A Farewell To Arms: Love And Role Playing Essay, Research Paper

John Stubbs’ essay is an examination of

the defense which he believes Henry and Catherine use to protect themselves

from the discovery of their insignificance and “powerlessness…in a world

indifferent to their well being…” He asserts that “role-playing” by the

two main characters, and several others in the book, is a way to escape

the realization of human mortality which is unveiled by war. Stubbs thinks

that Hemingway utilized role-playing as a way to “explore the strengths

and weaknesses of his two characters.” Stubbs says that by placing Henry’s

ordered life in opposition to Catherine’s topsy-turvy one, and then letting

each one assume a role which will bring them closer together, Hemingway

shows the pair’s inability to accept “the hard, gratuitous quality of life.”

Stubbs begins by showing other examples,

notably in In Our Time and The Sun Also Rises, in which Hemingway’s characters

revert to role-playing in order to escape or retreat from their lives.

The ability to create characters who play roles, he says, either to “maintain

self-esteem” or to escape, is one Hemingway exploits extraordinarily well

in A Farewell to Arms and therefore it “is his richest and most successful

handling of human beings trying to come to terms with their vulnerability.”

As far as Stubbs is concerned, Hemingway

is quite blatant in letting us know that role-playing is what is occurring.

He tells that the role-playing begins during Henry and Catherine’s third

encounter, when Catherine directly dictates what is spoken by Henry. After

this meeting the two become increasingly comfortable with their roles and

easily adopt them whenever the other is nearby. This is apparent also in

that they can only successfully play their roles when they are in private

and any disturbance causes the “game” to be disrupted. The intrusion of

the outside world in any form makes their role-playing impossible, as evidenced

at the race track in Milan, where they must be alone. The people surrounding

them make Catherine feel uncomfortable and Henry has to take her away from

the crowd. He goes on to describe how it is impossible for them to play

the roles when they are apart and how they therefore become more dependent

upon each other’s company.

Stubbs goes on to explain how, “neither

mistakes role-playing for a truly intimate relationship, but both recognize

that it can be a useful device for satisfying certain emotional needs.”

He says that originally Henry and Catherine are playing the “game” for

different reasons but eventually move to play it as a team. Henry is role-playing

to regain the sense of order he has lost when he realizes the futility

of the war and his lack of place in it. Catherine is role-playing to deal

with the loss of her fiance and to try to find order in the arena of the

war. When they are able to role-play together, “the promise of mutual support”

is what becomes so important to them as they try to cope with their individual

human vulnerability.

He also analyzes the idyllic world introduced

early in the story by the priest at the mess and later realized by Henry

and Catherine in Switzerland. They fall fully into their roles when they

row across the lake on their way to their idealized world. The fact that

they actually are able to enter this make-believe world strengthens their

“game” and allows it to continue longer than it would have otherwise. And

once they are in this new world they adopt new roles which allow them to

continue their ruse. They also need to work harder to maintain the “game”

because far from the front they are both still aware the war is proceeding

and they are no longer a part of it. The world in which they exist in reality

(!) is not conducive to role-playing because it tries repeatedly to end

their “game”.

Stubbs manages to uncover numerous instances

in which the two are role-playing and he makes a very interesting case

that this is exactly what they are doing and not just his imagination reading

into the story. He does make certain assumptions, that their love is not

“real”, that the characters are searching for order, which are not completely

justified or even necessary to prove his point. He also forces an intentionality

upon Hemingway which could have been avoided without harming his theory.

Towards the end of the essay Stubbs infers that their role-playing is “inferior

to true intimacy,” which is a point that, although he defends well, is

not central to his theory and seems to detract from his objectivity.

The essay is a valuable tool to help the

reader understand this view of what is happening through Henry and Catherine’s

relationship and how they use each other to maintain their self-images,

provide themselves with psychological support, and in a way escape the

war. Hemingway may not have been trying to purposely create a role-playing

scenario, but Stubbs’ essay will benefit someone wishing to explore this

aspect of the relationship of the two main characters in greater depth.

Bibliography:

Bruccoli, Matthew J. and Clark, C.E. Frazer

(ed.), Fitzgerald / Hemingway Annual 1973, pp. 271-284, Microcard Editions

Books, Washington, D.C., 1974