Flashcards for A Farewell to Arms

Aymo

Aymo is one of the Italian ambulance drivers under Frederic Henry's command during the disastrous Caporetto retreat in Ernest Hemingway's A Farewell to Arms.

character

Catherine Barkley

Catherine Barkley is the female lead in the novel and the great love of Frederic Henry.

character

Count Greffi

Count Greffi is a ninety-four-year-old Italian nobleman whom Frederic Henry meets in the hotel billiard room near Stresa, shortly after he escapes from the Italian military police during the chaotic retreat from Caporetto.

character

Frederic Henry

Frederic Henry is the American narrator and main character of A Farewell to Arms, where he serves as a lieutenant in the Italian ambulance corps during World War I. His journey reflects a growing disillusionment with duty, patriotism, and the meaning of institutions, leading him to a personal, existential withdrawal from the war.

character

Helen Ferguson

Helen Ferguson is a Scottish nurse working at the American hospital in Gorizia and later at the hospital in Milan.

character

Miss Van Campen

Miss Van Campen is the superintendent of nurses at the American hospital in Milan, acting as a strict authority figure whose main role is to obstruct and antagonize Frederic Henry.

character

Passini

Passini is a minor yet thematically significant character in Ernest Hemingway's A Farewell to Arms, making a brief appearance in Book One as one of the Italian ambulance drivers under Frederic Henry's command at the Isonzo front.

character

Piani

Piani is an Italian ambulance driver under Lieutenant Frederic Henry's command, and he stands out as one of the most loyal and compassionate characters in Ernest Hemingway's A Farewell to Arms.

character

Rinaldi

Rinaldi is an Italian military surgeon and Frederic Henry's closest male friend, stationed at the same mess near the Isonzo front.

character

The Priest

The Priest is a young military chaplain assigned to Frederic Henry's artillery unit in Italy.

character

“I'm not brave any more, darling. I'm all broken. They've broken me.”

This heart-wrenching confession comes from Lieutenant Frederic Henry as he speaks to Catherine Barkley during one of their tender moments in Ernest Hemingway's A Farewell to Arms (1929).

Frederic Henry · Book III (approximate)

“It was like saying good-by to a statue.”

This line is spoken by Frederic Henry, the first-person narrator of A Farewell to Arms by Ernest Hemingway, towards the end of the novel.

Frederic Henry (narrator) · Book V, Chapter 41

“There isn't always an explanation for everything.”

This line is spoken by Lieutenant Frederic Henry, the American ambulance officer and narrator of Ernest Hemingway's A Farewell to Arms (1929).

Frederic Henry

“You are my religion. You're all I've got.”

In Ernest Hemingway's A Farewell to Arms (1929), Lieutenant Frederic Henry expresses this sentiment to Catherine Barkley during one of their intimate moments as their wartime romance grows.

Frederic Henry

“If people bring so much courage to this world the world has to kill them to break them, so of course it kills them.”

This somber observation comes from the novel's narrator, Lieutenant Frederic Henry, in Book Three (Chapter 34) of Ernest Hemingway's A Farewell to Arms (1929).

Frederic Henry (narrator) · Book Three, Chapter 34

“The coward dies a thousand deaths, the brave but once... But the brave man does not live forever.”

This quote comes from Ernest Hemingway's A Farewell to Arms (1929), spoken by Catherine Barkley during a conversation with Frederic Henry.

Catherine Barkley

“We could have had a fine life together.”

This line is spoken by Frederic Henry near the end of Ernest Hemingway's A Farewell to Arms (1929), in the heartbreaking final chapter after Catherine Barkley dies from hemorrhaging following a stillbirth.

Frederic Henry · 41

“I had made a separate peace.”

This line is internal dialogue from Lieutenant Frederic Henry, an American ambulance driver with the Italian army during World War I, in Ernest Hemingway's A Farewell to Arms (1929).

Frederic Henry (internal monologue) · Book Three, Chapter 32

“The world breaks every one and afterward many are strong at the broken places.”

This line is delivered by Lieutenant Frederic Henry, who serves as both the narrator and protagonist in Ernest Hemingway's A Farewell to Arms (1929).

Frederic Henry (narrator) · Book Three, Chapter 34

“Abstract words such as glory, honor, courage, or hallow were obscene beside the concrete names of villages.”

This line is spoken by Lieutenant Frederic Henry, the American ambulance driver and narrator of Ernest Hemingway's A Farewell to Arms (1929), in Book One, Chapter 27.

Frederic Henry (narrator) · Book One, Chapter 27

“I knew I did not love Catherine Barkley nor had any idea of loving her. This was a game, like bridge.”

This line is delivered as an interior monologue by Lieutenant Frederic Henry, the American ambulance officer and narrator of Ernest Hemingway's A Farewell to Arms (1929).

Frederic Henry (narrator) · Chapter 5

“I was always embarrassed by the words sacred, glorious, and sacrifice and the expression in vain.”

This line is delivered by Lieutenant Frederic Henry, the American ambulance officer and narrator of Ernest Hemingway's A Farewell to Arms (1929), in Book One, Chapter 27.

Frederic Henry (narrator) · Chapter 27, Book One

Alcohol

In A Farewell to Arms, alcohol represents a means of escape, numbing pain, and the futile effort to shield oneself from the horrors of war and the grief of loss.

Rain

In A Farewell to Arms, rain serves as Hemingway's most recurring symbol of doom, suffering, and unavoidable loss.

The Mountains

In A Farewell to Arms, the mountains symbolize safety, clarity, and a way out from the chaos and corruption of war.

The River

In A Farewell to Arms, Ernest Hemingway uses the river to symbolize both escape and the inescapable fate awaiting the characters.

