Themes, Symbols, etc.

Themes

THE DESTRUCTION OF WAR AND BREAKDOWN OF THE HUMAN SPIRIT – This novel has been named “one of the best American novels to emerge from World War I.” One reason for this is because it gives us a description of the war not usually given—rather than describing constant battles or action, this book shows us the emotional turmoil that war puts us through. Just as the war destroys the countryside in which it is fought, it destroys the will and spirit of those fighting it. Even at the beginning of the book, nobody likes the war; however, they are optimistic about the outcome and feel that they can win. And, as the book progresses and the war becomes bigger and bloodier, people become weary of it and eventually believe that there is no victory—everyone is already “cooked,” as one captain put it. As Rinaldi says (pages 165 and 167): “This war is killing me … I am very depressed by it … If I was away I do not believe I would come back.” His view was shared by almost all others in the book (Hemingway doesn’t present any characters who believe in the war).
Henry explains this deterioration of will on page 249: “If people bring so much courage to this world the world has to kill them to break them, so of course it kills them. 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. If you are none of these you can be sure it will kill you too but there will be no special hurry.” Henry believes that people aren’t in control of their future, but rather they are subject to destructive forces in the world, such as the war. He believes that the war will kill everyone mentally, if not physically, by slowly breaking them down so they lose faith. Hemingway certainly shows a very new perspective on the war by describing this emotional pain and how it affects and is affected by the war—this is one reason this book is such a unique description of the war.

LOSS OF FAITH – Perhaps one of the main themes in this book is the loss of faith: throughout the book, the loss of religious faith also parallels the loss of faith and spirit that Italy will win the war. On the front, the priest is mocked because he loves God and most of the soldiers are atheists—as a major explains: “all thinking men are atheists.” The priest explains to Henry that where he comes from it is understood that a man may love God, but Henry replies that he is unable to love God and is even afraid of him at times. Henry tries praying throughout the book, but it never seems to work.
One conversation with Count Greffi (page 263) describes very well Henry’s loss of religious faith:

Count Greffi: “I had always expected to become devout. All my family died very devout. But somehow it does not come … Perhaps I have outlived my religious feeling.”

Henry: “My own comes only at night”

Count Greffi: “Then too you are in love. Do not forget that is a religious feeling.”

So Henry’s religion lives only in the form of his love for Catherine. However, with Catherine dies all of Henry’s religious faith. He feels guilty, as if he should be religious, saying things like he should’ve gotten the baby baptized even though he had no faith and trying and to pray, but he doesn’t really believe that it will work because he has no faith. Henry isn’t the only one who loses his faith: Catherine also says Henry is her religion, and when asked she answers she has no religion. Furthermore, Henry loses faith not only in religion, but also in other things: as he says in the novel, he doesn’t believe in anything sacred anymore, like the priest, or anything glorious, like Etorre—he doesn’t believe in anything but his love with Catherine. (This loss of faith actually resembles Hemingway’s real loss of faith—throughout his life, he became more and more hostile towards organized religion, just as Henry becomes more and more hopeless.)
As Henry loses faith in God and religion, he also loses faith in Italy and the war, resulting ultimately in his desertion from the army. At the beginning of the book, Henry is optimistic about the war, feeling that the Austrians would surely pull out and the Italians would win. When he returns from Milan, though, and is separated from Catherine, he has a completely different perspective. Everyone hates the war and feels defeated, whereas they know the Austrians would be feeling exactly opposite so there wasn’t any chance of them surrendering, and Italy would surely lose. Then they are forced to retreat, and all Henry sees is disarray—later, Aymo is shot, not by Germans or Austrians, but by frightened Italians! Henry sees now that the reason Germany was winning the war was because of Italy’s poor organization and fright. Finally, when Henry sees the Battle Police shooting Italian officers for no reason other than suspicion and pride, he loses all faith in Italy and runs off, knowing that the war was over for him.

