Stylistic Analysis of a Passage from Hemingway's "A Farewell to Arms"

Research Paper (undergraduate) from the year 2014 in the subject English Language and Literature Studies - Literature, grade: B, Université Toulouse II - Le Mirail (English Department), course: English Studies: Literature., language: English, abstract: I will begin my commentary with Hemingway¿s words ¿A writer¿s job is to tell the truth¿ ¿ Ernest Hemingway. Considering this quote we may come to the conclusion that it is a writer¿s job to convey some sort of truth or accuracy to the reader. Hemingway successfully shows the truth of his words his anti-war novel, A Farewell to Arms, through the setting and characterization in the novel. It is also shown in the novel, themes and reoccurring symbol throughout the novel. This novel takes place during a time of war WW1 and shows what war is like, realistically. For a war novel, there is not a lot of fighting but instead more of getting from one place to another and the situations that occur in the interim. This portrays a truth to the reader because it shows how war is in reality and that it is not all death and destruction. Hemingway expresses the emotions of the characters accurately for time of war and conditions or situations the characters are put into. The author shows us how the characters interact with each other and how they deal with the war surrounding them.

In the following commentary I will first briefly discuss Hemingway¿s style in general, then I will comment on the stream of consciousness and other writing techniques used in the text under study and from here on I will dwell on symbolism in Hemingway¿s novel A Farewell to Arms and finally I will discuss the complexity of Catherine¿s character in the text and throughout the novel.

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Typical to its style Hemingway uses short sentences and dialogs to reveal the end of the novel. He does not describe the protagonist feelings neither says how he feels. Hemingway doesn¿t use a lot of adjectives, adverbs and epithets to describe feelings and emotions instead he draws a picture of Henry in the restaurant while he eats his supper from l.1-25, followed by a quick dialogue between Henry and the nurse followed by another stream of consciousness. The writer avoids describing emotions and thoughts. His elegant writing is almost poetic and based on facts. Hemingway also this technique with regularity and uses the interior monologue of a character to convey information, and thus the reader is allowed a more fluid picture of the true thoughts of the character, in this case, Lieutenant Frederick Henry.