Benjamin Detiveaux

The Death of Love in A Farewell to Arms

In the article The Death of Love in A Farewell to Arms, William E. Cain explores the
relationship between the books two lovers. Frederic, the wounded ambulance driver, and
Catherine, the nurse. It is not a typical loving relationship that we see in contemporary romance,
where love wins out and showcases the virtue of selfless sacrifice.
One of the key notes that Cain makes in his article is that our hero in A Farewell to Arms,
Frederic, is not Hemingway. Despite the authors use of the first person narrative, and the heavily
autobiographic feel of the book, our narrator is not Hemingway telling their story and using
Frederic as a mouthpiece. Frederic exists separate from the author, and he is his own man that, as
Cain says, tells a story that he already has lived through. He knows the ending, and his
knowledge of it informs every moment of his story (Page 376).
It is this narrative voice that, Cain argues, give an important center to the story. As it is
Frederic who is narrating the story, one must be sure not to make the mistake that they are taking
what he says as Hemingways life story. Nor should they be too eager to attribute Frederics
characteristics (similar though they may be) to Hemingway, or vice versa.
Despite occurring in the midst of one of humanitys most brutal wars, it is not the war
that causes the destruction of Catherine and Frederics love. The war pains both of them (killing
Catherines first love and hospitalizing Frederic) but it is also what causes them to meet. The true
architect of f, is the physical consummation of their relationship. This factor is what leads to
Catherines pregnancy and to her death and that of the baby childbirth (379).

Therefore, Cain argues, that the great calamity that befalls our heroes in A Farewell to
Arms is not war or death (although both make their appearances). The calamity is instead love, a
and more specifically, the act of lovemaking. Had the mortar strike that injured Frederic been
shifted and he ended up more like Hemingways protagonist from The Sun Also Rises, Jake
Barnes (that is, impotent), then his love may have been saved.
The narrator that tells the story of A Farewell to Arms is one that is consumed by an
emptiness. So much so that he must wonder if loving Catherine had been a wise move. Cain
remarks that, From loving Catherine, Frederic gained something wonderful, and it was
ruthlessly taken away. His life was not empty before, for Before her he was competent as he
was, doing his duty and not loving anyone. But by loving Catherine, the result is that she died
and he was ruined (381).
Which, perhaps, is even ironic. Ruination is what the pregnant Catherine expresses as
her desire, and Frederic embraces it, Cain says. During a conversation between the two,
Catherine mentions that, once the child is borne, shell lose the weight and be:
exciting to you and you'll fall in love with me all over again."
"Hell," I said. "I love you enough now. What do you want to do? Ruin me?"
"Yes, I want to ruin you."
"Good," I said, "that's what I want too."
This destruction of their love could not be done without Catherines death. Had the baby
died, at birth or otherwise, it would have been painful to the lovers and to us, but this man and

woman would have remained as one, and perhaps it would have been for the best. The death of
the child may even have eliminated a source of division that Catherine worries about (382).
While his love affair with Catherine brought Frederic peace from the war, it is only a
brief respite. Cain mentions that Hemingway suggests that Frederics story is not a tale of
earning wisdom, instead it is a retelling a ecstatic experience, and it has taught him [Frederic]
nothing. He has no life now, and there is no indication that he desires one.
Of particular interest in the article is a remark Cain makes about the male protagonist
found throughout Hemingways stories. Cain mentions that many critics see Catherines words of
submissiveness as a view of women that Hemingway advocates. However, Cain argues,
Hemingway is actually making the opposite argument and that the desperation and acute
neediness are in his mennot in his women. He continues throughout the article to show
Frederics obsession with his love affair with Catherine. Once she is gone, he is emotionally
dead but alive, stuck in a pointless darkness.
This neediness that Frederic shows hints at more than a desperate-type of love. While
Cain makes a strong argument towards Frederics neediness and obsession, he falls short of
suggesting it infects the affair itself. Which, I would argue, it does. Their love is toxic, and by
consummating it, it endangers their existence.
Take, for starters, the priests words on love. What you tell me about in the nights. That
is not love. That is only passion and list. When you love you wish to do things for. You wish to
sacrifice for. You wish to serve. Like the excessively quoted Corinthians verse, love is kind and
selfless. However, Frederics love to Catherine is not selfless and sacrificial, it is selfish, and he

fears for it, even asking for assurance from Catherine You wont leave me for someone else
(123)?
Their child has no place in this relationship either. At the end of the novel, when the baby
is stillborn and it seems that Catherine may follow the child in death, Frederic thinks Dont let
her die. You took the baby but dont let her die. That was all right but dont let her die (353).
Even, when it appears the boy may live, Frederic thinks that the boy did not seem to have
anything to do with me. I felt no feeling of fatherhood (347). His relationship with Catherine is
not about bringing something new into the world. It is not about selflessness to make the other
person happy. It is about his own ecstasy.

Works Cited
Cain, William E. "The Death of Love in A Farewell to Arms." Sewanee Review 121.3 (2013):
376-92. Web. 11 Sept. 2016.
Hemingway, Ernest. A Farewell to Arms. New York: Charles Scribner's Sons, 1929. Print.