A Farewell To Arms By Ernest Hemingway :: essays research papers

A Farewell to Arms Essay Many novels use contrast images of the land or surroundings to sum to the central meaning of the work. In Ernest Hemingways A Farewell to Arms the foil images of Italy and Switzerland help shape the theme of the book which is the ruthlessness of war and what it does to people. The descriptions of the dickens countries, Italy and Switzerland, are greatly different and represent two types of empowers. On one hand, Italy is a site of cruelty and death. Here is where all of the war and fighting takes place throughout the novel. The front and plains in Italy are described to be where all the death and disaster happen to the armies and the volunteers. Henry and the separate men even were maimed with not even being in battle. They were just eating some cheese and drinking some wine when they were bombed. Here many of the people helpless hope and moral because of the death surrounding them. Rinaldi even told Henry that this war is killing me, I am very depres sed by it. A major even told Henry It has been bad. You couldnt believe how bad its been. Ive often thought you (Henry) were lucky to be hit when you were. This shows how death and the war change everyone making them dejected and downhearted. It got so bad Henry even decided to escape from the Italian army and leave the front to escape to Switzerland. On the other hand, Switzerland is a place of peace and hope because no fighting took place here. Switzerland was neutral during the war so it was a perfect place to escape the cruelty of war. In this land of mountains is where the Priests homeland was. The Priest symbolized morals and goodness, so that is why its a wonderful place for people to detect hope and confidence of survival. This is a good reason why Catherine and Henry decided to start their new life in the comfort of Switzerland. They knew there that them and the cross would be safe from the disasters related to the war. These contrast descriptions of the two countries a nd their landforms form one of the themes of the novel. The descriptions of the plains and the front in Italy demonstrate how cruel a war can be and how it affects all the people around it.