“a Farewell to Arms” by Hemingway

A leave to Arms A symbol is an idea that represents an otherwise idea that has essence behind it. In A farawayewell to arms by Hemingway, in that location are several symbols that facilitate us understand the story better. Rain, river, and the military officers stars are some that Hemingway uses to represent a nonher idea. Rain is a recurrent symbol in the book that represents the idea of death and mixed-up. At the beginning of the book Lt. hydrogen says At the starting line of the winter came the indissoluble rain and with the rain came the cholera.But it was checked and in the end completely vii thousand died of it in the army (Hemingway 4). Lt. hydrogen is associating the rain with the seven thousands of soldiers that died. When Henry and Catherine are in the hospital she says that she is afraid of the rain because she sees herself knackered in it (Hemingway 126). She says this because she is afraid that his love for Henry will not final and eventually their love wi ll die. While rain represents death and lost in the other hand the river represents the opposite. River is another important symbol in A farewell to arms.The river represents hope, a new beginning. When Lt. Henry is detain by the battle police for treachery he thinks to himself So far they had shot every one they had questioned I ducked down, pushed between two men, and ran for the river (Hemingway 225). Lt. Henry jumps into the river because he wants to forget everything about the war. He leaves everything behind except Catherine to start a new life. Officers often wear stars to represent their status in the army and show how important they are. They represent competence and duty. In chapter 15 when Lt.Henry is the hospital because of his injured leg a doctor tells him they fag not solve till 3 months. Lt. Henry calls for another doctor, Dr. Valentini which agrees to operate on him. Lt Henry says There was a star in a box on his weapon because was a major (Hemingway 100). Hen ry is knows his in good hands because of the star the doctor is wearing eon the other doctors did not have stars on their sleeve. Another example is chapter 32 when Henry talks about removing his stars and kindred I would like to have had the uniform off although I did not care much about the external forms.I had taken off the stars I was through. (Hemingway 232). Lt. Henry does this because he does not want to have anything related to war, since the stars and uniform represent his duty in war he takes it off to forget about the war. In A Farewell to Arms the symbols such as rain, river, and the officers stars help us understand the story better. Rain symbolizes death and lost while river symbolizes a new beginning, new life, and finally the stars the officers wear on their sleeve represent the competence and duty.