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Ernest Hemingway: Just having a bad time (pp.60-65)

1.What view of love and relationships is presented by Hemingway in this extract?

This extract reveals a very passionate love between Frederic and Catherine. Frederic is very concerned about his wife, who is going to give birth to a baby. However, it seems to be a strange relationship because the husband Frederic is not pleased to get a baby at all. In a normal family the parents would look forward to having a baby.
All in all, one can say that Hemingway presents a relationship in a very tense situation. Frederic’s continuing worries concerning the survival of his wife and the fact that the baby dies in the end show a rather negative view of love and relationship.

2. How does Frederic Henry feel about the baby?

  • He is not enthusiastic about the baby at all.
  • He is not pleased with it because he is afraid that it might kill his wife
  • For him, it is “a by-product of good nights in Milan”(p.61,l.26)
  • He completely rejects it: he is only concerned about his wife (the baby causes trouble and pain for his wife

    3. a)Describe Catherine’s emotions as shown in the text.

  • She is very depressed (starts to cry) and has lots of pain
  • She does not want to cause trouble to his husband
  • She only wants to have a baby (she had not expected such difficulties)
  • “It doesn’t work”(p.61,l.69)   she already predicts that something might fail concerning the birth
    - She is “just having a bad time”
       b)What mood does Hemingway create by the description of Catherine’s feelings?
    - Repetition of the phrase: “It doesn’t work”: creates hectic, despair 
    - It shows the disillusion of Catherine (at first she is pleased to get pregnant/now she suffers from pain and sorrow)
    - The reader is able to feel the excitement and fear of the protagonists

    Martin/Ernesto
    Invitation To Literature
    Chapter Two: Love is...
    Excerpt from the novel “A Farewell to Arms” by Ernest Hemingway (1899-1961) (p.60)