A Farewell to Arms †Existentialism Essay

Ernest Hemingways A Farewell to Arms explores notions surrounding two slam and warfare. withal it is not a love story, and nor is it a war story. It is a combination of both that allows for Hemingway to discuss what he is truly enkindle in Existentialism. Existentialism is a philosophy that developed from the concept that at that place is no inherent meaning in disembodied spirit. However, we can gain meaning.A Farewell to Arms is an geographic expedition of this, but more than that, its an exploration of the reality of this in that meaning in life doesnt work forever, and when its g integrity, it disappears us with no logic and no hope, just no social occasionness. Hemingway uses his jock Frederic Henry to support his existentialist views. He does this, firstly by creating meaning in Frederics life. Hemingway creates Catherine for him. Their love is only a game at first, Frederic admits God knows he had not wanted to fall in love with anyone. However, it becomes so much more than that. Towards the end of the young, if Catherine isnt with him he hasnt a thing in the world. Hemingway makes a point of foreshadowing this inevitable occurrence early on, when we are privy to Fredericks thoughts as he contemplates that It was a long time since he had written to the States and he knew he should write but he had let it go so long that it was almost impossible to write now. Throughout the book, the tidy sum he associates with Rinaldi, the men in his regiment, everyone, they all disappear.Finally, hes leave with Catherine, and their unborn baby. Other than them, he has no one. If they were to leave, he would be leftover field alienated. Hemingway was not interested in the love story, or the war story. He was merely interested in communicating his views on the world to his readers. Predominantly, he was interested in communicating his views on existentialism. He was interested in what he considered to be reality. In reality, people die. In reality, our loved ones leave us, and in reality, when that happens there is no meaning, no logic and no hope.Hemingway demonstrates this done and through the climactic, yet painfully dismal ending to his piece. In bringing to the highest degree the possibility that Catherine, Frederics only meaning in life, could die, he creates a springboard for discussing his philosophical views through Frederic. This forces us, as an audition, to contemplate upon his contention That was what you did. You died. You did not know what it was about. You never had time to learn. They threw you in and told you the rules and the first time they caught you away base they killed youthey killed you in the end. You could count on that. Hemingway uses his protagonist to establish this, and through Frederics reaction to Catherines death, he reveals to us the truth deep down his philosophy. Its a point that is slowly built up to within A Farewell to Arms, but its one that hits Hemingways audience with a sounding re sonance. The stomach line to his novel conveys the perfect, dismal imagination of a man with aught left a man who has left the hospital and walked back to the hotel in the rain.Throughout the whole novel rain has symbolised loss and grief. It leaves a strong impression, making it the final last word of the novel, Frederic having now lost the last thing that made his life worthwhile. Hemingways entire novel is a lead up to this one point on existentialism. The world has no inherent meaning. We can create meaning within it, and any meaning that is within it has been created by us. However on the flip side of that, when the meaning that we have created is gone, there is nothing left for us to fall back on.When that meaning is gone, were left staring into an abyss. A Farewell to Arms is not a love story, and its not a war story either. Its a comment upon the actuality of, and the nature of, existentialism as a prevailing philosophy. By creating Frederic and the characters around him, Hemingway demonstrates the logic of this theory, and he shows how when a man loses everything that he has created himself, in his life, in the end there is no more meaning, there is no logic, no hope. In the end, there is really nothing left, but the rain. Kaitlin Cushing.