A Farewell To Arms Summary
by
Ernest Hemingway
Below is the A Farewell To Arms Summary. The summaries are grouped by chapters and are followed by a detailed analysis:
Chapter 1 - 5 Summary
The novel opens with a description of artillery-laden troops marching slowly through the rains of late summer and autumn. One of these men is the American Frederic Henry, an ambulance driver. Henry is currently in the Italian army, at the Italian front during World War I.
The main action of these first few chapters begins when Henry returns from winter leave in early spring. His roommate, Rinaldi, is enamored of a British nurse, Catherine Barkley, at a nearby British hospital. Rinaldi convinces Henry to visit the hospital with him and Henry finds himself attracted to Catherine. A few days later, Henry comes back to see Catherine and the two kiss.
Chapter 1 - 5 Analysis
The opening chapter is an important one, introducing many major motifs to be developed later. In the chapter, war and death are juxtaposed against nature and life. There are trees, but they are coated in dust and the leaves fall off early because of it. The thick, green leaves not found on the trees are instead used by the troops to conceal guns in the trucks. The clear and swift-moving river water is juxtaposed against images of rain and mud as well as slow-moving troops. The image of fertility is compared to soldiers carrying artillery in front of their bellies.
The situation here is bleak. The chapter sets up a tired mood, with troops trudging incessantly through the mud. It is also soured by irony: "At the start of the winter came the permanent rain and with the rain came the cholera. But it was checked and in the end only seven thousand died of it in the army." The description of a "permanent rain" is intended to create a feeling of helplessness. The "only" in the second sentence conveys a sense of the war's scope.
The tiredness of the war is mirrored by the troops themselves. The narrator begins the second chapter with the comment that "the next year there were many victories." That is all. It is blunt and detached, as if the victories no longer matter and nobody knows what they are fighting for. Later, a shell explodes in front of Henry and instead of reacting emotionally, he simply describes the smell of the explosion: one of "blasted clay and stone and freshly shattered flint."
The narrator of the story and the protagonist are two different people, as can be seen in the soliloquy on pages 13 and 14. The protagonist is Henry Frederick during the events narrated in the book, but the narrator is clearly an older Henry, one after the events. The soliloquy itself revolves around an "it" that separates the narrator from the protagonist: it is something which "I did not know then, although I learned it later." It is something the priest "had always known" and which Henry "was always able to forget." What Henry refers to is still debated among scholars, but the most prominent opinion seems to be that the "it" refers to a questioning of faith. The argument is that over the course of the novel Henry has developed a tragic vision of sorts-a knowledge that the world is indifferent (i.e. there is no God) and that life is ultimately meaningless. A few scholars have argued that the "it" is the opposite-Henry has come to the realization that he has a soul and that death is not final. The interpretation of the novel presented here will favor the former, which is more consistent with the trends that run through Hemingway's other novels.
Whichever the case, at this point in the novel it is worth noting that there is already a seed of existentialism in Henry. When returning from leave, he notes that nothing seems to have changed and "evidently it did not matter whether I was there or not." The comment hints at a view that there may be no significance to living at all. At another time, Henry pronounces that "we did not do the things we wanted to do; we never did such things." Here he argues that life itself prevents a person from doing what he wishes.
Many things can be discovered about Catherine in her first conversation with Henry. She tells that she had a fiancé she was engaged to for eight years, at which point he went into the war and died: "he was killed and that was the end of it." Henry's "I don't know" which follows her tale expresses his uncertainty regarding the existence of an afterlife. In contrast, Catherine is sure there is none: "That's the end of it," she assures him. Catherine expresses regret that she didn't marry him because she was afraid of the consequences, but now realizes the meaninglessness of the consequences. Life, to her, does what it wishes to do, and her living is the struggle against circumstance.
Chapter 6 - 9 Summary
The relationship between Henry and Catharine becomes more defined as Henry begins to pay her regular visits. However, the relationship is one devoid of love-to Henry, it is as if they are playing a game. Catherine recognizes this as well, and finally declares that it is a "rotten game we play," putting an end to the false lovemaking.
Meanwhile, the offensive is about to resume, and Fredrick Henry is dispatched to the front to drive the wounded back to hospitals. At the front, Henry and his fellow ambulance drivers sit in a dugout, eating pasta and waiting for the offensive to begin. One of the drivers, Passini, speaks out against the war, saying that "War is not won by victory. . . . One side must stop fighting. Why don't we stop fighting?" As they talk, shells shatter over their heads until finally a trench mortar shell blasts open the dugout. Passini's leg is blown off and he dies; both of Henry's legs are severely wounded.
