Captain Corelli And A Farewell Essay, Research Paper

Discuss how Ernest Hemmingway and Louis De Bernieres present the effects of war on the individual in A Farewell to Arms and Captain Corelli s Mandolin.

Although some critics disapprove of De Bernieres portrayal of life in Greece during world war two(1), in particular his depiction of the Germans, there is no doubt that he succeeds in bringing to life the hideous and brutal world that he sets out to create,

They fell to their knees, their hands flailing .their mouths filling with the dry and dusty tang of blood.

This vivid and horrific description of Italians being lined up and shot by the Germans causes the picture, as one critic said to rush into reality, colours and touch and taste. (2) Compare this to an almost identical scene in A Farewell to Arms and we can automatically see that these writers have set out to depict war and the people involved in the war in very different ways,

We stood in the rain and were taken out one at a time to be questioned and shot.

Hemmingway s simplistic style has the effect of creating a very poignant and isolated scene, De Bernieres however achieves this poignancy with intense description and realism. This contrasting description seems to be the major differing aspect of the two books. Hemmingway chooses an uncomplicated, clearly stated approach, De Bernieres a more concentrated and extreme one. There is no doubt that the reader is pulled into the picture that De Bernieres paints, and in particular into the lives of his characters. The reader sees Pelagia and her father attempting to continue their normal lives in their native environment,

the fact is, I am sorry to say, and with great regret, that we shall be obliged to billet an officer on these premises.

De Bernieres shows how the war invades their private, home life, something that we do not see in A Farewell to Arms because both Catherine and Frederick are away from their natural environment, Frederick an American in the Italian army and Catherine, an English woman in Italy. The effect of the war on many of the characters in Captain Corelli s Mandolin is therefore shown in a much more internal and intimate way because their everyday lives are disrupted and affected by it without them consciously choosing to be part of it, like Catherine and Frederick do. De Bernieres further increases the closeness of the relationships between his characters and his reader by using an internalised first person narrative, whereby we hear the characters stream of thoughts,

I could just sit here for hours watching the clouds unfolding .I wonder where they come from?

Hemmingway uses the first person narrative voice, of Frederick Henry, throughout the whole of the book, therefore causing Henry to become very much the central character and the character with which the reader has empathy for. However, the alternating narrative voice in Captain Corelli s Mandolin enables the reader to develop close relationships with many of the individuals in the book, for example with Carlos,

I joined the army because the men are young and beautiful, I admit it.

The narrative voice in A Farewell to Arms remains coolly detached throughout, and although we hear Frederick tell Catherine how much he loves her on various occasions, it is rare that we gain an insight into his thoughts on their situation,

But we were never lonely and afraid when we were together.

When we do find out what Frederick thinks of their relationship it provides us with a totally honest and true idea of his view, something that we do not seem get with either Pelagia or Antonio about their relationship, as it is rare, once their relationship is established, that we are presented these characters with a first person narrative. Although both writers show their main characters going through a succession of different emotions, De Bernieres accentuates these emotions, drawing the reader further and further into the world that he has created,

He knew that her mouth was working with grief, and he himself felt the constriction of the same passion in his throat. He stroked her cheek tenderly and kissed her at the eyes .

The partings of the two pairs of lovers in the books are presented very differently, and it is thorough these farewells that we can once again observe the difference in writing techniques,

Goodbye I said Take good care of yourself and young Catherine.

Goodbye, darling.

Goodbye.

The stilted and seemingly awkward goodbyes here do not show how this departure is affecting either Frederick or Catherine. Hemmingway writes, with luminous realism (3) one critic claimed, and yet this quote can be questioned as De Bernieres seems to be the one depicting the scene in the most life like way, as it would be. Two young lovers parting during a dangerous and potentially fatal time would surely not leave in the way that Frederick and Catherine do, with little or no emotion expressed? This scene comes during the second book of A Farewell to Arms , which is centred not so much around war (as the first part) but around love, when the couple seem to be most in love with each other, again causing this scene to seem odd and unnatural. By showing his characters emotions and feelings more clearly, De Bernieres presents entire personalities to his reader, whereas Hemmingway chooses to omit many parts of his characters personalities and focus only on what he feels needs to be voiced.

The male emotions in both books are presented very differently. Take Carlos and Rinaldi for example, two of the characters who express their emotions more than many of the other males in the books. Rinaldi clearly loves Frederick and considers him to be his war brother , and yet Hemingway s methods of presenting this love could not be more different from De Bernieres methods of presenting Carlos love for both Francesco and Antonio.

We are brothers and we love each other.

Compare this to the first person narrative presentation of Carlos,

I wanted to protect Francesco and prove to him that I was a man .I sat there with tears of rage falling upon his atrocious wounds and vowed that I would live for both of us.

Hemmingway writes with a very distinctive way of speech, implying a pained emotion. (4) This, in my opinion is the key to understanding the differences in the two writers works. Hemmingway is implicit in his implications, allowing the reader to interpret the characters dialogue for themselves. De Bernieres chooses to show exactly what his characters are feeling, the effect of this being that he engages the reader more securely in the lives of his characters, creating a more emotional read. This could echo the times that the books were published. A Farewell to Arms was written in 1929, a time when to show men s feelings for other men was not considered to be acceptable, and homosexual relationships were not tolerated. De Bernieres published his novel in 1994, in a more open-minded world, almost seventy years after Hemmingway, and at a time when presenting male emotions was beginning to become more accepted within society.

