Education Of Frederick Henry Essay, Research Paper
In striving to become a hero, Frederick Henry must first become an
aficion, who must learn some difficult and often terrible lessons. Frederick must realize it
is time to accept the truth that war is foolish and the most dangerous thing in the world
and that he must leave his good, little, boys urges behind and prove he is ready to mature
as a man. By discovering who he is, he can develop his own code of ethics. Frederick
must learn and choose what is right and what is wrong, and also what the world might not
approve and start considering his own beliefs. He must free himself of the traditional
view of love that the warm and fuzziness that he may feel will only end in suffering. By
freeing himself, he will destroy those fake notions and understand the malevolent trap he
placed upon himself. The trap, that which he must come to realize, can snap close at any
moment and seize all his hope, so he must learn not to be fooled into believing he has
escaped. . Frederick Henry must learn that the war he sees as meaningful actually lacks
glory and show no sign of honor. It is the killer of children because the people who are
doing the fighting are too young and have no realization of the true consequences of their
actions. Fred must understand that the war is a trap for everyone involved, including their
families who would be killed if anyone escaped. By escaping the war, he can leave
behind some of the malevolence of the world. He must realize no one can fully escape the
malevolence since we are born and will forever live in its clutches. When one is born
they are subsequently given a death sentence to die some point in their life. This
malevolence is unforgiving and will destroy everyone and everything, making the world
a wasteland. Frederick needs to learn how to make his separate peace from the war and
all of the malevolence. He must realize its time to mature and have complete self-reliance
in order to reject society.
It is important for Frederick Henry to understand that he must leave the
childish impulses behind and move on to strengthening his manhood. In order to do that
he has to recognize that he is not a warrior, so, therefore, there is no need for him to be in
this war. By being immature, he foolishly enlisted into the Italian army. His only reason
was the search for adventure and that is where he thought he could find it. The
pretentious view of war as a game is childish. He must learn that lives are at stake
especially his own. By becoming a real man, Frederick Henry must disassociate himself
with the attitudes and actions of the other officers. The officers, who enjoy whoring
around with women and drinking all kinds of alcohol, inflict some peer pressure onto
Frederick, who joins in with all the corruption and contamination. The blurring of
whoring and the war gives reference to the biblical story of Sodom and Gomorrah. In the
story, the cities were completely destroyed because of all the sin and sexual indulgences
going on there. There is a comparison that with all of the sin resulting from their actions
that, in some way, the war will possibly catch up and destroy them, as well. By bowing to
the peer pressure, Frederick wound up choosing to go to Rome and the other big cities for
his vacation. Instead of listening to the priest and going to Abruzze, where he could
cleanse his soul, he went only to the places that may offer exciting stories that he could
tell the officers. If he went to Abruzze, and had the chance to reflect on his life, he may
have came back a new man, but he did not, so he still struggles to become an aficion.
Frederick was taught what the war was all about by the mechanics. They told him all
about the trap of being in the war, using the Granatieri and Carabinieri as an example, of
not having a choice on whether or not to go to battle. If they refused, they would be
executed by the officers. Frederick was indifferent to the mechanics and their insight.
Frederick had the chance to leave the war, but he was a fool. This foolish attitude is what
led him to get shelled. The injury to his leg, as unanticipated as it was, was the first tragic
hint that he needed to get out. Also, by witnessing Passini’s intolerable suffering and,
just as unexpected, death should have capped off his thoughts about the war. But, he was
still a little boy and was not ready to move on. When Frederick encountered the man with
the truss, he was only acting as an officer and not a person. He did not see the fact that
the man needed his help to get out. Fred
would probably die later in the war, as so many did.
Henry was slowly learning the cost of the war, but the cost of love came
abruptly and the suffering that followed could make or break Frederick as a man. He
learns that biology is simply a trap. The death of Catherine and the baby surely helped
him see that when someone is born they are already marked for death and that the death
can come so quickly. Frederick, first learned from Catherine that being in love brings
suffering, as her fianc? dies during the war. This has a horrible affect on her because she
knows that she must live with this suffering the rest of her life. In a link to another
Hemingway character, Jake Barnes, Fred learns the hard way, also, as he impregnates
Catherine to spawn life, but winds up killing her and the baby. Frederick also learns that
the cost of friendship is great, however it, too, can be vulnerable to bad things. Fred can
see this through Rinaldi, and the constant whoring around he does. Rinaldi contracts
syphilis. Frederick knows he will lose a friend, so he must go on without him. Frederick,
no matter what the cost of love, will have to go on alone. With the death of Catherine, he
learns he will have to cope with suffering.
Frederick also learns that the malevolence of the world is everywhere and
there is no way of escaping it. The mechanics explain to him the consequences of the war
and the ugliness in which it conceives. Frederick is taught that the Bersaglieri were un
aware that they were being sent on a suicide mission. Their mission, as immoral as it
sounds, was only to take the focus off other soldiers, so they weren’t killed. Whoever was
in the war was consequently in a trap. The mechanics told Fred that if you sought to leave
the war they would kill your family, if they couldn’t get you. Frederick learns about this
terrifying fact when hearing of the Granatieri who were executed for not carrying out
their mission. Frederick witnesses the true malevolence of the world when he sees Passini
dying after getting his legs blown off. As Passini screams, “Stop it! Shoot Me!”, he is
literally meaning kill him now because the pain is intolerable. That is not how a man
should die. Fred, also witnesses the self-destructiveness of Rinaldi. Rinaldi becomes a
tool of the officers. His duty is merely to fix the injured soldiers who come to him only to
be sent to the front again to die. Rinaldi realizes this can causes him to have a reckless
attitude that, in return, makes him contract syphilis. Frederick must watch as his friend
dies a slow suicide.
The most striking evidence of malevolence in the universe is war. War, in
Hemingway’s view, is hell. There is no honor. There is no glory. It is up to Frederick to
free his mind of the childish views of war as a game. It is not a playground. He must
learn that he is as vulnerable as anyone and that he can die very easily. He must realize
that doing what he is told will only get him killed. The ones getting killed are just like
him, young and too immature to recognize the true nature of this war. It is not until the fat
colonel gets shot right in front of him that he figures it out.
The ability to make a separate peace from the malevolence in the world was
always there for Frederick Henry. He failed when the priest tried to help him. He
submitted to the peer pressure. When he was met violently to make a separate peace, he
shook the shelling to his leg off, and remained a good, little soldier and returned to the
front. However, Fred was faced with the fact he needed to get stronger or the injury
would take control of him. That tested his manhood and he responded well. Frederick had
the chance to help two men make a separate peace from the war. He refused to help the
man with the truss because he couldn’t break the rules. The man couldn’t leave on his
own because they would kill his family or kill him. Fred is responsible for his death, and
his told by the priest he is just like the other officers, the enemy. He had another chance
to help someone. Bonello, his friend, also sought to find a separate peace, but he simply
needed Fred to lie to his superiors, but he failed. Not until the fat colonel took a bullet
right in front of him did he realize he needed to get out. With the help of Emilio who
taught him to rely on his own principles, he was able to get away to Switzerland with
Catherine. He then had the ability to redefine his manhood and live his own life.
Bibliography
Farewell to Arms by Ernest Hemingway