1st Post: A Hello to Arms

                After reading only the first pages of Earnest Hemingway A Farewell to Arms I am already enjoying so many aspects of the text.  The book is about a young American man named Frederic Henry, who is an ambulance driver for the Italian forces fighting the Austrians in World War One.  While occupying a small town just below a mountain range in Italy, Henry, who also narrates the story, remarks on the weather and the region in a masterful way, creating an interesting atmosphere, and helping the reader really connect with Henry’s life as an ambulance driver in a war zone.  Even on the first page of the story there is clear evidence of this fantastic ability to describe the environment with great imagery, as Hemingway writes “In the dark it (artillery) was like summer lightning, but the nights were cool and there was not the feeling of a storm coming.” (3)  This quote shows how Hemingway uses imagery in a phenomenal way to describe Henry’s perspective on the war.  With lightning symbolizing the action and direct violence of the war, Henry has the luxury of observing it from afar.  Also, the absence of the presence of a storm shows that Henry actually feels little danger from his position.  This scenic introduction to the book makes it easy to understand the protagonist and the region where the story takes place in a unique fashion.  Henry’s nature and perspective has already been outlined even before he has been formally introduced into the story.  Moreover, Hemingway uses the weather to describe other events besides just his perspective on the war, as a he states “looking out at the snow falling slowly and heavily, we knew it was all over for that year.” (6)  In this passage, the war has reached a lull, because of the winter.  But in describing the snow falling, Hemingway really shows the peace and equalization between the forces, as the snow falls on everything in the town and up the mountains.  This temporary break from war allows for more focus to be put on understanding the relationship between Henry, his companions, and his relationship with the town and, of course, Ms. Barkley, the wonderful British nurse who Henry pursues.  The description of the town is extremely enjoyable, and all of the characters thus far are interesting as they fall into different facets of Henry’s life.  Ultimately, it seems as though the town is almost too beautifully described, leading me to believe that this is the lighter side of what is to be a dark contrast later in the book.  The peaceful snow, distant thunder of artillery, and huge mountains will need to end, be heard, or hiked eventually.  With the descriptions from Hemingway as eloquent as they are, I am looking forward to whatever outcome happens, so long as his parallels between weather and the mood stay brilliant.