Chapter 6 - 9 Analysis
Frederic Henry, the protagonist, falls short of being any sort of hero because he doesn't care about what is happening. When he makes love to Catherine without loving her, he mentions that "I didn't care what I was getting into" and "Nobody had mentioned what the stakes were." This lack of concern diminishes him in the reader's mind. With respect to the war itself, he notes, rather naively, that "I knew I would not be killed. Not in this war. It did not have anything to do with me." To Henry, the world is a just one, and that because he cares little about the war the war will ignore him.
Henry's belief in a well-ordered universe is challenged when the dugout is blasted open and he is severely injured. In chapter 9, the reader is handed an indifferent universe on a platter. It is absolutely absurd that a bunch of men should be blown apart while they are eating pasta. Hemingway makes the absurdity clear by spending more time describing the act of eating (53-54) than the exploding shells overhead. It is worthwhile to note, however, that although he is injured, Henry does not quite accept this notion of an indifferent universe. Instead of accepting his fate at the hands of this universe, he cries out to God for mercy.
Passini is the man who most vehemently protests the war, and it is no coincidence that he is the only character to so far die from it. Passini wishes to end the war by quitting it, noting that if the Italians stop fighting, the Austrians "will get tired and go away." Essentially, he has decided not to fight in the war anymore, and there is an implication that he dies because he has quit the struggle. Hemingway sets up the war as a metaphor for life: it is crude and indifferent to the beings who participate in it. However, all the participants can do is struggle against what is set upon them. Passini, because he refuses to take part in that absurdity, is killed.
A final image of futility in opposing the war is found in the old man with the hernia lying by the side of the road. The man has done everything possible to get out of the army, but his own efforts (as well as Henry's assistance) are futile, and he is dragged back.
Chapter 10 - 12 Summary
At a field hospital, Henry is visited first by Rinaldi, then by the priest. Rinaldi tells Henry that he will get a medal of bravery from the Italians, and jokes about developments. The priest, on the other hand, has more serious matters to talk about. He tries to explain to Henry how "There are people who would make war . . . [and] there are other people who would not make war," and how the latter are at the mercy of the former. The priest also tells Henry that love is a willingness to serve someone else, and that true happiness can be achieved through love.
After a few days at the field hospital, Henry is moved away from the front to an American hospital in Milan. Because of an excess of nurses at the front, Catherine is being sent there as well.
Chapter 10 - 12 Analysis
The juxtaposition of Rinaldi against the priest brings up many important contrasts. Rinaldi, in many ways, is a man of the flesh. He is concerned with the war and country, is consumed in eagerness for medals, and lusts for one-night stands. The priest is a man of the spirit. He does not see the patriotism or glory of the war, but instead its hopelessness. He does not find happiness in lust, but instead in selfless love. It is between these two ways of life that Henry must choose.
At one point, the priest chides Henry, saying that "even wounded you do not see it." Here, he refers to the futility of the war-how it is in the hands of a few people who simply want the war, and that the others are at their mercy. The war is indifferent to its participants, and Henry cannot see that.
The priest's tiredness is most likely due to the fact that he has lost some faith: "I try always to hope but sometimes I cannot." If the war is indifferent, if most people are at the mercy of others who wish to fight, then where is God? However, there is a sort of heroism in the priest because, despite knowing the war (and presumably life) is futile, he continues to "try always to hope." Unlike the priest, who has accepted his condition and dealt with it, Henry acts with detachment.
As a final bit of information, the priest attempts to convince Henry that happiness can only be obtained by selfless love, which the priest presumably has for God. His belief is largely an existential one. In a world where man always loses (i.e. dies), the end doesn't matter and consequently happiness is derived from the heroic struggle against that world. That heroism manifests itself best in the service of another.
Chapter 13 - 17 Summary
Frederic Henry is the first patient to be sent to the American hospital-even the doctor has not yet come. After a few days, though, the doctor arrives and immediately begins to remove shards of metal from Henry's legs. One piece of metal is particularly deep and surgery is required. Three surgeons arrive to discuss when the operation should be performed, but Henry refuses to accede to their recommendation to wait six months. Another surgeon, Dr. Valentini, is called in, who declares that Henry is fit to be operated upon the next morning. The operation is then carried out successfully.
Meanwhile, Catherine has arrived at the hospital and Henry professes his love for her. From then on, Catherine works the night shift and they have sex with each other almost every night.
