War Trauma and Traumatized Characters in A Farewell to Arms by Ernest Hemingway

الصدمة الحربية والشخصيات التي تأثرت بالصدمة في رواية وداعا للسلاح من تأليف ارنست هيمنغوي

محمد عبد الباسط ابراهيم          

 قسم اللغة الانكليزية، كلية التربية، جامعة النور، الموصل، العراق

المستخلص

تفحص هذه المقالة صدمة الحرب وبصمتها النفسية على الشخصيات في رواية وداعًا للسلاح (1929) لإرنست همنغواي من خلال نظريات التحليل النفسي ودراسات الصدمة. بالاعتماد على النظريات التأسيسية للصدمة لدى سيغموند فرويد، يركز التحليل على الأنماط السلوكية المتكررة والمدمرة للذات التي يظهرها الأفراد المصابون بالصدمة. يجسد تصوير همنغواي للملازم فريدريك هنري وكاثرين باركلي التأثير النفسي العميق للحرب العالمية الأولى، حيث يعكس نضالهما الحالة الإنسانية الأوسع في فترة ما بعد الحرب. تلتقط الرواية الطبيعة الدورية للعنف، وأشباح الذكريات غير المحلولة، والصراع من أجل إيجاد معنى وسط الفوضى. من خلال وضع السرد في سياقات تاريخية واجتماعية وثقافية، يعكس همنغواي تجاربه الشخصية مع الحرب، مقدّمًا تصويرًا صادقًا وصريحًا لتأثيرها على الهوية والذاكرة. تسلط المناقشة الضوء على كيفية تأثير تعرض همنغواي المباشر للحرب على أسلوبه السردي وموضوعاته، حيث يستخدم الجراح النفسية لشخصياته لاستكشاف الندوب الدائمة للحرب العالمية الأولى. تعمّق هذه الرؤية فهمنا لمساهمات همنغواي في الأدب الحداثي، مما يبرز قدرته على التعبير عن الحقائق غير القابلة للوصف للصدمة وتأثيراتها المستمرة على الأفراد والمجتمع.

الكلمات المفتاحية: الحرب، فرويد، الصدمة، الحرب العالمية الأولى، الأحلام، ذكريات الماضي

1-Introduction

       Psychoanalytic theories on trauma mixed with additional theoretical frameworks such as post-structural, sociocultural, and postcolonial theory provide the basis of critique that examines representations of an intense experience and its repercussions upon identity and memory. In the 1990s, a new wave of academic inquiry emerged to explore the concept of trauma and its significance in literature and society, notably by Cathy Caruth, Shoshana Felman, and Geoffrey Hartman. The initial wave of criticism popularized the notion of trauma as an unrepresentable occurrence that exposed the intrinsic tensions within language and experience.

   Trauma, often a subject of critique, is typically defined as a profoundly disruptive occurrence that significantly affects an individual's emotional structure and worldview. Trauma studies examine the effects of trauma in literature and culture through the analysis of its psychological, rhetorical, and cultural implications. Scholarship examines the intricate psychological and social elements that affect the self's understanding of a traumatic experience and how this experience is both influenced by and affects language. The formal innovations of print and media texts that reveal how identity, the unconscious, and memory are shaped by extreme experiences continue to be a crucial emphasis of the field.

   Freud's theories regarding the traumatic experiences of war and memory delineate the psychological principles that inform the discipline. Psychoanalytic theories concerning the origins and impacts of trauma emerged in the nineteenth century through the investigation of shock and hysteria by scholars such as Joseph Breuer, Pierre Janet, Jean‐Martin Charcot, Hermann Oppenheim, and Morton Prince, alongside Freud. Freud's initial views in Studies on Hysteria (1895), co-authored with Joseph Breuer, and particularly his revised theories in Beyond the Pleasure Principle (1920), significantly influence the conceptualization of trauma among contemporary literary trauma critics.

