Hemingway A Farewell to Arms (themes, motifs, symbols)
While the couple acts in ways that confirm the genuine nature of their passion, however, they never
escape the temptation of dreaming of a better world. In other words, the boundary between reality and
illusion proves difficult to identify. After Henry and Catherine have spent months of isolation in
Switzerland, Hemingway depicts their relationship as a mixture of reality and illusion. Boredom has
begun to set in, and the couple effects small daily changes to reinvigorate their lives and their passion:
Catherine gets a new haircut, while Henry grows a beard. Still, or perhaps because of, the comparative
dullness of real life (not to mention the ongoing war), the couple turns to fantasies of a more perfect
existence. They dream of life on a Swiss mountain, where they will make their own clothes and need
nothing but each other, suggesting that fantasizing is an essential part of coping with the banal, sometimes
damaging effects of reality.
Symbols
annaabi.ee 