Chapter 13 - 17 Summary
Many happenings in A Farewell to Arms seem to be absurd, yet are treated as normal occurrences. One such event is the doctor's absence from the hospital. To the reader, it seems outrageous that the doctor should be missing from the hospital at war time. On the other hand, the nurses find nothing unusual here-he is simply at another clinic. It becomes apparent that what the reader expects, i.e. that the doctor be present, is not a natural occurrence so much as a coincidence. In truth, the world is indifferent to such matters.
Catherine recognizes the indifference of the universe, and takes joy in the fact that Henry and herself are both alive and out of immediate danger. "Feel our hearts beating," she says when she sees Henry again for the first time. But Henry does not see the coincidence-to him it is natural that he survive the accident, as he has no real part in the war: "I don't care about our hearts, I want you." Catherine also reminds Henry that they are alive in an effort to ensure that his love is genuine. Out of the war, there is no longer a need to role-play, to pretend they are lovers for sport.
Catherine is, in many ways, the Hemingway code hero of this novel (see Discussion of Themes). This is particularly apparent in chapter 16, when Henry denies sleeping with anyone else and she says "It's all right. Keep right on lying to me. That's what I want you to do." Catherine knows the truth, yet at the same time denies it. She is perfectly capable of holding simultaneously two conflicting thoughts in her head, such as accepting the futility of life while struggling against it. They are, in a sense, role-playing. However, they are also jumping head-first into a relationship and making it work, in a sense fighting the indifferent world. This is especially clear when Catherine notes that "I want what you want. There isn't any me any more." She is giving selflessly to Henry, which, as the priest noted earlier, is true love and the way happiness is achieved.
A final note with regards to a piece of symbolism Hemingway uses to separate two types of characters. In the hospital, the "initiated" (i.e. those that understand the futility of the universe yet struggle against it) and "uninitiated" are separated by their drinking habits. The house doctor and Miss Van Campen do not drink, whereas Miss Gage, Catherine, Rinaldi, and Dr. Valentini all do. Drinking is denounced by most religious and moral institutions and by refusing to drink, the doctor and nurse demonstrate that they adhere to a strict set of principles and beliefs which simply do not exist in the world. Those that do drink adhere to a more personal set of values, such as integrity and companionship. Henry and Catherine must watch out for the former group of people, who will have them thrown out if they are caught having sex. On the other hand, the pair represents the latter-Catherine doesn't think much about the convention of marriage.
Chapter 18 - 21 Summary
It is summertime now, and, while he waits for his leg to heal, Henry spends most of his days with Catherine. One day, when coming back from treatment, Henry meets an officer in the Italian army named Ettore Moretti. In contrast to Henry, Ettore is obsessed with his scars, medals, and an impending promotion to captain.
At another time, Catherine and Henry decide to go to the horse races with some friends. Twice, with the aid of friends, they bet upon winning horses. However, both horses barely pay because there are already many bids on them. Finally the two detach themselves from the crowd and choose a random horse to bet upon. They lose, but feel better doing so.
As the end of summer approaches, Henry gets a letter from the army saying that when he is discharged he will be given three weeks leave before he must return. Catherine declares that she will find a way to leave the hospital at that time as well.
Chapter 18 - 21 Analysis
It is summertime now, and, while he waits for his leg to heal, Henry spends most of his days with Catherine. One day, when coming back from treatment, Henry meets an officer in the Italian army named Ettore Moretti. In contrast to Henry, Ettore is obsessed with his scars, medals, and an impending promotion to captain.
At another time, Catherine and Henry decide to go to the horse races with some friends. Twice, with the aid of friends, they bet upon winning horses. However, both horses barely pay because there are already many bids on them. Finally the two detach themselves from the crowd and choose a random horse to bet upon. They lose, but feel better doing so.
As the end of summer approaches, Henry gets a letter from the army saying that when he is discharged he will be given three weeks leave before he must return. Catherine declares that she will find a way to leave the hospital at that time as well.
Chapter 22 - 24 Summary
At the hospital, Henry has developed jaundice and must stay for another two weeks. During that time, Miss Van Campen discovers the empty bottles of alcohol in the armoire and is convinced that Henry drunk himself sick to avoid going back to the front. She reports him and he loses his leave.
On the night Henry must leave Milan for the front he and Catherine stay at a hotel together and affirm their love for each other. After dinner, Henry boards the crowded train.