   Freud's initial challenge was the occurrence of repetition in war-related trauma. When Freud treated individuals suffering from trauma, particularly that experienced by troops returning from WWI, he observed that subjects often tended to repeat or re-enact these traumatic experiences: "dreams occurring in traumatic patients have the characteristic of repeatedly bringing the patient back into the situation of his accident", (1). contrary to the expectations of the pleasure principle. Freud's trauma to A Farewell to Arms can delve into how Hemingway portrays the compulsion toward self-destructive behaviors and recurring traumas that reflect soldiers' inability to escape the psychological scars of war.

War trauma in individuals' psyches that impacts their psychology even years after. The memories of battle remain for several individuals who endured it. World War I authors mirror the realities of the twentieth century. Their depiction illustrates the enduring remembrance of the war and its significant impact, evident in the literary works produced in the years subsequent to the conflict. The history of warfare was documented by authors seeking to illuminate the contemporary existence and those aiming to preserve their recollections. traumatic experiences that are almost destructive. In this context Cathy Caruth’s Unclaimed Experience: Trauma, Narrative and History asserts that:

"trauma is experienced and witnessed through a ‘response to an unexpected or overwhelming violent events that are not fully grasped as they occur, but return later in repeated flash backs, nightmares, or other repetitive phenomena" ( 2).

The experience of World War I, as articulated by Caruth in her definition of trauma, manifests as dreams, flashbacks, recollections, and shock. The notion of trauma requires that the author endures war events and experiences anxiety, depression, and colonization. Those experiences need to be told in order to "make them seen as a real event that disturb human minds" ( 2).

In the novel A Farewell to Arms, protagonist Lieutenant Frederic Henry and his beloved Catherine are continually dragged into life-threatening situations, extending beyond the battlefield, indicating an inclination toward risk that resonates with Freud's theory. His participation in the war, despite the personal suffering it inflicts, may be perceived as an unconscious impetus for both physical and psychic destruction. Analyzing A Farewell to Arms through this perspective highlights how war trauma may profoundly infiltrate an individual's mind, driving them to revisit or replicate self-destructive behaviors, as described by Freud. This viewpoint explains Hemingway’s portrayal of the futility and cyclical nature of violence and suffering in warfare, illustrating the extensive ramifications of conflict on human psychology. The impact of war into Ernist Hemingway writings. In addition to the mountains and numerous other locations, Ernest Hemingway did not forget the location of his battles. In his work, he used a variety of places, including Switzerland, Italy and many more. In addition to providing precise names for towns and cities, he also provided names for the seasons and even the days of the week. In order to provide the story with more particular information, Hemingway focused on portraying the weather in each season. This recall of locations and their descriptions demonstrates how heavily the war influenced Hemingway's writing. The exact spot is an essential aspect since it indicates where the soldiers remained or where they moved from one location to another. The characters and the location are in contact. Hemingway views the place as a pot that holds his recollections and the entirety of the war's events. It is the circle that restricts the characters' movements and actions. Additionally, it illustrates the features of the challenging life that soldiers led and the challenges they encountered.

Ernest Hemingway associated the transition from the 19th to the 20th century with his life. Throughout his lifetime, Hemingway was a part of a civilization that witnessed numerous ideological shifts. John Mathews in American Writing of the Great War observes that:

"The combination of Hemingway’s eerie and the profound vision into the human condition evokes a sense of homelessness as many how had experienced their most meaningful, soul-searching moments abroad, and how returned to places and routines that no longer seemed much like home at all" ( 3 ).

   The majority of Hemingway's works, which depict a shift in psychological existence, contained themes from the First World War. As a result, Hemingway's fiction depicted the social and personal pain brought on by the events of World War I the majority of his fictional works depict the trauma that was endured in the early twentieth century. The trauma of war contributed in Hemingway’s narrative style that defined and presented that period. "In war and peace, Hemingway was reckoned by diseases and suffered hundreds of wounds, concussions, internal injuries, but as he said:’ my luck, she is running very good ’he survived them all, all expect the last, self-inflicted wound" (4).

