A Farewell to Arms facts for kids

A Farewell to Arms is a famous novel written by American author Ernest Hemingway. It tells a story set during World War I, specifically focusing on the Italian part of the war. The book was first published in 1929.

The story is told from the point of view of Frederic Henry. He is an American who works as a lieutenant in the ambulance service for the Italian Army. The novel shares a special relationship that develops between Frederic and an English nurse named Catherine Barkley.

When it was published, A Farewell to Arms quickly became a best-seller. It helped make Hemingway a very important American writer. Many people call it the best American war novel from World War I. The book's title might come from an old 16th-century poem by George Peele.

This novel has been turned into many different things. It became a play in 1930, and then movies in 1932 and 1957. There was also a three-part TV show in 1966. The movie In Love and War (1996) shows parts of Hemingway's own life as an ambulance driver in Italy before he wrote this book.

Starting January 1, 2025, A Farewell to Arms will be in the public domain. This means it can be freely used and shared by anyone.

Main Characters in the Story

Here are some of the important people you will meet in A Farewell to Arms:

• Lieutenant Frederic Henry: An American officer who drives ambulances for the Italian Army. He is the main character.
• Miss Catherine Barkley: An English nurse. She becomes very close to Frederic Henry.
• Lieutenant Rinaldi: A lively army surgeon. He is a good friend to Henry.
• The priest: An army chaplain who often talks with Henry about life and the war.
• Helen Ferguson: A friend and fellow nurse of Miss Catherine.
• Miss Van Campen: The head nurse at the American hospital in Milan. She and Henry do not get along well.
• Miss Gage: Another nurse at the American hospital in Milan who becomes friends with Henry.
• Major Valentini: A quick and skilled surgeon who helps Henry when he is hurt.
• Gino: A friendly Italian soldier. His strong love for his country sometimes bothers Henry.
• Bonello: An ambulance driver under Henry's command. He leaves the army to try and be captured by the enemy for safety.
• Piani: An ambulance driver who stays loyal to Henry.
• Passini: An ambulance driver who is killed during a mortar attack that also injures Henry.
• Aymo: An ambulance driver who is killed by guards during a retreat.
• Emilio: A bartender in the town of Stresa. He helps Frederic and Catherine escape to Switzerland.
• Count Greffi: A very old nobleman, 94 years old, who knows Henry from the past.
• Ralph Simmons and Edgar Saunders: Two opera singers who are studying and performing in Italy.

How the Book Was Written

This novel was partly based on Ernest Hemingway's own experiences. He served in the Italian part of World War I. The character of Catherine Barkley was inspired by Agnes von Kurowsky. She was a nurse who took care of Hemingway in a hospital in Milan after he was wounded.

The unnamed priest in the book was based on a real priest named Don Giuseppe Bianchi. While the ideas for Rinaldi are not fully known, a similar character appeared in Hemingway's earlier book, In Our Time.

Hemingway wrote much of the story while talking with his friend Frederic J. Agate. Agate had letters he wrote to his wife from his time in Italy, which gave Hemingway ideas.

However, some parts of the book, like the battle scenes, were not directly from Hemingway's own experience. Because his earlier novel, The Sun Also Rises, was based on real people, readers often thought A Farewell to Arms was also fully about his life.

Hemingway started writing A Farewell to Arms at a ranch in Wyoming. He also wrote parts of it in Piggott, Arkansas, at the home of his wife, Pauline Pfeiffer. He worked on the book in Mission Hills, Kansas, while Pauline was expecting their baby. He was writing a scene about a character having a baby around the same time.

Hemingway found it hard to finish the book. He said he wrote 39 different endings before he was happy. But a special edition of the book from 2012 actually showed 47 different endings!

The novel first appeared in parts in Scribner's Magazine from May to October 1929. The full book was published in September 1929. About 31,000 copies were printed at first. The success of A Farewell to Arms meant Hemingway became financially independent.

In July 2012, The Hemingway Library Edition was released. This new version included an appendix with many of the alternate endings Hemingway had written. It also had parts from his early drafts.

The John F. Kennedy Presidential Library and Museum has two handwritten pages where Hemingway listed possible titles for the book. Most of these titles came from The Oxford Book of English Verse. One title he thought about was In Another Country and Besides, which comes from a play called The Jew of Malta by Christopher Marlowe.

The Book in Movies and Shows

A Farewell to Arms has been made into different types of media:

• Stage Play: The first adaptation was a play in 1930 by Laurence Stallings.
• Movies: It was made into a film in 1932, called A Farewell to Arms. Later, it was remade in 1957, also called A Farewell to Arms.
• TV Miniseries: A three-part TV show was made in 1966.
• New Film: In December 2023, a new movie version was announced. Michael Winterbottom is set to direct it, and Tom Blyth will star.

The 1996 film In Love and War was directed by Richard Attenborough. It stars Chris O'Donnell and Sandra Bullock. This movie shows Hemingway's own experiences as an ambulance driver in Italy before he wrote A Farewell to Arms.

The story was also adapted for radio. In 1937, it was part of the Lux Radio Theater series, starring Clark Gable and Josephine Hutchinson. In 2011, BBC Radio 4 created a 10-episode adaptation for their 15 Minute Drama series.

See Also

In Spanish: Adiós a las armas para niños