sets the scene. Henry and Catherine’s time in Switzerland is probably the happiest part on the entire story, everything is great, and they are living perfect lives. It is interesting to see that Henry seems to care a lot more about Catherine than the baby, especially right when the baby is born. So I guess his karma really got back at him when Henry finds out that the baby is dead. Plus to make matters worse, Catherine dies of a hemorrhage. Although Henry should have cared more about his child, I really feel bad for him. The story ends with Henry walking back to the hotel in the rain, again showing that the rain is a major symbol in the novel.
ReplyDeletethought that Catherine’s death at the end of the book was very predictable. There was almost a whole page where Henry is thinking about the possibility of her dying and he keeps saying “She can’t die. She won’t die. But what if she dies? She can’t die. But what if she should die?” It was basically the same thing over and over for an entire page. Henry also questions whether or not women die during childbirth and convinces himself that because of the medicine and hospitals, they don’t die during childbirth anymore. The topic of the possibility of Catherine dying is common in conversations between the characters in the last couple chapters. After she hemorrhaged, Catherine tells Henry that she is going to die, and the doctor tells her that she is silly and that she is not going to die. With how much death was talked about in the last couple chapters, I knew that something was going to happen and she was going to die because everyone was talking about it. I also realize that when Catherine said that she was afraid of the rain because she keeps seeing her or Henry dead in it was foreshadowing. The novel says that after Catherine died Henry walked home in the rain, so Catherine died during a rain storm.
ReplyDeleteWell let me be the first to applaud Hemmingway on his tear-jerking ending to a fantastic book. However, as I look back through the last section of the book, I can't help but notice that the ending was completely obvious. With Catherine constantly mentioning the rain and how she saw herself and Henry dead in it and Henry trying to convince himself that she won't die. Frankly, I think it would have been a better ending if Catherine had miraculously recovered, which also would have been a strong emotional ending.
ReplyDeleteHenry's life beyond the ending of the book is sort of mysterious. At the end of the book, he is incredibly depressed (as any person with feelings would be after losing the love of their life and only child) and just walks out. Personally, I think Henry will go out and travel the world seeking refuge in his aloneness, until he meets someone who will pick him back up and then we have another story on our hands that I would look forward to reading. =D
ReplyDeleteThroughout the whole book, as problems were occurring and danger was creeping up into Henry and Catherine’s life, I felt like Catherine did not fully feel the extremity of problems. Although, she may understand the risks taken, she cannot feel them, and emphasizes more on simple things, such as breakfast, a drink, etc… There is another explanation to her actions, which suggests that she is a very “in the moment” person, tries to take the best enjoyment out of each situation, and does not worry much about the future or consequences.
ReplyDeleteIt was interesting that one of the last words or thoughts in the book was a reference to the rain. The mood that was set towards the end was extremely mellow. After Catherine’s death, he comprehended the situation and loss but felt empty and bare, knowing there was nothing that could better the condition. He finally understood the “fear” Catherine had of rain on his way to the hotel. Although it is not necessarily fear that Henry had experienced, but it was a realization of Catherine’s feelings; he was finally in her shoes and understood how she perceived certain subjects. Due to her long previous relationship, she experienced the feeling of loss and instability with love. Although a love may be strong and “unbreakable,” death can, in one second, tumble it down.
Poor Henry. Although he just lost his "wife" and child, i feel as though he wasn't as emotional as someone normally would be. And of course what did he walk home in? the rain. It's always bad news when it starts raining. All in all I thought this book was choppy and had an insane amount of filler. But it also had a story line that could actually happen and it gave you a sense of who these characters actually were. The end was very dissapointing, it just stops. Catherine and the baby die, Henry walks back to the hotel, and that's it. The book wasn't horrible, but it wasn't great by any means. Maybe if he would have taken out all of the filler, not only would the book have been cut in half, but it would have made a much easier story to read.
ReplyDelete