Many authors began using different terminology to portray the image of conflicts after the Great war. Among the authors was Ernest Hemingway. In fact, Ernest Hemingway's masterpiece A Farewell to Arms, which deals with historical events not as they happened but rather in the form of nightmares and flashbacks, is set during that historical period—the interwar period. He cared very much about literary originality. Since he felt that a writer could only address a subject honestly if he had personally seen and witnessed it, the majority of his writings accurately depict historical events that occurred to him during World War I. In order to portray the individuals' suffering and demonstrate how they struggled to recall it, Hemingway's honesty was crucial.

The first World War was marked by bloody incidents. It altered society and had an impact on people's lives. War's effects are evident in death, injuries, shock, terror, and trauma; it destroyed people's mental health. The tragedies are still vivid in everyone's mind. Using Hemingway as an example, his trauma retrieval demonstrates his inability to move over his nearly devastating traumatic events. Trauma can manifest itself in various psychological ways. However, it is most commonly seen through "high rates of depression, anxiety, suicide, isolation, loos of sleep, anger, shame, fear, destruction, loos of concentration, substance abuse, mistreatment and violence within afflicted communities" (John, 2005). The effects of trauma are important in understanding the actual-day conditions of the traumatized people.

Because Hemingway lived through a time of conflict and attempted to turn his experiences into a narrative, his characters are traumatized, just like Hemingway himself. Through his character, he experienced the trauma once more. In order to illustrate the violence of trauma and its impact, he incorporated his own painful experiences into the character of Frederic Henry. We might conclude that Hemingway remained in the cycle of trauma and escaped from his painful condition as his disturbed reality because the majority of his wartime novels depict his character's anguish.

This comment relates to Hemingway's account of trauma in A Farewell to Arms.  It is, in fact, based on the characters' trauma and the improbable past that continues to haunt them. However, Hemingway's literature is completely separated from war and never specifically mentions it: For instance, there was never any discussion of political disputes, the reasons behind war, or its outcomes. He didn't address all of these, instead he used the trauma as a main topic to illustrate the war's effects.

A Farewell to Arms breaks down the causes and consequences of conflict. It paints an accurate representation of Hemingway's horrific experience and also influenced the realities of his era, which is evident in the majority of his war novels. Because the person who experienced the trauma will honestly recount his emotions and painful experiences, the narrative style of trauma exposes readers to the actual world and teaches them many valuable lessons, in The Green Hills of Africa Hemingway observes:

"What a great advantage an experience of war was to a writer, it was one of the major subjects and certainly one of the hardest to write truly of and those writers who had not seen it were always very jealous and tried to make it seem unimportant, or abnormal or a disease as a subject, while really it was just something quite irreplaceable that they had missed" (Hemingway, 1935, p. 70).

In one way or another, the First World War contributed to the disclosure of people's attitudes, deeds and behaviors. Many writers' writing styles were significantly altered by it, and modernism emerged as a new literary movement with distinctive characteristics. Many political disputes during the modern era led to crises, which in turn had an impact on literature. The majority of fiction published after that time period shows the effect.

Traumatized characters in A Farewell to Arms

Men and women who are severely impacted by physical and emotional trauma are portrayed by modernist writers. They are perceived as having mental illness. Hemingway's female character is portrayed as mentally ill throughout the entire work, while his male character is physically damaged and lost a body part while fighting in the war. A crazy woman with some mental health issues. Because of their gender differences, Hemingway treats these characters differently, and the pain they have must also be distinct from a man's and a woman's point of view. Catherine, who is mentally sick and has psychiatric issues, is shown as crazy. You can identify the origin and cause of such pain from Hemingway's portrayal of his female character. The signs of trauma are evident in Catherine's insanity. When Hemingway's insane woman loses her mind, she becomes ill.

