BLOGGER TEMPLATES AND TWITTER BACKGROUNDS ?

Monday, May 10, 2010

Blog Design

"Outside we ran across the brickyard. A shell burst short near the river bank. Then there was one that we did no hear coming until the sudden rush. We both went flat and with the flash and bump of the burst and the smell heard the singing off of the fragments and the rattle of falling brick." (Hemingway 53).

We chose the heart with the falling pieces because the war was chipping away and as guns were fired in the war things were slowly falling to pieces. The heart is significant because it includes the second part of the book which is his love for Miss Catherine Barkley.

Sunday, May 9, 2010

A little bit about Ernest Hemingway

Born: July 21, 1899
Died: July 2, 1961
Nationality: American
Notable Awards: Nobel Prize in literature, and 1954 Pulitzer Price for fiction

Ernest Miller Hemingway was born 1899, July 2 in Oak Park, Illinois. In high school Hemingway wrote for his school paper, and after high school he went to WWI. Hemingway was actually quoted saying "I did not go to college but instead went to WWI". In WWI Hemingway was an American Red Cross ambulance driver, and won the Italian Silver Medal for Valor. Hemingways many different experiences include being an Reporter, novelist, freelance writer for the Toronto Star, and writing several short stories. Hemingway was a great writer who related many of his stories back to him self especially A farewell to arms, where he wrote about the struggle of balancing what you desire with civil obligations. It is unfortunate that Hemmingway committed sucide, however when he died he had left serveral short stories, and novels Hemingway was working on proir to his death.

Saturday, May 8, 2010

Theme

The Struggle Of Balancing Civil Duty With Desired Affection

Friday, May 7, 2010

About The Book




In the book A Farewell to Arms by Ernest Hemingway, Henry starts out as an impassionate soldier who is constantly conflicted with his civil obligations in World War I and his new found love, Catherine Barkley. After Henry is injured on the front he is sent to a hospital where Catherine is working. During his stay at the hospital their relationship flourished into a life changing romance. However Henry is required to return to the front which is the biggest struggle for him considering that his love for Catherine has become his meaning to live. Although he is forced to make a life altering decision between Catherine and his civil duty to his country, in the end, his life is dramatically changed.




  • Henry talked with his friends at the fort


  • Henry met Miss Barkley and they got along well


  • Henry was injured by a mortar shell and yet he still tried to help Passini


  • Catherine arrives at Henry’s hospital


  • Catherine doesnt not like the rain because she sees them dead in it


  • Henry returns to the front


  • Henry was pulled out of line by battle police and he jumped in a river to save his life


  • Catherine goes into a hospital to have the baby


  • The baby was born dead


  • Catherine dies and Henry leaves the hospital walking away in the rain


Poem Extension

“Looking at Each Other” by Muriel Rukeyser

Yes, we were looking at each other
Yes, we knew each other very well
Yes, we had made love with each other many times
Yes, we had heard music together
Yes, we had gone to the sea together
Yes, we had cooked and eaten together
Yes, we had laughed often day and night
Yes, we fought violence and knew violence
Yes, we hated the inner and outer oppression
Yes, that day we were looking at each other
Yes, we saw the sunlight pouring down
Yes, the corner of the table was between us
Yes, our eyes saw each other's eyes
Yes, our mouths saw each other's mouths
Yes, our breasts saw each other's breasts
Yes, our bodies entire saw each other
Yes, it was beginning in each
Yes, it threw waves across our lives
Yes, the pulses were becoming very strong
Yes, the beating became very delicate
Yes, the calling the arousal
Yes, the arriving the coming
Yes, there it was for both entire
Yes, we were looking at each other

Criticism

  • I really enjoyed the book as I really like love books. I loved how Henry changed from being impersonal to loving and cherishing Catherine. Often times men do not change but Henry was able to recognize that Catherine really did mean something to him. I also loved the way that Ernest Hemingway uses the short sentences, direct language, and life experiences to write the book A Farewell To Arms.

  • This was an amazing book, orginally I thought it was not going to be that interesting however I was proven wrong. Ernest Hemingway uses this expressive language, and he makes you feel like you are actually Henry. Also Hemingway uses his own life experiences to help create this tragic love story. In opposition I did not like the way Hemingway directed his diaologue, at some moments it tended to get confusing. But through and through A farewell to Arms turned out to be an amazing book.

Wednesday, May 5, 2010

Questions

  1. In book one, what does Catherine give to Henry to protect him?
  2. In book one, does Henry agree when people call him a war hero? Why or why not?
  3. How does the first chapter of A Farewell to Arms set a tone and mood which anticipate subsequent events? Why does the narrator move the reader through a change of seasons from late summer to autumn and on to winter? What are the major images in the chapter, and what is the effect of the understatement in the final sentence (p. 4)
  4. During Lt. Frederic Henry's early visits with Catherine Barkley, Catherine says as they touch each other and speak of love, "This is a rotten game we play, isn't it"? (p. 31). How should one characterize Frederic's early "love" for Catherine? What does the initial stage of their relationship reveal about the effect of the war upon their lives?
  5. What happens to causes Rinaldi to believe Catherine prefers Henry?
  6. How does Richard react to certain things that occur throughout the book?
  7. Do you think that the underlying message throughout the book is how difficult it is to leave a tough situation? (Leaving the war, Henry leaving the hospital at the end of the book, etc.)
  8. I wonder what Henry’s dream was that made him wake scared and sweating? Pg 88
  9. What do they mean when they are talking about temperature? Pg 102-103
  10. Who do you think was falling more for one another? Pg 105-106
  11. Does Catherine seem desperate?
  12. What does it mean when they say “it was all balls”? Pg134
  13. Why do you think Catherine is obsessed with apologies and always wanting to be over pleasing? Pg 138
  14. Why were they discussing money in such a desperate time to escape? Pg 265
  15. I wonder if the barman had heard about Henry’s arrest at the same cafĂ© from were supposedly Henry’s “friend” was from about two chapters ago. Pg 266
  16. Do you think that it is a odd way to think of your baby as a burden on time? Pg 311