The Separate Peace

In A Farewell to Arms, Hemingway's concept of "separate peace" reflects the individual's urgent need to escape the chaos of war and create a personal refuge away from violence.

The War Wound

In A Farewell to Arms, Hemingway uses Frederic Henry's war wound to symbolize both the physical and psychological toll of modern warfare, as well as the harsh unpredictability of fate.

Understatement

Hemingway's prose is characterized by deliberate understatement: the most emotionally charged moments are expressed in the simplest language, compelling the reader to fill in the emotional gaps.

Imagery

Hemingway builds the novel's emotional landscape mainly through vivid sensory details instead of abstract statements.

Symbolism

Rain serves as the novel's most consistent symbol, woven through Catherine's early confession — 'I'm afraid of the rain because sometimes I see me dead in it' — and continuing through each crisis to her death in a rain-soaked Swiss hospital.

Motif

Rain appears so frequently that it shifts from being a mere symbol to a structural motif, shaping the novel's rhythm of hope and catastrophe.

Parataxis

Hemingway's unique sentence style lays out clauses and events side by side, simply linked by 'and,' without any subordination or causal explanations.

Irony

The novel's title is its first ironic twist: 'A Farewell to Arms' suggests a typical anti-war message, but the arms Frederic truly surrenders with the most bitterness are Catherine's — the embrace of the woman he loves.

Simile

Hemingway uses simile sparingly, which gives each instance a striking impact.

Pathetic Fallacy

The weather in the novel isn't just about the climate.

Narrative Poem

The novel is told from a first-person perspective, with Frederic Henry recounting events that have already happened.

Extended Metaphor

Frederic's well-known meditation on abstract words — 'I was always embarrassed by the words sacred, glorious, and sacrifice' — develops into a metaphor that likens empty language to worthless currency: only specific names of places, road numbers, and village names hold real value, 'because nothing glorious had happened and the words were obscene.'

Allusion

The title references George Peele's 16th-century poem "A Farewell to Arms," where an aging soldier says goodbye to the battlefield, marking the natural conclusion of a soldier's life.

Repetition

Hemingway uses key words and phrases with the force of a mantra.

cholera

A deadly infectious disease spread through contaminated water that causes severe vomiting and diarrhea, killing thousands during World War I military campaigns.

noun · Chapter 1

capes

Loose, sleeveless outer garments worn over the shoulders like a cloak, used here as military rain gear to keep soldiers dry on the march.

noun · Chapter 1

mess

The room or hall where military officers eat their meals together and spend off-duty time socializing.

noun · Chapter 2

blushed

Turned red in the face from embarrassment or shyness, an involuntary reaction showing the priest's innocence among the rougher officers.

verb · Chapter 2

whirled

Spun around rapidly; here describes the dizzy, disorienting sensation of a room seeming to rotate when a person is very drunk.

verb · Chapter 2

rattan

Made from the tough, flexible stem of a tropical palm plant, often woven or used as a cane; here describing a thin walking stick.

adjective · Chapter 3

swagger stick

A short, thin cane carried by military officers as a symbol of authority and confidence, not used for walking but as a mark of rank.

noun · Chapter 3

shelling

The firing of explosive artillery shells at enemy positions; a sustained bombardment by heavy guns during warfare.

noun · Chapter 4

trench mortar

A short-range artillery weapon fired from a trench that launches explosive shells in a high arc; widely used in World War I to hit nearby enemy positions.

noun · Chapter 5

dugout

A shelter dug into the earth or a hillside to protect soldiers from enemy fire and the elements during trench warfare.

noun · Chapter 5

bodily

With the whole physical body; here used to describe the sensation of feeling one's entire self being violently thrown outward by the blast.

adverb · Chapter 5

convalescence

The period of gradual recovery and rest after a serious illness or injury, before a person is fully well again.

noun · Chapter 8

Voluntary Aid Detachment

A British civilian organization whose volunteer members, mostly women, provided nursing and other support to military hospitals during World War I.

noun · Chapter 3

detachment

A cool, emotionally uninvolved attitude; here describing how military interrogators calmly condemned men to death as if the outcome did not affect them personally.

noun · Chapter 12

stern

Harsh, strict, and unforgiving; here describing a rigid, pitiless form of military justice used to punish officers during the retreat.

adjective · Chapter 12

separate peace

A private, personal decision to stop fighting a war and withdraw from it, made by an individual rather than by official agreement between governments.

phrase · Chapter 9

obligation

A duty or responsibility one is bound to fulfill; here the sense of loyalty and commitment Frederic feels he owes to the army and the war effort.

noun · Chapter 12

embankment

A raised bank or mound of earth built alongside a road or railway to support it or hold back water; here the slope beside a muddy road.

noun · Chapter 11

sardonic

Grimly mocking or cynical in a way that shows bitter contempt; here describing Rinaldi's sharp, darkly humorous manner after being worn down by the war.

adjective · Chapter 9

hemorrhage

A severe, uncontrolled flow of blood from a ruptured blood vessel inside the body, which can quickly become fatal if not stopped.

noun · Chapter 22

caesarean section

A surgical operation in which a baby is delivered by cutting through the mother's abdomen and uterus rather than through natural childbirth.

noun · Chapter 22

stillborn

Born dead; used to describe a baby that has died inside the womb before or during delivery and shows no signs of life at birth.

adjective · Chapter 22

anesthesia

A medically induced state of unconsciousness or numbness produced by drugs so that a patient feels no pain during a procedure or difficult labor.

noun · Chapter 20

idyll

A period of perfect peace, happiness, and simple pleasure, cut off from the troubles of the outside world; here the calm mountain life Frederic and Catherine share.

noun · Chapter 18

palpable

So strong or obvious that it can almost be physically felt or touched; here describing a tension or mood that fills the air even without being spoken aloud.

adjective · Chapter 19