Many writers of the 20th century Hemingway as an example wrote fictional works through which they articulated the traumatic events of war. ‘‘Hemingway in his narrative attempts to capture the effect of trauma and its difficulties on human beings. Historically speaking, the twentieth century witnessed political conflicts and crisis’’ (4). Through his fictitious characters, Hemingway depicted the terrible experiences and the aftermath of war in the narrative framework of A Farewell to Arms.

Frederic Henry's trauma

Hemingway uses an ambulance driver character in the novel to illustrate his experiences during World War I. Because he was impacted by numerous violent incidents, writers who have gone through horrific wartime experiences often utilize narrative to distinguish between their history and their memories. This demand demonstrates how Frederic Henry's roles as narrator and character are distinct. He was a participant and an eye-witnessed character, this view falls on James Phelan arguments who argued in his essay that entitled Distance, Voice, and Temporal Perspective in Frederic Henry’s Narration, he says: "one of the features of A Farewell to Arms is how skillfully Hemingway closes the distance between himself and Frederic, and how he used the narration to signal Frederic’s changes" (James, 1990). Readers of Hemingway's novels may readily detect this idea; Hemingway's division demonstrates his skill and craftsmanship as a writer. It should be mentioned that this divide serves two purposes: first, as a narrator, Frederic recounts his own love story and painful wartime recollections; second, he portrays himself to readers as an eyewitness or figure who took part in the conflict.

Hemingway separated himself into two voices: the one about his terrible wartime experience and the other about Frederic Henry's love story. He was reliving his memories and rebuilding them. He showed a great willingness to recount his earlier experiences. Donald said:

"Although Frederic is ostensibly telling his own story, the narrative contains two simultaneous voices: Frederic and Hemingway’s voices together, they give us an idea of how Hemingway mixed two time schemes, one corresponding to the events as they first occurred, and the other corresponding to the hindsight" (Kaifu, 2019).

Death, danger, and violence all pose threats to Henry's life throughout the course of the novel. His love for Catherine, who died later, was devastated by the war; in fact, her passing marked the peak of Henry's suffering, leaving him feeling hopeless and perplexed. As a narrator, Hemingway has depicted the grimness of war that affected people; his book highlights insane people, war's brutality, and injured soldiers; all of these things are related to Hemingway's personal involvement in the conflict, which left him with trauma and war hallucinations that had far more devastating effects on him. His fiction writing reflects the experience of trauma. More than his experience in the battle, Hemingway has been impacted by the anguish of being wounded. He was always amazed by the trauma he had experienced as a result of his involvement in the war.

Frederic Henry repeatedly questioned why he enlisted in the military, but he never received a response. Frederic says to Catherine: ‘‘I do not know, there is not always explanation for everything.’’ (Hemingway, 1926) , again when he was asked why he entered the war, herpes's: ‘‘I do not know, I was fool’’ (Hemingway, 1926, p. 277). Jay Winter researched Hemingway's writing style and concentrated on the physical injuries he had endured. In Remembering War, Jay asserts that: "Trauma goes on the minds of many of those who returned intact, or apparently unscathed, and in the suffering of those whose memories are embodies enacted, repeated, performed" (Hemingway, 1926) Memories of horrific experiences brought on the battle were captured by Hemingway. He recounted his former experiences and described the person's traumatic life and mental destruction.

Sigmund Freud challenges the notion that people are primarily driven by the need for pleasure in Beyond the Pleasure Principle (1), where he analyzes flashbacks and dreams, especially in the context of trauma. Freud noted that trauma survivors frequently have nightmares or flashbacks to their traumatic events, which seemed counterintuitive given that these memories produce pain rather than joy. Hemingway contradicted himself when he claimed that Frederic experienced bodily harm and remembered anguish at the level of the body. After being violently wounded, Frederic displayed symptoms of his trauma, such as flashbacks, nightmares, dreams, and heavy drinking. Michael Raynolds argues: "Despite Frederic's reticence, his behavior should let the reader see that he has been changed by his violent wounding" (Hemingway, 1926).

