The passage from A Farewell to Arms that stood out to me comes in the very beginning just after the protagonist, Henry, meets his love interest, Catherine. Henry is an American fighting in the Italian army and has just returned from leave, during which he visited many Italian cities. Throughout his leave, he heavily indulged in alcohol and prostitutes to fulfill the emptiness and loneliness he felt while away from his comrades. Henry was never passionate about the war, mainly due to his lack of patriotism and dedication to the Italian army, which led to his actions while on leave. Henry was desperate to fill the void of passion in his life, and when that didn’t work he returned to the war even more discouraged than he was before. He had never been in love and started to doubt that he ever could be. 

This mindset is reflected in Henry’s actions when first meeting Catherine. While both immediately interested in each other, their attraction is more to the idea of being in love than each other. Henry liked the idea of love and was willing to pretend with Catherine. On their second meeting with each other, Catherine asked Henry if he loved her and he “lied”, saying yes. Henry had “never said it before” and “did not love Catherine nor had any idea of loving her” but was content pretending that he did (Hemingway 30). It was worth it to both of them to pretend to love, because the idea of it distracted from the bleak reality of the war. This unspoken agreement between them to “play this game” interested me, because it emphasized the hardships of the war. Henry and Catherine would rather fake a relationship than come to terms with their actual situations. Their love grew from their dependence on each other to be their escape from the horrors of the war