Rookstool 1

Amber Rookstool
Valerie Cagle
English Academy
26 April 2016
Farewell will never be Final
Ernest Hemingway is well known for his novel, A Farewell to Arms, a book set during
World War I. The Structure of his work resembles a tragic play in the five book set up and his use
of two different climaxes, turning points where his protagonist attempts to leave his pain behind
and show readers despite the natural tendency to rid ourselves of pain, we can never truly sever
ourselves from it.
Hemingway, first, sets up his novel to replicate the form of a tragic play. The first book
introduces the characters and the first main conflictthe pains of war. The second book is the
rising action, elaboration on the scars war leaves on the protagonist and introduces a love aspect,
focusing on love as a means to escape pains of war. The third part returns to the war aspect and
reveals changes in Henrys and other soldiers views of war. This also becomes the first climax
when Henry realizes his only escape from war pains is to abandon it in symbolic baptism. The
fourth book is the falling action and shows the result of Henry abandoning war. It also moves to
a focus on the second conflictlove. In the final book, Hemingway concludes his novel with a
goodbye to love, a second climax because it resolves the second conflict.
Henry first says goodbye to war because he is on a journey for truth, one he does not find
in war. But war leaves scars and Henry cannot escape it: first, because when he intermingles the
ideas of love and war, he cannot say goodbye to one without the other therefore there are
remnants of war as he focuses on love; second, Hemingway notes as much as we may try our

Rookstool 2

pains and struggles in life will always remain with us. When Henry takes his leap into the river,
he goes through a symbolic baptism, as water is often a symbol of rebirth. In Hemingways case,
rain/water means death, so death to the war conflict in Henry. We can also prove this transition if
we look at the symbol of the military cap. Henry says he felt like a stranger in civilian clothes,
therefore he identifies with his military uniform. Despite the resolution of finally saying
goodbye, Henry is incapable of completely severing ties. During the war, Henry is injured and
has knee surgery. The experience left a literal scar on his knee as well as a figurative wound in
his mind.
The novel then transitions to Henrys civilian life where he attempts to devote his life to
love, but love becomes a conflict. Love is a conflict because Henry was not supposed to fall in
love with Catherine. They were only supposed to play a game like bridge. Because his love for
Catherine was a continuation from war, Henry had to say goodbye to love as well. He had to try
to rid himself from as many memories of war as possible. Catherine and the baby die so that
Hemingway could shoe the emotional scars love leaves on a man. Love is os powerful it makes
an existentialist religious. Catherine dies and Henry says goodbye to love. This is the second
climax because it resolves Henrys conflict of love.
Through both climaxes, Hemingway demonstrates the scars, wounds love and war leave
on a person. He shows that no matter how much man tries to say goodbye to past pains, it is
impossible to leave behind mental scars. This is so important to Hemingway that he created two
climaxes to prove we change because of our experiences and these changes can never be
removed. Like he says, The world breaks everyone and afterward many are strong at the broken
places.