 Frederic's actions and thoughts were unstable and out of context, and he was absent-minded. In actuality, this technique is employed for self-defense since the characters do not accept the reality of losing a loved one. In order to protect oneself from the painful reality, nightmares are useful. For example, excessive drinking, trouble falling asleep, pain, nightmares, flashbacks, and other symptoms. Smith states that:

"In area of the diagnostic criteria for post-traumatic stress disorder: two of the first criteria in establishing whether or not an individual suffers from post-traumatic stress disorder are that the individual must have been exposed to a traumatic event which threatened death and which elicited a response of intense fear, helplessness, or horror" (Khaoula, 2018).

After a violent incident, Frederic Henry sustains severe injuries. Because he is disturbed by the flashbacks and unsettling nightmares, the novel's protagonists actually experienced severe traumatic injuries and post-traumatic stress disorder. Frederic told the priest:

"I tried to talk about the differences between the night and the day….and I could not tell it; as I cannot tell it now. But if you have had it, you know…he had always known that I did not know and what then, although I learned it later" (Hemingway, 1926).

Because they were limited to military service, many troops found it difficult to recount their horrific experiences. He placed a strong emphasis on portraying both the external appearance and the interior thoughts. His story is based on memories of the incidents that linger in his memory and resurface later in dreams or flashbacks.

Hemingway created characters that are portrayed as not paying much attention to memory, recounting and bringing to mind their former events that are still present in their brains. His experience of trauma influences the form of his narrative, and this line in the book has one of the most frequently cited quotes about trauma: Henry presented in the work observing that: ‘‘I was always embarrassed by the words sacred, glorious, and sacrifice and the experience of war.’’ (184), This demonstrates how the trauma narrative is impacted by war. Hemingway's character Frederic is thinking back on recollections from his past that he still harbors. Frederic's account of historical events reveals his wretched wartime existence. He demonstrates his pain and struggles, particularly following his injury. His terrible recollections also cause him psychological distress. He had a mental illness. Transforming your innermost sentiments and emotions into a narrative is quite challenging.

In A Farewell to Arms, the anguish he experienced was manifested in the form of dreams brought on by his shelling attacks. The opening chapter mentions that the terms trauma and shell-shock are related to the medical and military domains. We can say that they are troubled survivors since Caruth and Freud believed that trauma was an impossible past that resurfaced in the form of dreams or flashbacks. Traumatized individuals relived the trauma through disjointed and fragmented memories of the past; because trauma survivors are disjointed and mentally ill, they are unaware of what actually occurred. They might only be able to recall certain aspects of their terrible previous experiences through recurring occurrences like flashbacks or nightmares.

He had to endure the agony because of painful memories of Frederic. He constantly experiences flashbacks and nightmares from his dreadful background. His tragic background and impossible history were revealed by those symptoms, which affected his emotions. It seemed as though Frederic had no control over his trauma, which disturbed him at night. Everything arrives and is retrieved at night. He began to reflect on his injuries, trauma, and even the deaths of those closest to him. For Henry, the night is another terrifying and isolating realm. Henry says:

"I know that night is not the same us the day that all things are different, that the things of the night cannot be explained in the day, because they do not exist, and the night can be dreadful time for lonely people once their loneliness has started, but Catherine, there was almost no difference in the night except that it was an even better time" (Hemingway, 1926).

Even after Catherine brightened Henry's gloomy night, he is unable to shake his anxiety and trauma. His battle went on, and he was still having nightmares. Henry's nightmares caused him to become unsettled and unable to overcome his trauma as they moved from the past to the present.

Cathrine Barkley trauma

Through her emotions, actions, and interpersonal relationships, Catherine Barkley, a major character in Ernest Hemingway's A Farewell to Arms, personifies the psychological effects of trauma. Her loss of her fiancé during World War I was the source of her trauma. Ernest Hemingway illustrates the brutality of battle in A Farewell to Arms. It keeps a couple who are falling in love apart. Catherine Barkley is a nurse, and Frederick Henry ought to serve. When they learn they are living in the midst of World War I, they both become conflicted. They don't know how to win their love back and are enmeshed in a fight. A soldier falling in love with a nurse is a common occurrence, but it becomes an intriguing tale when Henry abandons Catherine to perform the service in front of the public while she also departs for Switzerland.