Chapter 22 - 24 Analysis
When Catherine and Henry are walking around the streets of Milan, Henry notices another soldier and his girl seeking shelter by a cathedral. Henry notes that they are like himself and Catherine, a soldier and a girl. Catherine sees more than just this shallow resemblance, saying that "Nobody is like us," and later points out that "they have the cathedral [to stay at]." The implication is that unlike Henry and Catherine, this pair has religion. The only constant thing for Henry and Catherine is their love.
In the hotel room, Henry quotes Marvell's poem "To His Coy Mistress." The couplet he quotes serves to remind Catherine that death is ever near (as evinced by his returning to war), that time is short. Like the couple in the poem, they don't have a million years with which to make love.
When Henry boards the train, it is raining. The rain's presence creates a feeling that the events ahead (and indeed the events which have just taken place) are out of Henry's and Catherine's control. The crowded train also serves as an objective correlative, creating an atmosphere of hopelessness-circumstance has once again gotten the better of Henry. However, Henry chooses to give up his seat; in the face of such circumstances, he holds onto a set of moral values (plays by the rules).
Chapter 25 - 27 Summary
The war is not going well back at the front, and the men have lost all hope for an end to the war. Rinaldi is especially depressed, telling Henry that "I don't think; I operate." The only things Rinaldi finds interesting are alcohol and sex. The priest is also showing signs of weariness as well, though to a lesser degree. He has given up hoping for victory, but still believes the war will end soon now that all the officers are sick of it. Henry argues that because the Austrians are winning, the war will continue.
The day after his return, Henry is ordered to take over the ambulance cars in the mountains on the Bainsizza. The fighting there is particularly harsh, and after a few days of rain and war they are ordered to retreat. Up north the Germans and Austrians have broken through the line.
Chapter 25 - 27 Analysis
Rinaldi is initiated-he accepts the futility of his actions, that he fixes people up only so that they can be sent back to the front to be blown up again. However, he is no hero, for that acceptance has broken him. "I never think. No, by God, I don't think; I operate," he says to Henry. When he stops working, he realizes that "You're dry and you're empty and there's nothing else," and can't stand that. The true Hemingway code hero can hold futility and necessity together, and is capable of continuing with the struggle. Rinaldi doesn't care any more, wanting simply a clean death (an "industrial accident") instead of life.
The priest is better off. He realizes the futility of the war, but retains hope that it will end-he believes the officers have realized that there are no winners in the war. When Henry argues that the Austrians will not stop the war at this point, the priest still protests that "I had hoped for something," and notes that this something is neither defeat nor victory. All that matters is that he still hopes.
Henry's statement that "It is only in defeat that we become Christian" shows a clear understanding of the way the universe works. He has come to the understanding that religion is a cheap alternative, it is a belief in something that is not there-it is for those who cannot accept the indifference of the universe and futility of existence. "Abstract words such as glory, honor, courage, or hallow were obscene beside the concrete names of villages, the numbers of roads, the names or rivers, the numbers of regiments and dates." Hand in hand with the discovery of the universe's indifference comes a rejection of abstract values as well as organized religion. The only worthwhile things are those that are concrete or personal.
This entire section is filled with images of rain and mud, descriptions of desolation and wreck. Like the rain, the war is out of the Italians' control and everything expected does not occur: "We expected an attack all day but it did not come until the sun was going down. . . . We expected a bombardment but it did not come."
Chapter 28 - 32 Summary
As Lieutenant, Henry is in charge of a group of ambulance drivers in retreat. They are to convey the hospital equipment into Udine. However, the chaos of the retreat has taken over the road, and the ambulances are caught in a column of peasant cars and war vehicles, unable to move. Henry decides to turn off the main road, and the group boldly takes to the side roads. Behind them, they hear the Austrians bombing the main road.
Not far from Udine, the ambulances get stuck in the mud. Afraid that the Austrians will overtake them, two sergeants who had been riding along flee. Henry manages to shoot one of them. Continuing on foot, Henry and the three remaining drivers spot German troops all over the road and realize Udine has been taken. The group flees south, during which time one of the drivers is shot by the Italian rear-guard and another runs off to surrender himself.
Finally, Henry and Piani (the remaining member of the group) meet up with a column of retreating troops. There, Henry is spotted by the battle police, who believe him to be a German in an Italian uniform. The battle police are busy executing all officers they find separated from their troops, declaring that "It is because of treachery such as yours that we have lost the fruits of victory." Before he is executed, though, Henry manages to escape into a nearby river and follows the current downstream. When he reaches a shore hours later, he jumps onto a train and hides under the canvas.
