In Ernest Hemingway's A Farewell to Arms, love and drunkenness are closely linked to the even grander theme of escape. Although escapism is a larger driving force, it exists in connection with these other themes. This complex relationship is seen not only in Hemingway's use of action and language, but also in the minds and philosophies of many of the main characters. Flight seems a natural concern in wartime. Hemingway makes this the founding principle of such a situation and focuses on what has escaped rather than on the skeleton of a war fought in the meantime. Time and again, love and intoxication appear in this capacity. Say no to plagiarism. Get a tailor-made essay on “Why Violent Video Games Should Not Be Banned”? Get the original essay. Hemingway creates a solid foundation for this relationship in the action of the novel. By presenting the characters facing a universally threatening situation, there is naturally a tone of survival to its characters' attitude toward war. Escape as a driving theme is the product of this subtle tone. War is avoided in conversation, in thought, and ultimately in participation when Henry and Catherine abandon their roles in its development. Both of these characters have also left their home countries, and Henry notably has several scenes of physical escape in the story. It is particularly significant that he loses his leave in Milan, because he is in fact accused of having deliberately used alcoholism to flee the front. (144) But beneath the larger and more obvious escapist events of the novel, love and intoxication become the daily instruments of avoidance. It is crucial that both exist simultaneously for Henry to survive this war. Drunkenness and love have similar characteristics in the novel. Henry's thought that "the thing to do was to be calm and not get shot or captured" (212) is representative of the motivation behind all of these characters' hedonism and escapism. They patiently escape war, every day, in subtle ways. These avoidance methods involve focusing on units of eroticism. Hemingway weaves these sensual moments into what Professor Fisher calls a “narrative of omission.” This style itself is symbolic of escape. The author's decidedly modernist goal of representing complete moments of experience leads him to distract the reader's attention from the war. The story is told in a series of erotic moments, all avoiding the horrific reality of war which should be more central. These moments are particularly subtle when rendered “calm” in forms of love and intoxication. The idea that these are calm sensations is unique to Hemingway and unique to the context of the novel. In the opening pages, Henry is already “[sitting] with a friend and two drinks” (6), an arrangement in which he is found too often to be called a mere social ritual. Rinaldi would later classify this systemic alcohol-induced numbness as "day-by-day self-destruction." (172) It is extremely important to note that the intoxication in this novel includes the consumption of food. Hemingway's descriptions of eating are strangely sensual, almost intoxicating in their plodding hedonism. He recounts the scene of a group of men eating pasta without forks: I put it in my mouth, sucked and broke the ends, chewed, then took a bite of cheese, I chewed, then I drank some wine. .They were all eating, their chins above their pelvis, their heads back, sucking in their extremities... Something landed outside that shook the earth. (54)InIn this case, men experience a specific erotic sensation with actually war raging in the background. A less obvious juxtaposition of this nature can be found in an interaction between Henry and Rinaldi. Barely reunited, the two men have a relationship personal enough to qualify as erotic, with the nicknames "baby", and even Rinaldi's demand to "kiss me once and tell me you're not serious ." Eroticism parallels the consumption of alcohol, justified by Rinaldi with "this war is terrible... Come on. We'll both get drunk and merry... then we'll feel good. successful escape, because these two men escape by loving each other and getting drunk. Through his feelings for Catherine, Henry comes to understand the importance and difficulty of truly escaping pain. The need to avoid being an accepted state, lovers always are. escape to each other and escape together. This activity determines their relationship, from start to finish. The reader is introduced to Miss Barkley when Henry first hears about her from Rinaldi. It is immediately, although subtly, associated with escapism in the language of this text. moment when Rinaldi ends his speculation that "Every week someone is injured by fragments of rock... Next week the war begins again", with "Do you think I would do well to marry Miss Barkley after the war, of course?", "Catherine is established as a way out of horror and atrocity When Henry visits her alone for the first time, the head nurse has to remind her that “there is. has a war, you know,” only to “[say] that I knew.” (23) This also establishes the nature of their relationship very early in the novel, both for Henry and for the reader. he even responds to Catherine's hope that "we get along well" with "yes,... And we escaped the war (26) We are in the early stages of their love story, while". their interaction still falls into the category of drunkenness. Henry does not yet realize that this is not enough. What is at first an indulgent escape from reality turns into a more serious love affair as the war wears on. brings the characters closer and closer. Initially, Henry misdiagnoses his relationship with Catherine as simply "better than going to the officers' house every night where the girls climb all over you..."(30) At this point, he did not realized the capacity of love to escape the greatest dilemma that presents itself. He has not yet understood the powerful role that Catherine already plays in his war experience. It is only when she is not there one night to ensure this necessary escape that he understands that he "had taken Catherine's visit very lightly."(40) He now sees that his "nights where the room was spinning... where you knew that That was all there was, and the strange excitement of waking up not knowing who it was, and the world unreal in the dark and so exciting that you have to start again without knowing it and without caring in the night, sure that it was all and everything. and all this without caring" (13) were inadequate. Simple drunkenness is not enough when there is not also love. Henry survives the war understanding the need for something worth fighting for. escape and having the chance to find it in Catherine The escape not only motivates the love story, but also describes its nature. When they end up in the American hospital in Milan, Catherine sneaks in every night. Henry's room. This act in itself is a small escape In the details of their interaction, these minor examples of escape are common. Right away, Henry asks "Is there nowhere we can. go?.