Catherine Barkley, a nurse from England who aids combat victims in Italy during World War I, is shown as a stunning woman. She had been engaged to a soldier for eight years before falling in love with Lt. Frederick Henry, but he was killed in battle. "He was a very nice boy. He was going to marry me, and he was killed in the Somme" (7). Even though her fiancé has previously passed away, she still loves him when she enlists in the military and before she meets Frederick. After meeting, Catherine and Frederick fall in love. However, there are some issues with Catherine that I think are worth talking about despite their romantic relationship. When Catherine is with her fiancé until his death, she remains a virgin. She believes she has done him any favors. She usually cuts her hair to replace it. As a sacrifice to him, she switches the item to her hair. As a substitute, the ego permits her to do that, but she doesn't:

"I was going to cut it all off when he died…I wanted to do something for him. You see, I didn’t care about the other thing, and he could have had anything he wanted if I had known. I would have married him or anything"  (Hemingway  1926).

She regrets that he passed away before they were married. By cutting her hair, she is attempting to substitute what she ought to give him. When Frederick tries to kiss Catherine, she uses reaction formation. “She had slapped my face hard. Her hand had hit my nose and eyes.” (Hemingway, 1926, p. 26). She reacts to protect herself.

She doesn't want to take advantage of someone on an off-duty evening because her ego is active. That's the exact opposite of what she desires. As the superego reacts, she believes that it is inappropriate to derive any pleasure from combat, but she also has to let go of her tension as the id demands. Thus, the ego uses slapping Frederick as a protection strategy. Since Catherine still harbors feelings for her fiancé, she is unable to let other men into her heart and refuses to surrender her soul to Frederick when he kisses her. She suppresses herself in order to keep her heart closed. It is repression. "I kissed her hard and held her tight and tried to open her lips; when they were closed tight" (Hemingway, 1926). Catherine's obsession with her fiancé's passing and her incapacity to completely cope with this loss are symptoms of melancholia, which Freud defined as a pathological attachment to a lost object. In an effort to control her sadness, she reenacts the emotional circumstances of her trauma in her relationship with Frederic Henry, which can be viewed as an unconscious repetition compulsion. As if to mend the emotional scars caused by her previous loss, she immerses herself fully in their relationship in search of emotional stability and confidence.

The unresolved tension between life-affirming urges and a subconscious pull toward self-destruction is further highlighted by Catherine's tragic death during childbirth and her reckless dedication to love, both of which are examples of Freud's concept of the death drive. The backdrop of World War I, a collective catastrophe, intensifies Catherine's personal anguish and heightens her need for mental stability and serenity. In the end, Catherine's journey exemplifies Freud's observations about how trauma interferes with the pursuit of pleasure and pushes people to relive their suffering in an attempt to find comfort; for Catherine, this cycle culminates in heartache and death.

Catherine is always mentally disturbed by the rain and she associates rain with death which is another sign of her traumatic mind. Catherine says: “I’m afraid of rain because sometimes I see me dead in it and sometimes, I see you dead in it” (Hemingway, 1926, p. 131). She had hallucinations in which she sees Frederic and herself both dead in the rain. Frederic leaves the hospital at the book's conclusion, heading out into the night and rain. Frederic discloses that: “Miss Barkley was quite tall. Was blonde and had a tawny skin and gray eyes. She was carrying, a thin rotten stick, like a toy-riding-crop, bound in leather” (Hemingway 1926). Catherine always memorizes her fiancé by bringing a stick: “what is the stick? I asked…it belonged to a boy who was killed last year” Catherine replied” (Hemingway, 1926). Catherine has begun to exhibit signs of madness. She is angry, frustrated, and vengeful. She is mentally disturbed to the extent that she cuts her hair in desperation:

"I was going to cut it off when he died… I wanted to do something for him. You see I didn’t care about the other thing and he could have had anything he wanted if I would have known. I would have married him or anything" (Hemingway, 1926)

Being a little child who has witnessed her lover's tragic death, Catherine is extremely sensitive. War psychosis haunts Catherine constantly, and she is unable to come to terms with the loss of her fiancé's wartime death.

