Free Essays - A Dysfunctional Henry in A Farewell to Arms :: Farewell Arms Essays

A Dysfunctional atomic number 1 in A parting salutation to Arms   In Ernest Hemmingways  A Farewell to Arms, the protagonist, Frederic heat content is both nonadaptive and tragic. Throughout the story Henry lives up to this description of shear catastrophe and dysfunction. The main elements that aid in making him both tragic and dysfunctional are the fact that the cacoethes he and Catherine shared at the block off of the book was doomed, this love was only role-playing to him at first, and he went AWOL on the Italian army.         The first detail that contributes to making Henry a dysfunctional character is that he uses role-playing as a way of escaping the realization of the gentle mortality which is unveiled by the war. This role-playing begins on Henry and Catherines third encounter. afterward this meeting the two become increasingly comfortable with their roles. It is as if their self-colored relationship is a game. Neither ane of them mistakes role-playing for a rightfully intimate relationship, but both recognize that it can be a useful device for satisfying certain emotional needs. This role-playing is a very dysfunctional characteristic of Frederic Henry.         The second point that makes Henry a dysfunctional character is that he deserted the Italian army. Not only was this mislabeled but it could have cost him his life. Henry, although an American, had made a commitment to the Italian army, to protect and serve Italy. This characteristic alone is enough to make one dysfunctional, as it does to Henry.         In addition to being a dysfunctional character, Henry is also a tragic character. Catherine is pure tragedy. Although the relationship that the love that Henry gains for Frederic and Catherine had started out to be only role-playing it turned into something much more, it became true love. This love was more than could be expla ined in words. Their love during an ugly war was not to be recreated or modeled even as much as through a baby conceived by their love. The baby could not be born alive because their love was beautiful yet doomed so that nothing could come out of it. In a world where the abstracts of glory, honor, and give way meant little to Frederic, his physical association with Catherine was the only thing he had and it was interpreted away from him long before she died.