Chapter 28 - 32 Analysis
"There was no need to confuse our retreat," says Henry. "The size of the army and the fewness of the roads did that." The retreat is more chaotic than the battlefield, and that irony serves as a prime example for the indifference of the universe towards man's plight (note the unending rain and the role of mud in this section). Thousands of men flee across the countryside to avoid death, only to find it. Hemingway takes great pains to show the futility of escape from battle (clearly a symbol for life). A person can take the main road and get bombed, or take the side roads and get stuck in the mud. A soldier left behind can surrender to the enemy (Bonello) or get killed by his own paranoia-stricken people (Aymo). An officer can either be executed by his angry troops, or by the battle police in need of someone to blame defeat on. The chaos of the retreat is best exemplified by the death of Aymo, whose "killing came suddenly and unreasonably." There is no preparation and there is no reason for anything that happens.
Easily the most odious characters in this section are the battle police, who "had that beautiful detachment and devotion to stern justice of men dealing in death without being in any danger of it." These men are cold, adhering still to the notions of "justice" and "victory" which Henry rejected long ago-they do not realize that there is no order in the war. Their actions are clearly impractical, and the values they serve are dead. When Henry deserts the army, he does not feel any sense of loyalty towards these men-only contempt.
The cleansing imagery of the river is a sort of baptism for Henry, washing away his obligation to the army or a higher order, and when lying atop the guns in the train Henry formulates a way to make sense from the senselessness of life. "You did not love the floor of a flat-car nor guns with canvas jackets and the smell of vaselined metal or a canvas that rain leaked through," he explains, "but you loved some one else whom now you knew was not even to be pretended there." A person does not focus his attention on the senselessness of life itself, but struggles to create order in it. In Henry's case, his relationship with Catherine defies life's senselessness.
At the end of Book 3, Henry takes his first step towards finding peace by rejecting any obligation to the world. The world has clearly dealt him an injustice, and he declares that once this happens "You were out if it now. You had no more obligation." He sets his mind away from contemplating the universe, and concentrates instead on Catherine.
Chapter 33 - 37 Summary
Henry jumps off of the train in Milan, where he visits the Italian porter he befriended during his stay at the hospital. The porter tells him that Catherine left with Miss Ferguson to Stresa. After leaving the porter, Henry visits Simmons, an opera singer and old friend, who gives him some civilian clothes. Having changed, Henry boards the train for Stresa.
He meets up with Catherine at a hotel in Stresa, and they spend a few days together, though Henry must remain in the hotel for the most part to avoid being seen. One night, though, the hotel barman comes up to their room to warn Henry he's discovered that Italian officers are planning to arrest him the next morning. Henry and Catherine quickly pack and Emelio, the barman, lends them a boat they can take to Switzerland.
The pair head out into a windswept, drizzling night, and arrive tired at a customs town in Switzerland just before dawn. They are arrested after breakfast, but have the necessary passports and are sent to Locarno to get visas. Henry explains to the officials that they are there to "do the winter sport." The officials clearly do not believe the story, but allow them to stay because both Henry and Catherine have money which they will presumably spend.
Chapter 33 - 37 Analysis
Away from the war, the meaningless values of "glory" and "honor" are absent and personal values of loyalty and friendship take their place. The porter, Simmons, and Emelio all reject Henry's offers of money, saying that they are helping him out of friendship. Other men, such as the proprietor of the wine-shop in Milan, are willing to help him simply because he has deserted the war. It is clear that most civilians are sick of the war, and are doing anything they can to help those who have deserted. Indeed, the only people who look down upon Henry is the pair of aviators because he is a young man dressed in civilian clothes. But Henry ignores them; he has changed, and does not care about what they think or that the "proper" thing to do is to be a soldier.
Miss Ferguson, unfortunately, has not let go of social conventions. She is upset that Catherine and Henry aren't married, and at one point accuses Catherine, saying "You have no shame and no honor." However, this is exactly it-Catherine does not have proper shame because she does not believe in general notions of morality, likewise with honor. Ferguson, however, ultimately decides that her loyalty to her friends is a higher value than public conventions, pronouncing that "I'm so upset. I'm not reasonable. I know it. I want you both to be happy."
Count Greffi, on the other hand, is completely initiated. He has no religion: "I had always expected to become devout. All my family died very devout. But somehow it does not come." He understands that love is its own religion: "Do not forget that [love] is a religious feeling." He is also cynical with respect to the war. Above all, though, Count Greffi is a very old man satisfied with life. He represents the kind of inner satisfaction which can be obtained by those who have settled their accounts with life.
