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The theme of war is one of the
main themes in Ernest Hemingway’s novel “Farewell to arms”. The war is shown
directly and we can sometimes be witnesses of those terrible events that took
place during the war. But I can also tell, that these descriptions are far less
dreadful and spine chilling than I have read in the books of other writers.
Maybe this is because the main hero isn’t fighting in the front line and we
don’t have to read about dead and malformed people. But also this book causes a
great influence on people, because the author has put a great effort to create
that atmosphere and to make his readers understand, how terrible, cruel and
senseless the war is.
To be quite
honest about it, I was sometimes very surprised about what happened behind the
front line – all those cafés, restaurants, hoarse racing and hotels and about
the social life. I wondered if they at least cared about what was happening and
what could happen within few days. And it also seemed somehow strange for me that
the relatives were sending money and best wishes to their sons and brothers and
husbands while they were eating, drinking and having fun. Of course, there were
also other kind of people who worked hard or fought and then the only way how
to forget all they have seen and experienced, was in all the above-mentioned
things.
Yet during all the time Ernest
Hemingway has written about, there is this belief and strong conviction in
everyone, that the war is senseless and there will be no victory no matter who
wins. Simple people talk about it and are not afraid to admit that they hate
everything that is happening. I think that the soldiers are more afraid to talk
about it or at least not so “loud”, because they are the ones who carry through
the orders. Also one of the drivers of the vans for injured says, that he
wouldn’t mind his nation to give up and to throw away the guns, because,
anyway, one side will have to do it sooner or later. In his opinion the enemy
will return to their country and leave everything as it was, when the war is
over. Henry, the main hero, also hated the war, but in the beginning he thought
that he couldn’t be killed in the war, at least not in this one, because he had
nothing common with it. He said that the war did not seem more terrible than in
the films he had seen.
Soldiers were afraid to meet
the enemy or to be captured, but there were also many terrible things happening
in their own side. For example, there was a case when all the soldiers who
refused to obey were put in a stripe and every tenth of them was shot. And the
thing they did didn’t cause such behaviour towards them only – also the members
of their families were guarded, nobody could come and visit them and the father
of one of the victims lost his rights to vote and the citizenship. The law does
not protect them any more and everyone can take what they want from this
family. This is the way to make men fight – they don’t want that something like
that happened to their families.
Nobody was fond of what they were doing and
many soldiers tried to escape. If they were lucky, they got some kind of
disease, some were happy when they were wounded, also despite the terrible pain
they could rest from the war. Some soldiers tried to hurt themselves to get
away, and that is also depicted in the episode when one of the soldiers hit his
head to be taken away.
In the book we could also see
the differences between the hospitals not far from the front line and those,
which are further away. In some hospitals there were many nurses and a very
good care, but when there is an offensive, the doctors, who are near, try to
save one soldier after another. There was also an episode, when Henry was hurt
in his legs and three doctors came to see him. From the first moment Henry
knew, that they were not good in their speciality, because they came all
together and asked questions to one another, trying to figure out, what to do.
Their final decision was that Henry had to wait for six months and then be
operated on. Then Henry called for a professional doctor and he could start the
recovery course the next day. All this shows, that many doctors are not skilful
enough and maybe many people died because of their poor knowledge.
In the war soldiers think a
lot and all their system of evaluation becomes different. For example, Henry
talks about his feelings, walking through the city. He says, that he cannot
feel any respect hearing such well-known and abstract phrases as “it can’t end
without consequences” and such words as “holiness”, “fame” and “victims”. These
words are said so often, but they have no sense, if they are used so much and
in such unsuitable situations. After hearing all those loud speeches and seeing
the posters on the walls, Henry thought that all the words were disgusting to
hear except only the names of the villages, some numbers and dates. Henry even
changed his opinion about people, who tried to stress their nationality by
saying “loud” words.
The most vivid description of
the war was when the back off started. It is horrible to imagine what all those
people thought while waiting on the road to get a few metres further and then
stopping again for a few hours. They could be also killed, as they were in the
open place and an easy target. This was a time of trouble and misruling, there was
a mess all around and no proper discipline. People were desperate and furious
about what was happening, and they blamed every higher ranked person. That is
why Henry had to be called by his name, not to show that he was a lieutenant.
The soldiers were very afraid and they shot everyone, who seemed mistrustful,
as it also happened with one of the drivers – Aimo. Soldiers, who tried to get
away with the common run of men, were very confident, that the war is
completely over and that they are going straight to their homes. They sang
songs, glorified peace and some of them even threw away their guns, to show
their attitude. But most of the people understood, that it cannot end in one
day, but they could do nothing about it, and that is why everyone was depressed,
tired and downhearted.
Henry and other people were
caught and condemned to death only because they were not together with their
comrades. The process, that can, I guess, be called a trial, was really cruel,
and nothing could be done to save those people. They were shot one after
another and the next one was being cross-questioned, while the previous was not
still shot.
After Henry managed to escape,
the story is about his way to find Ketrin, and it is more about their life and
relationship. One thing I noticed was the episode, when Henry entered the vine
shop and the owner of it pretended to be a big friend of his. I think, it shows
that in all times people are trying to gain profit even in the worst
situations. Also this man at the end of their talk offered Henry to buy false
documents, if he needed. Maybe he also believed in victory of his nation, but
it didn’t cause any trouble for making money.
And the other thing I noticed
was the atmosphere: when Henry got in the train, dressed in plain clothes, some
soldiers were not even looking at him, because they hated everyone, who was not
fighting. They thought, that every man, who was old enough and not too old, had
to go and help others to fight for the victory. I don’t think that was because
they were patriots, but because of that feeling “why am I doing it, but he is
not?”. Henry was also tired of the war and he understood them and didn’t blame
them for the hate they felt. When he and Ketrin were in the hotel near the
border of Switzerland, Henry felt, that the war is somewhere far away, and he
didn’t want to talk about it. I think that also for others war is such an event
that stays in their minds for years, and sometimes disturbs them during all
their lives. Henry didn’t have a feeling that everything is over – he felt like
a schoolboy, who has escaped from the lessons but is still thinking about what
is happening in the school.
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