A Farewell to Arms · Chapter
XXXVIII explained
Frederic and Catherine enjoy an idyllic life in a Swiss mountain chalet during the late fall, walking through the woods, visiting Montreux, and preparing for the birth of their child.
What happens
Frederic and Catherine enjoy an idyllic life in a Swiss mountain chalet during the late fall, walking through the woods, visiting Montreux, and preparing for the birth of their child. They discuss marriage and their future, while the war remains a distant but troubling presence in the newspapers.
Themes in this chapter
Escape and Retreat
Frederic and Catherine find a peaceful retreat in the Swiss mountains, far from the war.
Love and Loss
Their intimate bond deepens as they plan for the baby and discuss marriage, shadowed by the war's distant threat.
Characters to notice
- Frederic Henry
Narrates the peaceful domestic life in Switzerland, reads war news, and expresses love for Catherine.
- Catherine Barkley
Pregnant and cheerful, discusses marriage, the baby, and plans for the future with Frederic.
- Mr. Guttingen
Lives downstairs with his wife; former headwaiter who bought the chalet.
- Mrs. Guttingen
Tends to the fire and brings breakfast; lives downstairs with her husband.
Key passages
“The war seemed as far away as the football games of someone else’s college.”
The conflict felt as remote and irrelevant as a college football match from another person's life.
Frederic reflects on the psychological distance from the war in their Swiss haven.
“I read the Corriere Della Sera and the English and American papers from Paris. All the advertisements were blacked out, supposedly to prevent communication in that way with the enemy. The papers were bad reading. Everything was going very badly everywhere.”
He read Italian, English, and American newspapers, which had censored ads to block enemy communication, and the news was uniformly grim about the war's progress.
Highlights the contrast between their peaceful life and the ongoing war disasters.
“I suppose if we really have this child we ought to get married.”
Catherine suggests they should marry now that she is pregnant.
Catherine raises the topic of marriage, linking it to the impending birth.