Book One, Chapters 1-12.

Study Questions: Guess answers based on the details in the novel.

1.  In Chapter 3, when Lt. Henry explains what he did and did not do on leave, what does he mean when he says that the priest "had always known what I did not know and what, when I learned it, I was always able to forget"?  (Hint: About a page earlier, he had said, "I explained, winefully, how we did not do the things we wanted to do.")

2.  In Chapter 4, when Catherine Barkley says to Lt. Frederic Henry, "Do we have to go on and talk this way," what does she mean?  Characterize their conversation up to this point AND the change that occurs after her question.

3.  When Lt. Henry says that he has never loved anyone, in what sense does he mean that?

4.  On approximately the same page, surmise why Catherine didn't marry her young man?  What would she have given him if she had known that he would die in the Battle of the Somme on the Western Front?  (Hint: No fair just quoting what she says; figure out what she means so you can tell if she later gives it to Lt. Henry.)

5.  On the next page or so, can you see an example of foreshadowing? (Hint: Answer this question after someone gets wounded later in the novel.)

6.  On the same page, determine if Catherine Barkley still seems to be the romantic who imagined her fiancé returning to her with a neat and honorable wound or if she has changed.  How can you tell?

7.  In Chapters 5-6, as Catherine yields to Frederic, how do they feel about each other? Why does she yield?

8.  About Lt. Henry's personality: 
    a. Considering his comments about art, does Lt. Henry seem to have a cultured view of art?
    b. Why is he in the Italian army?
    c. How does Lt. Henry feel about guns? (Remember the rifle in his room and the pistol he carries. See chapters 3 and 6 for these references to note his differing attitudes about the two weapons.)
    d. Why is Frederic Henry in the ambulance service instead of a combat unit like the soldier from Pittsburgh that we see in Chapter 7?
    e. Tell why you think Lt. Henry could or could not kill someone.
    f.  In summary, what kind of a man is Frederic Henry, as nearly as you can tell at this point?  (Hint: Later, in Chapter 10, Rinaldi will accuse Lt. Henry of really being like "an Italian, all fire and smoke and nothing inside."  Is that a fair assessment or a misunderstanding of Lt. Henry?  Assembling this first impression is important so you can see if Frederic Henry's experiences change him or not.)

9.  Toward the end of Chapter 8, why do you think Hemingway has Lt. Henry announce his being wounded just before it happens?  List at least 5 of the "absurd" things that happen to Lt. Henry from Chapters 9 through 15, starting with his wounding.  How is Hemingway depicting war at this point?

10.  According to Passini in Chapter 9 and the priest in Chapter 11, why do wars continue?  How are their views different?

Research Questions

The following list of research questions ties in directly with Book One. The list mixes military, historical, geographical, medical, cinematic, and biographical topics as needed to get you information you can use to help you understand this portion of Hemingway's novel a bit more deeply.  Books 1-3 are set in the Italian regions of Lombardy and Veneto in northern Italy, although the Abruzzi is another region mentioned (where the priest comes from).  Books 4 - 5 are set in southern Switzerland.  (Click photos for the original, larger image.)

A.  How did the Italians capture Gorizia? What did it mean to shell it or bomb it "only a little, in a military way"? Why was the town strategically important? 

B.  What happened to Gorizia (or this section of Italy) in the settlement of WWI? (Hint: Gorizia is near the Adriatic Sea. You can search for a place map at Expedia to see where Gorizia/Slovenija, Italy, is today, and probably see Udine nearby if the zoom level and centering are right.)

C.  What was the WWI ambulance service like? How did it resemble and differ from, say, today's volunteer rescue squad in personnel, equipment, priority of calls, etc.?

D.  This novel is based somewhat on the experiences of its author, Ernest Hemingway, on the Italian Front in WWI.  What differences were there between Hemingway's own reasons for joining the Italian ambulance corps and those of the character in his novel, Lt. Frederic Henry?

E.  What differences were there between what Hemingway himself went on to after his wound healed and what Lt. Henry went to?

F.  What was a V.A.D. and how were Catherine Barkley's duties typical of a V.A.D.'s duties or not?  How is the training program different from that for an L.P.N. (Licensed Practical Nurse) or nurse's aid today?

G.  What impact did the machine gun have on the fighting in WWI?

H.  What was the fighting like at the Battle of the Somme on the Western Front and why might Hemingway have chosen this battle to be the one in which Catherine's fiancé died?

I.  Why did Italy have a king in 1918, and what happened to the Italian monarchy?

J. What were trench works like in WWI, and how did they include bunkers like the one where the ambulance drivers ate?

K. How was Hemingway's own wounding similar to and different from Lt. Henry's?  Trace how Lt. Henry is treated as a patient after he is wounded in Chapter 9 through his discharge from the Milan hospital, especially through Chapter 13.  For what diseases (such as tetanus or cholera or typhus) is he treated? What are the sources of these diseases in a war zone? What surgical procedures (such as debridement) are debated to treat his knee and other wounds?  If possible, find out how this depiction corresponds with the actual procedures and conditions faced by WWI wounded?

L.  What anesthesias (such as cocaine, ether, and chloroform) might have been used in 1918 on Lt. Henry during his surgery and later on Catherine?  What antiseptics were available (such as carbolic acid, bichloride of mercury, iodine, ethyl alcohol, boric acid, and hydrogen peroxide)?

M.  What surgical techniques were there in 1918 to operate on a wound like Lt. Henry's?

N.  What was the medical basis for the treatment of Lt. Henry's shrapnel wounds and fractured leg?

O.  Was Lt. Henry in danger of typhus?

P.  What was the treatment for tetanus in the WWI era?  What is it now?

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