A Farewell to Arms Plot Analysis

Most good stories start with a fundamental list of ingredients: the initial situation, conflict, complication, climax, suspense, denouement, and conclusion. Great writers sometimes shake up the recipe and add some spice.

A.     Initial Situation

Who is this guy?

We don’t even know the narrator’s name until after he gets wounded. And the people around him are as puzzled as we are about what an American is doing driving Red Cross ambulances for the Italian army. The facts trickle out over many chapters, and the initial situation is one of getting to know Frederic Henry.

B.      Conflict

Love and war are a dangerous combination.

When Catherine and Frederic meet, she falls in love instantly, but he thinks that love is the last thing he needs. Anybody can die at any moment, but, in the middle of a war, death weighs heavy on the scales of chance. So who wants to fall in love?

C.      Complication

Pregnancy and an empty bear bottle.

That’s right: we said "bear," not beer. Catherine is pregnant and Frederic has to go back to the front in three weeks. In the meantime, they plan a little vacation. Unfortunately, Miss Van Campen thinks that a liquor bottle shaped like a bear is evidence that his jaundice is self-inflicted. When he defends himself by talking about his "groin," he gets his butt sent immediately back to the front, not knowing if he will ever see Catherine again.

D.     Climax

"I feel like a criminal. I’ve deserted from the army" (34.114).

After you swim across the river to get to the woman you love, climax is ensured! At least in A Farewell to Arms. And Frederic was forced into deserting anyway. He held on as long as he could, but it was either swim or die, and he chose to swim.

E.      Suspense

"Please, please, please, dear God, don’t let her die. […]God please make her not die. I’ll do anything you say if you don’t let her die" (41.249).

And that, dear friends, is suspense. Everything is so nice for them in Switzerland until Catherine goes into labor. Suspense over whether the baby will die, and whether the baby is dead, just warm us up for the suspense Frederic is feeling in the lines we quote above.

F.       Denouement

Trying to figure out how to say good-bye.

The baby is dead. Catherine is dead. And that’s the only thing clear. Frederic tries, but he can’t say good-by and have it feel like anything.

G.     Conclusion

Alone in the rain.

Such a lonely conclusion. Frederic can evade death, but he can’t help Catherine do it. And, at the end, he is all alone in the rain.

 

 

Plot Type  

A.     Anticipation Stage

Catherine is almost insane with grief over the death of her fiancé in the war. She meets Frederic, and it’s love at first sight.

Booker says the hero is "in some way incomplete" in this stage, and in need of "unusual gratification." Though she is dedicated to her nursing work, it shows her a ton of pain and death. Catherine is lonely, she wants to love, and she wants to meet someone to help stop the pain of her work and the pain of her lost love. Since her attraction to Frederic is instant, he’s the perfect "focus" for her excess "energies."

B.      Dream Stage

When Catherine shows up at the hospital in Milan, Frederic returns her love.

You have to be a bit cynical to work this into Booker, where, at this stage, the tragic hero does something bad to get what she wants, and then seems to be "getting away with it." Catherine is at that particular hospital so she can be with Frederic, and she does actually wish there were more patients so that she won’t be sent away. She gets her wish and more patients come, but Catherine’s wishes didn’t cause any of the wounds in World War I. To the contrary, she never neglects her patients and foregoes sleep to be with both the patients and Frederic. All she’s "getting away" with is a little bit of happiness in a very difficult situation.

C.      Frustration Stage

Catherine and Frederic are expecting a baby, and Frederic is sent back to the front.

Catherine and Frederic are both happy about her pregnancy, but they are also afraid to bring a baby into a war-torn world. But when Frederic’s leave is cancelled because he offends Miss Van Campen, the lovers are ripped apart. Catherine differs from Booker’s tragic hero in that she performs no "dark acts" to keep Frederic with her. Booker also talks about a "shadow figure" showing up to threaten the hero. Since we know she dies giving birth, we suppose her pregnancy could be considered a "shadow figure."

D.     Nightmare Stage

Catherine in labor.

Catherine is doing OK until she hurts so badly that the anesthesia is no longer effective. It’s safe to say that "forces of opposition" are threatening to defeat her.

E.      Destruction or Death Wish Stage

Catherine dies shortly after giving birth to the baby, who also dies or is dead when he’s born.

A Booker tragic hero dies as a result of her own acts, when the consequences of those acts blow up in her face. Unless loving is a crime, Catherine commits no devious acts which bring on her death.

Three-Act Plot Analysis

For a three-act plot analysis, put on your screenwriter’s hat. Moviemakers know the formula well: at the end of Act One, the main character is drawn in completely to a conflict. During Act Two, she is farthest away from her goals. At the end of Act Three, the story is resolved.

Act I

The narrator slowly exposes himself to us, tries not to fall in love, gets his leg torn up while eating cheese and waiting to help the men who are about to be wounded, and then does fall in love, and helps make a baby.

Act II

Frederic gets sent back to the front for being a smart aleck, and then flees from the army to save his life by swimming up a roaring river. He finds his Catherine, and they escape into neutral Switzerland and live the good life.

Act III

But when Catherine goes into labor, the gig is up. First their love-child dies, and then so does Catherine. And Frederic walks off into the rain alone.