Instead, he proclaims himself in love with nearly every woman he meets, then quickly discards the idea as he finds the next one. Henry's Italian surgeon roommate, Rinaldi is an alcoholic womanizer who does not believe in romance and love as Henry does. Like Henry, she believes the world is out to destroy people's happiness. However, she gains some measure of independence later on, as when she helps Henry row the boat across the lake for their escape, but she is typically submissive and eager to please with Henry (thought, to her credit, so is he with her). She later admits that she was slightly 'crazy' when she first met Henry, and her behavior backs this up: she gives herself so readily to a near stranger, and her games of flirtation and teasing border on the juvenile. Henry offers a tempting rebound, and she dives into this new diverting love.

Catherine BarkleyĪ British Voluntary Aid Detachment (a second-tier nurse), Catherine is in grief over her fiancé's recent death at the start of the novel. Still, he is good at his job a cool-headed, unselfish man who exercises grace under pressure when he is injured and when he must shoot a deserting engineering officer, Henry fulfills the code of the 'Hemingway hero.' He makes his 'separate peace' when he decides that he no longer has any obligation to the army and that his loyalty is to Catherine. He turns from the horrors of war to a passionate, escapist love affair with Catherine Barkley, and the all-consuming love helps distract him from the brutality around him. However, he does not feel strongly about the cause, and certainly is not out for glory. The protagonist and fairly aloof narrator, Henry is a young American ambulance driver with the Italian army. Buy Study Guide Lieutenant Frederic Henry

A farewell to arms book cover