Farewell to Arms : Heroism

In this Hemingway’s novel, A Farewell to Arms, the idea of heroism is very well used. As Frederic says in the novel, “The coward dies a thousand deaths, the brave but one?” shows how he thinks the hero dies. In this novel, heroism has to be shown because of the War situation. It is inevitable that heroism is talked about in a War novel because of the number of the brave soldiers fighting out there. In this novel it shows that heroism needs to be awarded with some kind of medal for example. Throughout this novel, heroism is shown in two ways, is it someone who sacrifices themselves over and over again, dying two thousand deaths. Then the second view of it is if the hero is decorated for the sake of the wounded. These statements are continually talked about in this novel. The heroism is either defined through Catherine’s courage or with that of the bravery of the soldiers. The role of Catherine in the plot about this concept is very important as it shows through her loyalty and will to face death and the fact that she is not scared of it. This the way Hemmingway shows heroism in this novel. Here is a dialogue from the bomb sequence that shows heroism:

“Because you are gravely wounded. They say if you can prove you did any heroic act you can get silver. Otherwise it will be bronze. Tell me what happened. Did you do any heroic act?

Be serious. You must have done something heroic either before or after…I think we can get you silver. Didn’t you refuse to be medically