| Term Paper Title | A Farewell To Arms |
| # of Words | 705 |
| # of Pages (250 words per page double spaced) | 2.82 |
A Farewell to Arms
[If The Sun Also Rises was one of the best books I have ever read, then A Farewell to Arms is
Truth. I simply cannot believe that these books existed so long without my knowledge of how
grand they are. I consider myself to read constantly, more than almost anyone I know, literature
and simple, and here in less than a month I read two books that are undoubtedly among the best I
have encountered. How many other good books exist that I have yet to read? Am I really a
reader? Will I ever finish them all? What will I do if I tire of reading?]
When I finished FTA I was of course stunned by the death of Catherine and the baby and Henry's
sudden solitude. "What happens now?" I felt, as I so often do when I finish a book that I want to
go on forever. This is infinitely more difficult with a book that has no conclusion, and FTA leaves a
reader not only emotionally exhausted but also just as alone as Henry and with nowhere to go.
The entire work was aware of where it was going and what was going to happen next, and then to
stop the way it did was unfair. Now, I've read enough essays while deciding which would be the
topic for my class presentation that I know many people see that the unfairness of life and the
insignificance of our free will are apparently the most important themes in the book, but I don't
agree. I also don't agree that it is a war story or a love story. Exactly what it is, though, is not clear
to me. Can't art exist without being anything? "There isn't always an explanation for everything."
War and love are obviously important themes in the book, and the relationship between the two is
explored by Hemingway and, somewhat, by Henry. In the first two Books we are in the war and
the war is overwhelming. In the last two Books we are in love. And, just as the first two Books
are peppered with love in the time of war, the last two Books are tinged with war in the time of
love. The ...Read entire document
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