The presentation of the female characters, and their importance within the books is also very different, something that could, again, correspond with the times that the books were written. Catherine seems to play a minor role to Frederick, and yet Pelagia and the captain both appear to play equally important roles throughout the novel. Although both women must tolerate their men leaving them for a time, something that in its self implies that these authors consider men to be the more dominant sex, deserting the women, the reader does not see how Catherine copes with the separation. De Bernieres however, allows as much insight into Pelagia s life without the captain as he does into Corelli s life when he is parted from Pelagia.

Pelagia was weeping . we haven t seen him for days, she wailed. I just know he s dead.

During Frederick and Catherine s separation, when he participates actively in the war again, the whole focus is on Frederick, Hemmingway chooses to present Catherine as a secondary character, causing there to be no doubt as to who the main character of the book is. This is one of the major differences between the two books. De Bernieres sets out to create a world, where no particular character is given the title of the most important, and where we are able to witness many different lives as they change and progress. The rapport established between the reader and Frederick Henry is therefore, one might argue, greater than that established between any of De Bernieres characters and the reader. This however, I do not feel is entirely true as De Bernieres succeeds in establishing very firm character-reader relationships within short spaces of time, through his use of intense description and the varied emotions of each character that he shows. With Carlos and Mandras for example, although they do not feature as much as Corelli and Pelagia, we see them undergo many changes and are drawn into their emotional lives.

Mandras fell to his knees and intoned dramatically, Siora, will you marry me? Who cares about one more useless old man? Mandras pulled the trigger.

The progression of Mandras from a loveable, carefree man to a cruel, heartless Nazi allows his character to be shaped and for his personality to achieve more depth.

As well as allowing us to see the emotional changes that occur to the characters in the books as a result of war, both writers present their heroes, and in De Bernieres case, his heroine as well, being injured in some way. Both writers were involved in war for a time, therefore enabling them to talk about the woundings during wartime in a realistic and historically correct way. Hemmingway won a medal for his bravery as an ambulance worker on the front, and De Bernieres participated briefly in the army. For this reason, Hemmingway s novel has been described as a complex and considered reaction to wartime experience as he himself witnessed many atrocities on the battlefield. The woundings that take place to the central males in the books transform them,

I knew that I had been hit and leaned over and put my hand on my knee. My knee wasn t there.

After being hit, Frederick Henry begins to fall properly in love with Catherine. This horrific accident during war alters the rest of his life as if it had ceased to happen he may not have met, and fallen in love with her. The book s central themes are war and love, the first part of A Farewell to Arms being about war featuring love, and the second part love featuring war. This, in a sense is also true of Captain Corelli s Mandolin Both writers use the war as a vehicle to proceed into a love story. Corelli is more seriously injured than Frederick, and almost killed, thus causing him to become more subdued and calm, and thus showing that both characters change in some way because of their injuries,

Ragged and appalling holes burst through from inside his body, releasing shreds of tattered flesh and crimson gouts of blood.

After this incident Corelli departs from the island, leaving the reader with a picture of a sad and disheartened man, very different from the image that we are first presented with of the captain, and thus demonstrating how much the war alters the characters within the book. The physical effects on the women in the books are only really shown through Pelagia,

Her skin stretched tightly over bones that lent her an emaciated

look. It churned the doctor s heart to see her so faded, and he was reminded of those tattered roses that manage to survive the autumn

De Bernieres uses the metaphor of a rose to conjure an image of something beautiful beginning to disintegrate. Catherine is never shown to be very effected by the war, she continues to remain, or pretends to remain, strong throughout, even during their treacherous journey in the boat, and as she lies dying,

Are you tired Cat?

No, I feel splendid.

And during her labour

I m fine, really.

The physical effect of war on the characters is one of the most obvious in both books. Individuals change and progress because of their injuries and this effect is one of the most powerful of allowing the reader insight into what the results and the realities of the war were.

The effects of war on the individual in both A Farewell to Arms and Captain Corelli s Mandolin are presented in both similar and different ways. De Bernieres uses adjectives, metaphors and beautiful description to evoke charming and enchanting scenes, as well as horrific and horrifying pictures of war. His dialogue is extensive, providing a deep insight into the feelings and emotions of his characters and allowing the reader a greater understanding of the nature of each individual. By describing at length the physical effects of the war, pulling the reader into the emotional and painful lives that many of his characters lead, and combining humour and tragedy within his character s relationships with each other, De Bernieres succeeds in bringing to life the war in Greece. Hemmingway creates a novel that implies the emotion rather than stating it obviously, depicting scenes in a straightforward and blunt manner and yet still managing to paint a vivid and engaging idea of wartime. He uses these abrupt, clear and intense methods when presenting dialogue, creating severe and undeniably harsh characters. The effects of war on each person in the book are therfore shown explicitily in both texts, and yet in very different ways. Both authors cause their characters to change and develop throughout the book, and much of this change stems from the effects of the war. By using either intense description, or stark realism, each author succeeds in his own way in showing the war s effect on the individual.

(1) (2) A.S.Byatt, Evening Standard.

(3),(4), Malcolm Bradbury.