THE INEVITABLE AND RANDOM FORCES OF NATURE – In the novel, Henry and Catherine feel that they have taken their destiny into their own hands: they ran from their duties in the army and escaped to Switzerland, where they live an ideal and isolated life together. However, this life doesn’t last long before they are reminded of the harsh reality in which they live. They manage to distance themselves as much from the war as they can, saying things like: “You didn’t desert from the army. It was just the Italian army.” This statement is ridiculous because, Italian army or not, he still deserted. They are quickly pulled back to reality when Catherine begins her struggle against death, and eventually dies. This shows that, no matter how innocent, you are subject to forces beyond your control because nature doesn’t care who you are—it’s all random (just as Henry said about the world breaking you, and killing you if it had to). There was nothing Henry or Catherine could do to prevent this—nature is all-powerful and cannot be stopped. The symbol of rain plays into this as well: the rain symbolizes negative turns in the plot, and it is used because nothing can stop it (if it’s going to rain today, then it’s going to rain today). Even after Catherine dies, it continues to rain, which also brings in the idea that life goes on (Henry picks up that idea because instead of lingering around Catherine, he collects himself and walks back to his hotel).
One other example where we see random selection is when Henry is wounded in battle. True, his knee is badly damaged, but the man next to Henry was actually killed. What was it that let Henry survive but not the man next to him? It’s nothing more than random selection by forces of nature which will all take their toll eventually, because even if you survive the war and live to be old and healthy, you’ll die in the end anyway (as Count Greffi is ready to meet his fate). As the Captain told Henry upon his return to the front: “We’re cooked! Everybody’s cooked!” And in the end, we all are cooked—the ones who win is just the last to realize it.

LOVE – There are two main ideas dealing with love in this novel: first, the importance of love, and second, that love goes hand-in-hand with loneliness. The importance of love is first discussed in a conversation with the priest at the end of Book I when the priest explains to Henry that you can’t be happy unless you love, and you can’t know happiness until you truly have it. At this point, Henry openly admits that he doesn’t love anything (page 72). However, this view quickly changes as Henry finds solace in Catherine and finally achieves happiness. Together, they are able to overcome hardships he encounters during the war, including a knee injury, and they build a whole life together in which they spend all their time content simply being with the other. Toward the end of the book, in his conversation with Count Greffi (page 262), Henry says that what he valued most in the world was the one he loved, showing that love had transformed his life and was the most important thing in it.
When Catherine and Henry are together, they often want to feel isolated and away from others. For example, when they go to the race track in Book II Catherine wants to go outside because there are too many other people inside, and when they are in Switzerland they try to be alone whether in the country or in a large town. Part of the reason for this is that prior to being together, both of them were lonely: Henry was an American serving the Italian army and Catherine was a British nurse serving in Italy who had recently lost her fiancé. In each other they found comfort and a relief from loneliness, so they wanted to be alone together to escape outside problems and be happy. As Henry ponders on page 229: “We could feel alone when we were together, alone against the others … but we were never lonely and never afraid when we were together.” So they could never be alone when they were together, but their connection works the other way too: they were always lonely when they were apart, no matter who they were with. So even when Henry was reunited with the priest and Rinaldi and his other friends at the front, all he could do was lay in bed thinking of Catherine because he was lonely without her (so when she dies in the end of the book, Henry is destined to be lonely unless he meets another girl).

APPEARANCE VS. REALITY - Lt. Henry and Catherine continuously live in an illusionary world. Even the mere foundations of their relationship are based upon fallacies. Against the grim backdrop of war, Lt. Henry sees Catherine to distract him (26), whereas Catherine is searching for solace after the death of her fiancée. Lt. Henry and Catherine make false love promises (30, 105) throughout the novel. It seems as if they want the other to feel like the relationship is significant, however, their relationship is just a fantasy. The boredom in Lt. Henry and Catherine’s relationship is especially depicted in Switzerland. They constantly attempt to ameliorate through changing their physical appearance (292, 298) and dreams of various vacations (295). To appear to have a more legitimate relationship, Catherine tells her hairdresser she has more children (293) and tells the doctor she’s married to Lt. Henry (294). In conclusion, Lt. Henry and Catherine are constantly trying to appear as if they are a real, genuine couple, but in reality, their relationship is a mere illusion.

ISOLATION - Lt. Henry and Catherine are always isolated from reality, whether they are in Lt. Henry’s hospital room (106, 114, etc) or dreaming of a perfect life together ( 115). In fact, they continuously seek isolation so that others don’t see the fallacies of their relationship. For example, they meet primarily during the night (108) in Lt. Henry’s isolated room and feel uncomfortable in large crowds (131). This fear of showing their relationship to others is based upon the illusion of their relationship. Instead of allowing others to see this illusion, they remain contained and isolated so that they can sustain a semblance of compatibility. However, in retaliation to their isolation, Ferguson tries to separate them (110) which doesn’t work. And so, although some try to separate Lt. Henry and Catherine, they choose to constantly be together and prefer to be alone so the illusion of their relationship can be maintained.

