Abstract

A Farewell to Arms tells a story about love. During World War I, an American youth named Frederic Henry, serving as an ambulance driver at the Red Cross in the North Italian, was wounded by shell in a battle, and was sent to the Milan hospital. There he fell in love with a British nurse, Catherine Barkley. After recovery, Henry returned to the front. Disillusioned with the cruelty and hypocrisy of the war, he left the army and came back to Catherine. In the end Henry and Catherine fled to Switzerland, where they meant to live a happy life of their own. Unfortunately, Catherine died in childbirth. In the critical world, Henry, the hero of the novel, and the theme of the novel have been attracting much critical attention. This paper, however, focus on the analysis of Hemingway’s characterization of Catherine. Catherine’s courage, grace and her pursuit of love form the most important qualities of Hemingway’s characterization of women in this novel. The analysis serves to prove that Catherine shares with the male characters in Hemingway’s novels the qualities that make up the code for the measurement of a real hero. Hopefully, this analysis will start a new perspective for the understanding of the women characters in Hemingway’s novels. 

Key words: Catherine Barkley; character analysis; heroine; code hero

Contents

Abstract

中文摘要

1 Introduction-1

2 Courage in Face of Misfortunes-3

2.1 The “Tough Guy” in Hemingway’s Novels-3

2.2 The Tenacity in Catherine Character-4

3 Grace under Pressure-5

3.1 The Male Defense of Human Dignity-5

3.2 Catherine’s Refusal to Be Weak-6

4 Unremitting Pursuit of Love-8

4.1 Hemingway’s Male Characters’ Code of Life-8

4.2 Catherine’s Pursuit of Love-9

5 Conclusion-11

References-12