Explanatory Notes
Is Frederic Henry Ernest Hemingway?
This novel A Farewell to Arms is very similar to the experiences of Ernest Miller Hemingway during his tour of WWI. This novel tells the story about Hemingway indirectly through Frederic Henry, because not everything in the novel occurred in Hemingway’s life. Ernest Hemingway did join the Red Cross Ambulance Corps, but it was after failing the medical exam due to poor vision. He was stationed in Italy and carried out very similar duties that Frederic did in the novel. Hemingway was injured by an Austrian trench bomb in the legs and also heroically dragged another wounded soldier to safety while still injured himself (giving him a silver medal), just like Frederic in the novel. However, other sources say he was also hit by a machine gun turret. Other similarities between Hemingway and the character is that he was sent to an American hospital where he received treatment for his wounds. He did fall in love with a nurse but the one in the story was English, but Hemingway fell in love with a nurse from America. Their love life did turn sour for Hemingway but she fell in love with an Italian officer where in the novel she died from giving birth. Much of this book was written from the influence of Hemingway’s real life experiences in the war, but not everything is accurate. Something that Hemingway left out of the novel was what happened on his first day of duty. On this day an ammunition factory was blown up in Milan, where after he had to pick up the torn remains of human body parts. This led his to write his short story “A Natural History of the Dead”.
Famous Literary Ambulance Drivers
During WWI there were many volunteer ambulance drivers that were well know literary figures or became well known after the war. Ernest Hemingway may be the most famous of all volunteer ambulance drivers during WWI but there was also many more. Among Hemingway was John Dos Passos, E.E Cummings, Somerset Maugham, and Robert Service are some of the many literary figures who were a part of the ambulance corps. Even the famous Walt Disney was an ambulance driver during WWI. Also there are some other famous writers who chose to join the war but in other medical related fields. People such as Gertrude Stein, Marjory Stoneman Douglas, and E.M Forster were those in the medical fields during WWI. These literary figures were a part of the First World War, but from earlier wars and the future wars were other famous literary persons also. It has been a common theme for literary figures to volunteer for the medical fields during important wars throughout history. It’s not certain why so many have joined throughout the years, but one certain thing is that many famous writings have come out from the experiences of these wars.
Trench Warfare
Trench Warfare became one of the most popular types of warfare during WWI. Trench Warfare is when both sides in a war dig and construct heavily dug trenches (holes) into the ground in elaborate systems which connect to other trenches. Here the soldiers use the trench for cover, shelter, and attacking. In the novel A Farewell to Arms, you see how much trench warfare is incorporated into the war. Many times they bring up the war in the book and they are often involved in using trench warfare. Frederic Henry (and Hemingway) are both injured in a trench by a trench bomb which was developed for the purpose of destroying trenches. Trenches play a big role in both WWI and in the novel A Farewell to Arms.