Ernest Hemingway's protagonist, Frédéric Henry, says A Farewell to Arms with a double meaning. The title of the novel is a play on words which initially reflects Frederick's desertion from the war. His second farewell is in the arms of his beloved, Catherine Barkley, after she died in childbirth. Wandering stoically through life, in search of a natural progression, Frédéric lets himself be led by one circumstance to another. At the beginning, Frédéric expounds the hedonistic aspirations of a college fraternity pledge, motivated only by drink and sex. His selfish motives lead him to court Catherine and they fall in love. He displays apathy and has no passion or conviction until accidental attraction. The relationship makes him mature. This becomes his salvation. This gives purpose to his detached life. How and why we fall in love is random, complicated and unpredictable. However we arrive at it, love is such an important experience that, as the poet Lord Alfred Tennyson wrote: “It is better to have loved and lost / Than never to have loved at all” ( lines 15-16). Frédéric begins the story as a naive young man and emerges filled with sorrow, but matures after experiencing a pious and deeper love. Frédéric is an American who joined the Italian forces fighting in World War I. He is a lieutenant assigned to an ambulance unit. His involvement in the war is like a surreal experience. He tells himself that war is “no more dangerous for me than war in a film” (37). He shows his ignorance by saying, "Well, I knew I wouldn't be killed, not in this war, it had nothing to do with me" (37). Alcohol and women are his coping mechanisms. He chooses to spend his free time drinking and with whores, rather than going to peaceful Abruzzo as suggested...... middle of paper ......pr. 2014. Hemingway, Ernest. A farewell to arms. 1929. New York: Scribner's, 1957. Kleinman, Craig. “Dirty tricks and wordy jokes: the politics of remembrance in “A Farewell to Arms.” » The Hemingway Review 15.1 (1995): 54+. Literary Resource Center. Internet. April 16, 2014. LitCharts Publishers. "LitChart on A Farewell to Arms." LitCharts.com. LitCharts LLC.2014. Internet. April 16, 2014. “The structures of fiction”. Ernest Hemingway, Rev. ed. Earl Rovit and Gerry Brenner. Boston: Twayne Publishers, 1986. 62-89. Twayne American Author Series 41. Twayne Authors on GVRL. Internet. April 16, 2014.Spanier, Sandra Whipple. “Catherine Barkley and the Hemingway Code: Ritual and Survival.” In Bloom, Harold, ed. A Farewell to Arms by Ernest Hemingway. New York: Chelsea House, 1987: 131-148. VCCS LitOnline. Web April 16. 2014. .