The Hidden Hemmingway Code Hero

Destini Preisler

Mrs. Corsun

English Period 4/5

February 13, 2015

                                   The Hidden Hemmingway Code Hero

        At first glance, A Farewell to Arms, is a simple war book filled with the everyday “manly hero” played out by Lieutenant Henry. The book is also clearly written by a man. The gory images and lack of expression of feelings gives Hemingway’s masculinity away as soon as the novel begins. Since the novel is written from a male who was known to have a negative attitude towards women, readers should be aware of his influencing tone on Lieutenant Henry, but also pay even closer attention to his hidden details on the real code hero of the story. Though many critics claim that Catherine Barkley is nothing more than a needy, weak, dependent person, they fail to understand the hardships she has gone through that form her into the strongest character in the novel.

        As critics like to argue, on the surface, Catherine can come off as a “femme fetal,” when in reality, due to our society’s stance on gender roles, Lieutenant Henry is more manipulative and deceiving than Catherine, yet the readers sympathy still lies with Fredrick. In the beginning of the novel, Lieutenant Henry bluntly states his bad intentions towards Ms. Barkley with no remorse, “I was angry and yet certain, seeing it all ahead like the moves in a chess game,” (Hemmingway 26). Fredrick Henry viewed Catherine Barkley as an object in a sick twisted game that is universally known as a man’s game. Even after Catherine had slapped Henry for kissing her when she specifically told him that she was not ready, all he thought was, “I felt I had a certain advantage,” (Hemingway 26). If Catherine Barkley really were a femme fetal like critics claim her to be, then she would not have demanded Henry not

to kiss her. She also would not have slapped him after he literally begged her to and then kissed her anyway, ignoring her “no’s.” Most readers found this passage a little unsettling, but did not think much about it since it is custom for a man to not take no for an answer or to be a little rougher than the female, or always thinking about sex and ways to get into a woman’s pants. Yet, how could readers be so okay with Henry’s behavior and still claim that Catherine is nothing more than a sex kitten, when it is obvious she is using Henry for so much more than sex? Using may have a negative tone to it, but in reality, everyone uses each other, they just use different people in different ways. For example, in A Farewell to Arms, in the beginning of the novel, Fredrick Henry only used Catherine Barkley for sex, while she used him as a temporary replacement for her deceased fiancé.  Yet they both used each other to escape the war.

        Though many critics claim that Catherine Barkley is a “femme fetal” she proves to be so much more. The dictionary definition of femme fatal is: an attractive and seductive woman, especially one who will ultimately bring disaster to a man who becomes involved with her. Catherine Barkley does not intentionally destroy Lieutenant Henry in the end when she dies, nor does Hemingway clearly stat the Frederic will not be fine. All he says is, “After a while I went out and left the hospital and walked back to the hotel in the rain,” (Hemingway 332).  Lieutenant Henry is already very jaded when it comes to people dying around him. The war has destroyed him on the inside, not Catherine. In fact, Frederic admits to blaming the war for her death when he says, “Now Catherine would die. That was what you did. You died. You did not know what it was about. You never had time to learn. They threw you in and told you the rules and the first time they caught you off the base they killed you,” (Hemingway 327). Frederic makes it clear that he is talking about war because he continues saying, “Or they killed you gratuitously like Aymo. Or gave you the syphilis like Rinaldi. But

they killed you in the end. You could count on that. Stay around and they would kill you,” (Hemingway 327). Frederic Henry did not believe that Catherine destroyed him on purpose because of her “femme fetal” characteristics, but more because he had truly fallen in love with her and the war claimed her as another casualty.

        Frederic himself does not claim Catherine as his sex toy when he is speaking with Rinaldi in the beginning of the novel. When Lieutenant Henry told Rinaldi that he had been “calling on the British,” Rinaldi responds, “Thank God I did not become involved with the British,” (Hemingway 32). Later on Frederic states, “I didn't care what I was getting into. This was better than going every evening to the house for officers where the girls climbed all over you and put your cap on backward as a sign of affection between their trips upstairs with brother officers" (Hemingway 34). Since Catherine Barkley is not a “whore,” Frederic is happy to put up with her little “craziness,” because he knows that she is not all over his brothers in war, using them as sex toys. Catherine will not even allow her image to come off as a whore as shown multiple times throughout the novel. For instance, in the beginning, every time that Lieutenant Henry tried to kiss Catherine at the hospital, she would always stop him, fearful of someone seeing them together. At the hospital in Mulan, when Frederic wants to have sex with her, she is again scared of being caught with him. A whore would not care about her image, nor would she be thoughtful and careful claiming, “We have to be awfully careful. You’ll have to be careful in front of other people,” (Hemingway 92). When Frederic takes Catherine to the hotel in Milan and Catherine tells him that she felt like a whore, he replies that she is not one. Miss. Barkley responds, “I know it darling. But it isn’t nice to feel like one,” (Hemingway 152). If Catherine Barkley really was a femme fatal, then she would not be complaining about her image, killing the “sexual vibe” for a moment. She also would be too busy seducing Lieutenant Henry in order to care about her image in a hotel