Theme in A Farewell to Arms

Irony

Directions: Irony means that the expected doesn't happen or that the unexpected does happen. The following list of ironic incidents may suggest a pattern, one view of how life works—especially in love and war. 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

20 "It won't crack here" vs. Book III
on retreat from Caporetto

30-31 "a game like bridge" & unstated
stakes (found out at end of book?)

31& "rotten game" and her motive for
18-19 playing vs. trap (137) & ending

43-44 St. Anthony medal for protection
just before wounding (Did it work or not?)

50-51 Passini speaks loudest against the
war and is killed

99 Dr. Valentini predicts C.B. will make
"a fine boy" baby for F.H.

103 get well & we'll go somewhere (vs.
their real later reason to leave)

108 F.H. says he won't get C.B. in trouble

115 F.H. wanted to be married in case of a baby

116 F.H. is worried C.B. will leave him;
the one she loved before died (vs.
she does "leave" and F.H. takes on
her role as the one left behind)

132 feeling together alone but lonely
with people like Meyers, the bettors,
and the banker & his family

137 "Life isn't hard to manage when you've
nothing to lose." (What does she have
left to lose?)

138 "I did everything. I took everything
but it didn't make any difference."

142 bottles discovered and convalescent
leave canceled

148 F.H. says he won't make a mistake with
the new pistol, but he shoots sgt. (204)

155 (Is foot wound supposed to bring Lt. H.
back to C.B.? Does her elegant wound
myth persist?)

199 sergeants will be good to push vs.
refusal to push (203-204)

204-205 F.H. of the ambulance shooting at 2
sergeants of engineers, "dropping" one

213-218 Aymo shot as a German by Italian rear guard
walked through two armies in plain
sight (no danger on the "straight &
narrow" railroad track)

222 Lt. H. picked out after rejoining
retreat & deserts after shooting
sergeant for deserting him

242 F.H. used to live in Rome & wanted
to be an architect

300 F.H. says he'll never go away (but
C.B. "goes away")

323 Is Lt. H. helping to kill Catherine
with too much gas? Is he helping to
kill the baby?

SEE ALSO page on "they" to find an agent or cause for these ironies?

Assembling a thesis: Given this list of unexpected happenings, how does life work, as seen in this novel? If this story is a tragedy of meaningless war and lost love, how does irony help to increase the impact of that tragedy?

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