Symbols

RAIN – Hemingway uses rain to symbolize loss or the coming of bad things to the narrator’s life. Some times when rain is present when Henry has to leave Catherine and return to the front, during the tragic retreat (page 188), when Henry’s car breaks down during the retreat (page 195), when they are captured by the Battle Police and he is driven to desert (page 222), and when Catherine gets sick and dies (page 332). In all of these instances, the plot or Henry’s feelings take a turn for the worse. Early in the book, when they are lying in bed together in Milan, Catherine tells Henry that she’s scared of the rain. Though they both enjoy walking in it, she says it’s “very hard on loving” (page 126). This statement is certainly true as every time it rains, their relationship dies or weakens somehow, whether he is sent back to the front or whether she lies sick in a hospital. This statement also turns out to be foreshadowing, as their true love is broken up by Catherine’s death while it is raining outside. It is significant that Hemingway chose rain because it is a force of nature that we cannot stop, as he tries to tell us that fate is something we cannot stop. This also brings up the idea that there are some things in the world that we can’t change or control, but no matter what life goes on.

CATHERINE’S DEATH – Catherine’s struggle with death definitely represents the innocent people who were caught up in a struggle beyond their control. Historically speaking, the people of a country don’t declare a war—the leaders and diplomats of that country do. However, it’s not the leaders and diplomats who are fighting the war—it’s the people. So World War I was fought by innocent soldiers who weren’t responsible for starting it and innocent people living in the countryside where it was fought were also caught up in the war. So ending the war (and starting it in the first place) is beyond the control of any single innocent person involved, because one person can’t end a war (unless he or she is the leader of one of the warring parties). The same struggle can be seen in Catherine—she is fighting forces of nature that she cannot control, and she is completely innocent, just a random person that happened to be caught up in a medical crisis. This brings up the idea, once again, that there are some things beyond our control. Furthermore, Catherine’s death could also symbolize the harsh reality in which we live and the idea that no matter how far you run and distance yourself, you can never completely escape all your problems or the world will bring you back. It shows a harsh reality because, as Henry said in the book, both the brave and the innocent are killed impartially. It shows that you can’t run because Henry and Catherine ran off to their ideal world where nothing was wrong until reality reminds them that they are in the real world by killing both Catherine and the baby.

THE PRIEST - The Priest can be seen as a constant in a perpetually changing world. During war, everything is always changing- one side is winning, then losing, the front is shifting, troops are being reassigned, etc. Henry, Catherine, Rinaldi, and all the other soldiers are caught up in that change, but the Priest, no matter what, holds a steadfast devotion to God. Unaffected by their mocking, the Priest defends his position that he has always and will always love God and defends the same devotion to his Abruzzi, where this view is understood. Throughout the book, Henry loses faith and doesn't know quite what to believe, but the Priest represents what Henry is always looking for- something to hold on to. Henry later finds his constant in Catherine whom he holds onto for as long as he can.

CATHERINE'S HAIR - Catherine's hair also has some significance to the appearance vs. reality theme. Henry constantly compliments Catherine's hair; in fact, it's one of the first things he notices about her (18). Moreover, when Henry describes Catherine taking the pins of of her hair and it as "it would all come down and she would drop her head and we would both be inside of it, and it was the feeling of inside a tent or behind falls" (114), I think it could symbolize his feeling of isolation with Catherine. This feeling deepens that sense of distraction Henry has when he's with Catherine.

ALCOHOL - Alcohol serves as a symbol in this novel because it allows the characters to become more carefree and lighthearted. It also serves as another distraction from the war. But also, there’s more significance to alcohol in this novel because of Hemingway’s notorious alcohol consumption. He moved to Europe during the 1920s/ Prohibition era in the United States (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ernest_ Hemingway#World_War_I), arguably so that he could consume alcohol freely. And so, with the depiction of alcohol as a mean of escape in this novel, Hemingway portrays a pro-European, pro-drinking stance – almost in retaliation to the Prohibition.

MASCULINITY - Hemingway portrays stereotypical women: either docile and domestic or shrewd and severe. Catherine Barkley is depicted as very submissive to Henry's needs and desires. For example, upon first meeting Henry, she declined a kiss. However, when he goaded her for one, she complied after asking "Do you want it very much?" (32). Also, Catherine even claims, “There isn’t any me anymore. Just what you want” (106) to Lt. Henry.
Whereas Catherine is depicted as very docile, compliant, and vulnerable, Miss Van Campen is illustrated as the complete opposite. Oddly enough, Catherine’s beauty – her hair and height in particular – are admired greatly by Lt. Henry (18), however, Miss Van Campen’s physical features are never mentioned. However, her characteristics include being “neatly suspicious and too good for her position” (86). Perhaps Hemingway wanted readers to imagine her as severe as possible. In addition, she’s continuously shown as almost nefarious – for the sole fact that she doesn’t appreciate Lt. Henry’s alcohol consumption.
In conclusion, Hemingway depicts women as two extremes: complacent like Catherine or strict like Miss Van Campen. Were Hemingway’s motives for illustrating women so stereotypical in order to ignore the women’s rights movements throughout Europe and the United States?