Catherine's death is again foreshadowed in this section, when Henry soliloquizes in the darkened hotel room. "The world breaks every one and afterward many are strong at the broken places. But those that will not break it kills. It kills the very good and the very gentle and the very brave impartially. If you are none of these you can be sure it will kill you too but there will be no special hurry." Henry has already been broken, and is strong and satisfied because of it. Catherine, however, is too good to break, and Henry understands this well just as he finally understands life.
A tidy bit of symbolism concludes Book Four of the novel, as Henry and Catherine fight through the tossing sea in an open boat. It is very likely that the episode alludes to Stephen Crane's short piece, "The Open Boat" (1897), in which four men are caught at sea and largely defeated by the indifference of nature to their plight. Here, as well, there "was quite a sea running," and though the wind helps Henry and Catherine along some, it also rips the umbrella-sail. Henry notes at one point that "I could see Catherine in the stern but I could not see the water where the blades of the oars dipped." Essentially, Henry is ignoring the world-Catherine is his religion now.
Chapter 38 - 41 Summary
The first half of Book Five finds Henry and Catherine in the mountains of Switzerland during the winter, enjoying the serenity of domestic life. The people in the surrounding villages are cheerful, and to Henry the raging war is distant. The only obstacle in their lives is Catherine's pregnancy, for there is a bit of trepidation over what to do with the child: "She won't come between us, will she?" asks Catherine.
Nevertheless, when spring comes the couple move into a nearby town where there is a hospital, and after a few weeks the pains begin to come. At the hospital, Catherine is in labor for hours. At first she rides the pains bravely, but soon demands gas. Still, though, the baby does not come. After a while, the gas ceases to work and the doctor declares that he must perform a Caesarian on Catherine.
The baby turns out to be dead, strangled by its cord. Catherine dies soon after the operation: "She had one hemorrhage after another. They couldn't stop it." Alone, Henry walks through the rain back to the hotel.
Chapter 38 - 41 Analysis
The serenity and simple happiness which Henry and Catherine find at the beginning of this section is more or less the eye of the storm. This kind of life is the kind Henry and Catherine both seek-one where there is nothing to worry about, and nothing that needs to be done. The pregnancy, however, promises to ruin this idyllic lifestyle by bringing responsibilities and worries into their lives. "She won't come between us, will she?" worries Catherine. It also creates a sense of urgency that foreshadows Catherine's death: "it gave us both a feeling as though something was hurrying us and we could not lose any time together." Indeed, from the very opening chapter, images of pregnancy have been linked to war and death, as when the soldiers "marched as though they were six months gone with child."
The end of winter here parallels the end of the winter a year ago, when Henry was forced to return from leave. A year ago, it was the time when Henry first had shrapnel blown into his leg. Spring, and the arrival of the rain, signal bad tidings to come.
It is important to note Catherine's progression throughout her stay in the hospital. At first she is excited about the pains and getting the job over with. She bears them bravely, as fits the Hemingway code hero, and manages to smile between the waves. However, nature soon gets the better of her and she begins to develop an addiction to the gas-the pains nature brings are too much. It is at this point that she breaks: "I'm not brave any more, darling. I'm all broken. They've broken me." As the labor draws on and on, she begins to fear death and consequently can no longer accept the indifference of the universe. "I won't die. I won't let myself die," she tells Henry, believing that she has some control over what happens.
Henry, too, finds himself breaking from the strain. At the beginning, when he delivers her to the hospital, he does not attempt to deny the universe's hostility: "this was the price you paid for sleeping together. This was the end of the trap. This was what people got for loving each other." As labor progresses, though, he finds it harder to face the world, and comforts himself by saying "What reason is there for her to die?" The question parallels his statement in Book One that "I knew I would not be killed. Not in this war. It did not have anything to do with me." The world, of course, is indifferent to such reasoning. In the final stages of the operation, Henry begins to cry out to God in desperation-crying out for a reason behind the universe, but of course his cries are unheard.
Catherine's death is the ultimate realization of Hemingway's philosophy. The death is a result of her pregnancy, and the pregnancy a result of love. Whether in war or in love, the universe kills indifferently. Henry understands this, and says in the final chapter: "That was what you did. You died. You did not know what it was about. You never had any time to learn." When Henry leaves the hospital and the end of the novel, he seems to have already accepted her death as something out of his control. He does not romanticize it nor does he seek any reasons. He just walks away.
Outside, it is raining. Catherine, who feared the rain, is dead, and yet the rain beats on mercilessly.