Yourlastname 1 Student Name Professor Name Subject Religion 29 September 2012 How Religion is Shown through the Characters

in A Farewell to Arms Once the novel A Farewell to Arms by Ernest Hemingway is read, the reader may firmly assert that it is about the war and the love relations in war times, but it is just the top of the iceberg. The big and quite hidden message is evident to the sensitive reader only. It is prompted by the title itself that the war especially for somebody elses goals is a big Evil and should be abandoned. This pacifistic direction has been chosen by the main character after steep life turns he passed. So the war in the novel should be understood in a broader sense, which comprises the war between nations and the struggle of Evil and Good, so it depends on the human being what to choose. To understand the authors spiritual message I will analyze each character and ideas the author wanted to develop, portraying each character. The analysis will group the characters with same idealistic outlook and compare with contrasting ones. When the characters are put into abnormal conditions like war, diseases and deaths, their internal beings are revealed. All characters except the one are sketched statically; meanwhile the development of the inner being of Frederic strings the novel. It contradicts, coincides or sympathizes the Christian positions of people from his environment. And the war becomes the background that reveals Frederics movement from an atheist to a human, seeking the spiritual peace.

Yourlastname 2 The priest is the only character shown in the novel with a firm Christian position; it is not only his occupation, but actually the way of living and feeling. Regular religious and sexual baitings executed by the officers do not anyhow change his behaviour, not speaking about his lofty peaceful life in war times. Hemingway notes briskly the natural reaction of a young priest, who just smiled and blushed and shook his head (7). The priest does not debate on politics, religion and sex subjects, he just calmly airs his position, without any slight attempt to re-assure or to re-direct the officers towards the Christian bosom, especially when the major part of the officers pleaded to be atheists. All thinking men are atheists, the major said (Hemingway 8). Surgeon Rinaldi is also a brutal realist, nihilist, cynic. When badly drunk, he blames Saint Paul in establishing the church rules. He says that he loves his job, women and alcohol, and does not have faith in better. Youre dry and youre empty and theres nothing else. Theres nothing else I tell you. Not a damned thing. I know, when I stop working (Hemingway 185). At the same time he is thinking about non-material forces directing the course of a real life, especially now, when he is seriously ill. We never get anything. We are born with all we have and we never learn. We never get anything new. We all start complete (Hemingway 181). When at war, people behave instinctively, protecting their bodies and killing enemies easily without any kind of remorse when killing and will not have it either in future. Ill say, Bless me, father, I killed a sergeant. They all laughed (Hemingway 222). There is nothing sacred to soldiers, neither the confession sacrament nor the life of a human. The reader should perceive that the war, as an extreme life point, exposes the true inner essence of a human. The reader meets an elegant and socialized count Greffi in Book 4. Being lucky enough and having no difficulties throughout his life, he does not have the sincere faith in God. The count even admits that the Christian devotion might be an inherited merit I had always

Yourlastname 3 expected to become devout. All my family died very devout. But somehow it does not come (Hemingway 281). One should even note that religion is a kind of a standard ritual for him, nothing sacred, just the combination of actions and rules. So he asks Frederic for something which is very intimate and sincere to any devout man, but the count cannot grasp this feeling and just follows the religious procedure. And if you ever become devout pray for me if I am dead. I am asking several of my friends to do that (Hemingway 280). Several times Hemingway briskly notes that Mrs. Barkley is far from being religious, but she loves a man, and she will do everything she can to protect him and finally to make him happy. Catherine has some subconscious, intuitive and nave confidence in some other forces that can protect her fortune and temporary happiness. And therefore she presents Frederic with the Saint Anthonys image. Church rules are of no importance to her, so civil marriage is almost a norm for her. Her feelings, her love and the life of the dearest man are the only things that matter. On the contrary, mechanic Passini is a religious man, he follows heartily the church canons and recommendations on how to treat the images of saints, he believes in God and his assistance. And his last words are towards God Dio te salve, Maria. Dio te salve, Maria. Oh Jesus shoot me Christ shoot me (Hemingway 58). The reader meets Frederic living in a world without God, though he has had some inner traction to the priest, to Abruzzi, to something fair. On the first pages of the novel he symbolically prefers Abruzzi, the gorgeously peaceful place, to the smoke of cafs and nights when the room whirled and the world all unreal in the dark and so exciting that you must resume again unknowing and not caring in the night, sure that this was all and all and all and not caring (Hemingway 13). He thinks about God only at nights, he is afraid of this rock that

Yourlastname 4 punishes, and the priest wishes Mr.Henry loved the God instead of being afraid of him. The military confessor assures Frederic that he will meet real love. Indeed, the love is a basic Christian feeling, never experienced be Frederic before. So Hemingway gives a chance to his character to experience it through the love to a woman. Count Greffi remarks on the matter: You are in love. Do not forget that is a religious feeling (Hemingway 281). On the last pages of the novel the situation changes cardinally. When a newborn is dead and the woman he loves is at a point to leave this life, Frederic is praying for a miracle, asking God to save Catherine. I could not think. I knew she was going to die and I prayed that she would not. Dont let her die. Oh, God, please dont let her die. Ill do anything for you if you wont let her die., Please, please, please dear God, dont let her die. Dear God, dont let her die. Please, please, please dont let her die. God please make her not die (Hemingway 353). The reader feels his animal fear, emotional confusion mixed with hope. In this minutes Frederic sincerely believes in some force that can save or punish. Finally, Hemingway leaves to his readers to think of further Frederics progress in searches of the rock nature explanations, development of his inner axis. Being the autobiographical to some extent the novel expands the meaning of the spiritual background of the real life. Hemingway draws the love story, when passion turns into a strong feeling, it adheres special dynamism, extremality and tensity because of the war times. Hemingway puts his characters into different situations, tests the inner axis of a human. The author supposes that the search of the spiritual values should obligatory start when a man faces the obstacles, responsibilities, necessity to choose, losses, diseases, deaths. I should add that the religious outlook also prompts that the life of the body is just the first stage, and the life of a sole will be follow.

Yourlastname 5 Throughout the novel the reader meet atheists, religious and people in search of their religion, gets to know about their thoughts on divine creation and development of the world. So the religious background is evidently present in the novel A Farewell to Arms by E.Hemingway.

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Works Cited Hemingway, Ernest. A Farewell to Arms. New York: Charles Scribners Sons, 1929. Print.