A Farewell to Arms by Ernest Hemingway Ernest Hemingway's World War I classic, A Farewell to Arms is an initiation story in which the growth of the protagonist, Frederic Henry, is told. Frederic is initially a naive and unthinking boy who cannot grasp the meaning of the war in which he is so engaged, nor the meaning of his lover's predictions about his future. He cannot place himself in the turmoil that surrounds him and therefore is unable to fully justify a world of death and destruction. Ultimately, the distinction between his failed relationship with Catherine Barkley and the devastation of war allows him to mature and come to the conclusion that the only thing one can be sure of in life is death and personal annihilation ( Phelan 54). To tell the story of Frédéric's maturation it is necessary first to understand his character; he is what critics label a “Hero of the Hemingway Code.” Indigenous to nearly all of Ernest Hemingway's novels, the "Hemingway man" lives by a simple rule: "The gambler is born a man; life, gambling will kill him" (Rovit and Brenner 90). This man tries to draw meaning and dignity from his stale and directionless being. In the case of Frederic Henry, the search for a system of values ​​and morals is difficult because he is trapped between two socially defined extremes, love and war. He only gains knowledge through his direct experience with these two elements and through the indirect teachings of various characters in the novel (Waldhorn 68). the altruism of the young priest and the egocentrism of Rinaldi. In the introductory chapters, Frederic is torn between spending the holidays in... middle of paper... well to arms." Review of Hemingway. 10 (1991):61-64. Phelan, James. "Distance, Voice, and Temporal Perspective in the narrative of Frederic Henry: successes, problems and paradoxes". New essays on the farewell to arms. Ed. Scott Donaldson. Cambridge: New York, 1990. 53-73. Rovit, Earl and Gary Brenner. Ernest Hemingway. Twayne: Boston , 1986. Spanier, Sandra Whipple. "Hemingway's Unknown Soldier: Catherine Barkley, the Critics, and the Great War." New Essays on A Farewell to Arms. Ed. Scott Donaldson. New York, 1990. Waldhorn, Arthur. "Excerpt from the Reader's Guide to A Farewell to Arms." Readings on A Farewell to Arms. Ed. Gary Weiner: California, 2000. 68-71 to arms". Readings on A Farewell to Arms. Ed. Gary Weiner. Greenhaven: California, 2000. 106-114.