Symbolism in A Farewell to Arms

Rain

Directions: If the rain means something more than soggy scenery in this novel, you should be able to see a pattern of symbolism as you look up the passages in this list. Notes in the "instance" column only tell literally what occurs on the page; you need to figure out the connection between instances that somehow help reveal a theme for the novel. Look up each reference, confirm or change the note on the content of the instance, and make notes about which instances suggest similar connotations.

page     instance                                             your notes

4 bare tree trunks "black with rain";
country="wet & brown & dead with
the autumn"; mists over the river;
permanent rain brings cholera

125 C.B. fears rain: sees herself & F.H.

126 dead in rain

142 rain on day after C.B. tells F.H.
of her pregnancy

150-151 rain on way to hotel across from
Milan train station

156-159 rain visible from hotel lobby; rain
on way from hotel to station; & at
station during goodbye, and depart in rain

184-185 abstraction shouted in the rain on
the Bainsizza vs. sun to reveal guns of Austrians

186 3:00 a.m. battle in rain & wind

187-188 "orderly, wet, and sullen" retreat
from Bainsizza

192 hard rain over preparations for retreat

194 retreat from Gorizia in the rain & dark

210 Crossing railway bridge, Lt. H. sees
Udine (his destination) in the rain

212 Aymo shot and killed in the rain by the
Italian rear guard

215 to the farmhouse & barn in the rain

230 rain during F.H.'s escape and hopping
freight train

243 on train: "I felt as sad as the wet
Lombard country...through the window."

244 rain during F.H.'s train ride & arrival
at Stresa

249 rain in the night at Stresa

266 dark & rain during flight from Stresa

270 no rain while on lake

275 drizzle before daylight on lake

276 "fine rain" on dawn arrival in Switz.

277 cheerful rain

278 cheerful and clean rain

306 rain resumes ("permanent"?)

324 rain during delivery; rain as C.B. lays dying

327 dark & rain during stillbirth & at news
of baby being born dead

332 rain on way back to hotel alone

Assembling a thesis: Rain may suggest something different for the war than it does for the lovers, or the meaning may be the same.

C.B. equates rain with death or the fear of death. What are the traditional positive and negative associations with rain? Do any of them fit with this story?

What pattern of association or meaning for rain dominates this list? Are there enough exceptions to make a different pattern? Summarize the pattern(s) in one or two sentences, and you'll have a thesis about the symbolism of the rain in this novel.

Copyright and Permission: This web on Ernest Hemingway's early novel was begun under a small grant from the VCCS, which holds copyright.  © 2001 by the Virginia Community College System.  This web was made by Dr. Eric Hibbison, Professor of English and Chief Chair, VCCS Regional Centers for Teaching Excellence (1998-2002). Materials in this web may be used free for educational purposes, but this web should not be behind a portal for which users must pay a fee without written permission from the VCCS.  If you're an educator using this web, please inform ehibbison@jsr.vccs.edu, especially if you'd like contact with other educators who are using this web.