AP Essay choice 2009.

2009. A symbol is an object, action, or event that represents something or that creates a range of associations beyond itself. In literary works a symbol can express an idea, clarifying meaning or enlarge literal meaning. Select a novel or play, and focusing on one symbol, write an essay analyzing how that symbol functions in the work and what it reveals about the character themes of the work as a whole. Do not merely summarize the plot.  

Shailee Fagan

English 4 AP 5^th Period

Mrs. Rebeske

October 25^th, 2013

When the Rain Comes

            Rain plays an important symbol for love in “A Farewell to Arms”, and also represents itself as motif in the novel. Rain only happens in scenes with Catherine and Henry, who are two hopeless romantics during World War One. The rain symbolizes that all things including love will not last, and Catherine and Henry’s love can only go on for so long.

            Rain gives a gloomy feel, along with somber attitudes. Catherine and Henry lie on their bed in one scene, and listen to the rain. They have mere conversation saying “And you’ll always love me won’t you? Yes. And the rain won’t make a difference? No.” Catherine states that she doesn’t like the rain, that it gives her fear that love doesn’t last; the foreshadowing of their love affairs end. The Anxiety shown in this scene gives the expression that Catherine knows love won’t last through  her previous lover who died before they married, and the feelings that were there diminishes after she falls in love with someone new. Henry doesn’t see the rain as anything, because unlike Catherine, he is experiencing the blindness of a first love, and learning along the way that their relationship will only last so long during the war.  

            In the last scene where Catherine and the baby die, it starts to storm again. Henry leaves the hospital out into the rain, giving the conclusion of the story that their love could only last for so long, and the blindness of love can lead a person’s outlook on life as an unrealistic experience. Henry steps into the rain to show he has touched the state of realization, that even though they said they were married, they were not, and even though the love felt so real, it could only be a dream for a nurse and a retreating solider during a war. The same rules apply to his side of life to the war as it does to love; the war can’t last either, because it is unrealistic for anything to last forever.

            The symbol of rain gives the love story an end, and makes the ending of the book hopeless, but also unknown for Henry’s future. Whether love feels like it will last, there’s no chance of that it will be around for eternity. Everything has its own ending, whether it will be what Catherine and Henry want or not. The realism of the symbol is that anything that comes from life can’t be immortal, and has to have its’ own death. 

Book2Media Post

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=543gDGFuX30

I really enjoyed the music selected for the trailer, because it starts off very delicate and happy much like the beginning, and starts to go hectic and dramatized like the climax of the book. I also thought all the characters were well suited except Catherine. Catherine was an English nurse, with long blonde hair, but the actor had an American accent and also has brown short hair. She also doesn't fall out of the boat on the way to Switzerland, and should be showing that she's far into her pregnancy, and i could not tell at all whether she is actually pregnant or not. The script for the actors on the trailer did relate to what was said in the book, and wasn't modified much.

General Post #5

Journal Entry #5:

            In the scene during chapter nine, the soldiers show a difference in their state of mind. Henry shoots at two sergeants that refuse to cut brush in order to get the car out of the mud so they can get to Udine. Henry shoots one of them for not following orders and running away even though he is not their officer. Bonnello walks up to the shot sergeant and shoots him in head. Their state of mind has become irrational under the circumstances, and Bonello lacks any guilt after killing the sergeant, and actually feels proud of murdering a sergeant, and takes it as an accomplishment. 

General Post #4

Journal Entry #4:         

            The title “A Farewell to Arms” represents Henry’s retreat of the war to be with Catherine. It’s a play on words to show that he says goodbye to being a soldier, (“Arms” meaning firearms), and reaching for something that won’t last. Although we see at the end of the book after Catherine and the child die, we don’t see him returning to the war, or if he ever will. The child’s death shows that even though Henry has left the war and his fantasy has ended, it doesn’t necessarily mean that the war is at peace, and that it’s completely over for him or anyone else. Catherine’s death represents that their love was a dream while being awake, and that his dream could easily turn into a nightmare.

General Post #3

Journal Entry #3:

            There are a couple motifs that are flowing through the story, first being alcohol. Nearly all the characters drink alcohol throughout the book, mainly as a reflection of how the war is turning out. At first, the wine is very strong, and potent. The Italians are at a good stance and have won battles at the front. Towards the point of the book, where the soldiers are retreating because of German invasion, the wine is old and has lost its flavor, reflecting the retreater’s attitudes as poignant. The second motif is that Catherine mentions that Henry and she are married. This shows that they both fantasize a false reality, that they both know they can’t get married, because of the war. It’s already bad enough that Catherine is with child, in which a family is not realistic for a soldier and a nurse in the war. 

General Post #2

Journal Entry #2:

            In the beginning of chapter 8, Catherine gives Henry a St. Anthony when he goes off to the front. At first he does not wear the necklace, but is told that you should always wear your St. Anthony from Italian soldier because it brings peace and luck. Henry starts to wear his St. Anthony, but loses it after bring wounded. This represents that once he loses his St. Anthony after being wounded, that peace is not realistic in this point in the war; that war is very real, and luck of winning for the Italians it scarce. St. Anthony also represents purity that Henry has actually taken a hit as a soldier, and his masculinity has taken over from his childhood, leading to a sense of maturity.   

General post #1

Journal Entry #1:

            Henry sees Catherine for the first time and he seems t have a liking for her. Whether Catherine really has feelings for Henry I can’t really tell. She seems to speak of her past fiancé who died from being a solider frequently. She resists Henry at first, but he insists on her to kiss him, and let him into her love life. When she finally lets Henry into her life, she seems to tease him, and fantasize love than actually feeling it in her heart. This shows that Catherine is not all rational on her feelings, and might be damaged from her past fiancés death. Her archetype is much like a dreamer; that her perception of how she wants to live reality is distant from being fit to how she actually lives reality. 

Tagline

The coward dies a thousand deaths, the brave but one'.... (The man who first said that) was probably a coward.... He knew a great deal about cowards but nothing about the brave. The brave dies perhaps two thousand deaths if he's intelligent. He simply doesn't mention them.”  -Ernest Hemingway 

Brief Publication

"A Farewell to Arms" Was published in 1929 and was Hemingway's first best-seller. The last scene in the book when Catherine Barkley has a caesarean section, was written when his wife Pauline was having a caesarean section.

Brief Author Bio

Ernest Hemingway lived from 1899-1961. He won a Nobel Prize in Literature in 1954.