The eerie thoughts of her fiancé's passing are causing her to suffer from anguish. She does speak to Frederic about her psychological pain when she says: “I haven’t been happy for a long time, and when I met you, perhaps, I was nearly crazy. Perhaps I was crazy” (Hemingway, 1926). Her suffering as a result of the war's lingering memories is expressed in these words. Her constant reminders of her deceased fiancé make it harder for her to survive. In her interpretations of Moses and Monotheism and Beyond the Pleasure Principle by Freud, Caruth makes the case that “trauma is not simply an effect of destruction but also, fundamentally, an enigma of survival” (Hemingway, 1926). What Freud encounters in these texts is that" traumatic neurosis is not the reaction to any horrible event but, rather, the peculiar and perplexing experience of survival” (Freud, 1920). Her constant reminders of her deceased fiancé make it harder for her to survive. For four months, Henry and Frederic shared a residence. She says: “We have such a fine time. I don’t take any interest in anything else anymore. I’m so very happy married to you” (Hemingway, 1926).

Hemingway's characters experience a wide range of psychological states, including fear of dying, anxiety, frustration, estrangement, sadness, and shattered relationships. Catherine exhibits each of these signs. Frederic is in a risky situation as well; he could die at any moment. The battle activity has left him physically deformed, unwell, and injured. He loves Catherine but doesn't have time for her because he is constantly plagued by the sound of rocket shells and firearms. Hemingway observes thus:

"If people bring so much courage to this world, the world had to kill them, so of course it kills them. The world breaks everyone and afterwards many are strong at the broken places. But those that will not break, it kills. It kills the good and the very gentle and the very brave impatiently face the ongoing situations" (Hemingway, 1926)

In the book, Hemingway has cultivated the romantic bond between Catherine and Frederic. She understands that Henry's early sentiments for her are only a "rotten game" (Hemingway, 1926). However, she continues to date Fredrick as a way to escape her loneliness and painful recollections. In the front, she witnesses him engaging in the same acts of violence and murderous games. Since she doesn't want to lose him, this awareness makes her ill and traumatized. Freud in his Beyond the Pleasure Principle, observes “the experience of a trauma repeats itself, exactly and unremittingly, through the unknowing acts of the survivor and against his very will” (Hemingway, 1926

).

The war machine ruthlessly tramples on Catherine's identity, and she is a benighted creature searching in the wrong direction around a benighted planet. Hemingway criticizes the perfectly reasonable but nonetheless inappropriate reaction of withdrawing into personal havens due to the agony, perils, and issues of life. Against a backdrop of devastation and conflict, Hemingway's optimism about humankind confronts issues of moral responsibility and free will.  We can learn how to properly reshape our own lives from Catherine's failure to recognize or attempt to escape responsibility. The quality and state of human life on Earth can be improved by man, according to Hemingway's writings. 

Conclusion

This article demonstrates how authors of fiction offered fresh viewpoints on the presentation of First World War literature by examining the impact of the war's narratives. We also discussed twentieth-century fiction that contributed to the expansion of First World War representations by presenting new facets of the conflict, including its destruction, memories, and the experience of losing during World War I.  People and authors who wished to portray all of those unfavorable circumstances in the form of narratives are still influenced by those memories. Trauma narratives offered a picture of the world and served to explain the concerns and problems that occurred at that time. The stories' themes of violence, terrorism, and the cruelty of war were all prevalent in twentieth-century literary discussions.

