The point of view in this book is called limited first-person narrator. He
writes from the point of view of one of the characters in the story (which happens
to be Henry) and you see, hear, and know what Henry sees, hears, and knows.
This point of view kind of gets you involved in the story, to participate almost
in what's going on.
If I were to describe his style, I'd say he was quite journalistic, in that
he is simple and succinct. His terse style includes many short and to-the-point
sentences, but nonetheless, there is a lot of sensory detail within. That is,
instead of romanticizing everything as authors like Nathaniel Hawthorne do,
filling sentences with high-flown adjectives, and speaking of so many abstractions,
Hemingway is concrete and deals with tangible things. In fact, the elegant love
between Henry and Catherine that would have been romanticized by another author,
is merely a function of existence in A Farewell to Arms. The style even varies
as well - after all, his point of view is first person narrator, so his style
varies along with the character's sentiments.
There are several themes in this novel that are apparent: love, war, humanity,
and loss of innocence. Hemingway provokes the questions: Can love blossom under
even the stress of war? and in war, what is priority - self, country, or morality?
What defines heroism? But the most encompassing question he asks is: what are
the effects of war are on man?
The structure of A Farewell to Arms is also quite simple. It resembles that of a
Shakespearian tragedy. In fact, Hemingway once called A Farewell to Arms his
own Romeo and Juliet; I mean besides, they both tell a love story. As far as
structure goes, however, Hemingway split A Farewell to Arms into five books,
like the five acts in a Shakespearian tragedy; these five acts work out the
plot in a pattern.
- The first book is the introduction, and Hemingway uses this part to introduce
the reader to the characters and setting of the novel, including the protagonist
Henry. Henry is an ambulance driver in World War I who decides to visit
a hospital, where he meets a British nurse named Catherine.
- The second book is complication, in the form of Henry falling in love with
Catherine. Another complication arises when he's wounded by a canister shell.
He goes to the hospital, where Catherine is transferred. He gets better, but
Catherine announces to him that she has become pregnant.
- The third book contains the climax, where Henry goes back to war. His section
is forced to a hard retreat, and he is almost killed in the madness. In this
book, he begins to change his attitude toward war.
- The fourth book contains the resolution as Henry and Catherine escape to
Switzerland
- And the fifth is conclusion, ending in a tragedy.