A Farewell to Arms demonstrates the impact of war on human existence and its detrimental repercussions on both the physical and psychological levels. It is evident that Hemingway's writing style was greatly impacted by the war. When he discussed the effects of trauma and how individuals do recall their painful recollections of the devastating war, his influence was evident. Furthermore, Sigmund Freud's study on the human mind's functioning should be given additional weight in this regard; both practically and scientifically, his theory continues to affect modern thinking. His notion of trauma is more pertinent to our protagonist in A Farwell to Arms, but it will also be acceptable to apply to the thoughts and actions of the characters.

Hemingway's honest account of his terrible experience allowed A Farewell to Arms to meet the standards for a trauma. The sorrowful tone of A Farewell to Arms was exacerbated by Hemingway's painful touch. It should be mentioned that this article has looked at how soldiers have trouble remembering the past. We can see why Hemingway's characters are concerned and disturbed by their dreams and difficulty to sleep because of those horrific recollections. We have seen how they attempted to forget their unforgotten past. However, they relived it through recurring phenomena like recollection, flashbacks, and dreams.

The purpose of this study was to investigate how the First World War is portrayed in modern literature. Ernest Hemingway is used as an example to further illustrate how war has impacted trauma survivors' literary styles. This study looked for signs of trauma's repercussions in Hemingway's A Farewell to Arms. Through this book, we aimed to identify a number of novel elements that emerged in twentieth-century literature and to demonstrate the long-lasting effects of war and how it influenced the writing styles of authors who came after.

As demonstrated, the impacts of trauma offer a wide range of research topics that influence the development of other disciplines, such as psycho-analysis. The battle turns become a crucial component of comprehending people's cultures and experiences. In his work, Hemingway attempted to depict war and its trauma. He discussed the detrimental impacts that combat trauma has on people's psychology and conduct. Based on it, we have seen that trauma had a significant impact on that era's literature.

The twentieth century's violent occurrences altered society and even literature, which had an impact on culture. Hemingway's war stories demonstrated a profound portrayal of human misery by highlighting the detrimental consequences of conflict. Furthermore, Hemingway's A Farewell to Arms demonstrated that violent events are not fully understood at the time of occurrence but instead recur later in the form of recurring occurrences like dreams and flashbacks. Ernest Hemingway addresses the psychological, social, and emotional tragedy that began with World War I in his novel.

In addition to depicting the violence of early twentieth century trauma, the novel under consideration in this study also captures the trauma that occurred throughout the twentieth century. Hemingway's narrative style, which characterized the world at the time, was influenced by the tragedy of war. As a contemporary writer, Hemingway has experimented with novel techniques that emerged in twentieth century writing. He brilliantly depicted the crucial world and the lasting agony of World War I by using irony and fractured narratives. According to our views of the protagonist of A Farewell to Arms, Hemingway utilized Frederic Henry as a focal point to honestly examine how the pivotal moments of war have affected human behavior.

Last but not least, this study has demonstrated how fiction stories depict trauma and the psychological struggles of people, as well as Hemingway's characters, who contributed to the disclosure of social conditions through his character Frederic Henry's remembrance and memory of trauma and war. This thesis examined how Ernest Hemingway, a modernist writer, portrayed soldiers and other individuals who made a concerted effort to recall their painful experiences, thereby revealing their true suffering. It should be mentioned that Hemingway has a strong desire to illustrate World War I and how it affected his story, which allows us to understand the protagonists' emotions, thoughts, and psychological challenges.

Acknowledgments:

    I would like to express my deepest gratitude to Alnoor University for providing me with the opportunity and resources to conduct this research by supporting and funding this research: (ANU/2025/HUM04). Special thanks go to my academic advisors, Asst. Dr. Prof. Ismail Abdullwahab Ismail, whose guidance and support have been invaluable throughout this journey. I am also immensely grateful to my family and friends for their constant encouragement and understanding during the completion of this work.

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