How Frederic Henry is and isn’t a classic Hemingway Code Hero Essay Example

who does not care about anything but himself. He is a man who does not care about the war or what the war is capable of bringing and he does not even pay attention to the fact that he can die in the war. This is something that is proven when his closest friend, Rinaldi, if he wants to be decorated for having participated in the war heroically. For this he answers by saying, “You will be decorated” may be with bronze but “what for? Because you are gravely wounded” (Hemingway, A Farewell to Arms59). In this statement he is revealed as a stoic man who is indifferent to the war. Furthermore, his stoicism is further highlighted when Catherine asks him his reason for enlisting in the Italian army and he replies by saying, “What an odd thing to be in the army. Its’ not really the army. It’s only the ambulance” (Hemingway, A Farewell to Arms19). While other code heroes in other Hemingway’s novels, like Robert Jordan, act bravely in order to bring the war. Henry seems to be tired with the war and it seems that he is not sure that the war is going to end any time soon (Debata 106). Even though he is a strong as well as a prideful man, in the end he realizes that he has done something wrong and he must he feels guilty because of this. However, his love for Catherine Barkley serves as an antidote to bring his mind back to the reality of the circumstances under which he is living on. Henry lives in two separate and different realities; the reality of the

war he is fighting against and the reality of his love for Catherine and according to Marcus, “a desire for order in an irrational world plus awareness that order rarely exists help characterize Frederic Henry” (527). Henry goes through many changes and hardships and this really helps in changing his outlook and personality as well. He works through unstable relationships where he is engaged with the war, with his love Catherine, and the world and this is what progresses him positively as a person (Phelan, “The Concept of Voice…” 229).

One of the most important characteristic of a code hero is that he is always presented as a man who encounters a lot of suffering. This suffering is what is used to enhance the code hero’s manly ideas in a world that is presented as chaotic. Fredrick Henry finds himself in the World War I where he is serving in Italy even though he is an American. His struggle is exhibited as an ambulance driver on the Italian front and he is wounded but recovers in a hospital. He faces a lot of struggles and horrors of the war even though he also has hope of a better world through his love for Catherine. Henry is a code hero because he is able to manage in an environment where life and death are being separated by a very thin line. According to Leo Gurko, “The Sun Also Rises consists of a world which is blank, hostile, or evil and a central character who struggles to come to terms with it” (291)Jake Barnes has suffered a wound in the World War I just like Henry and this

leads to him becoming sexually impotent. To aggravate his suffering even more, he sees his love having affairs with the other men and this is one cruel things that he has to endure in his life. When his friend Brett comments that he could have a good time together with Barnes, Barnes replies, “Yes isn’t it pretty to think so?” (Hemingway, The Sun Also Rises 216). With this kind of reply, it shows that Jake has accepted his fate and despite being physically and emotionally wounded by the war, he is still willing to maintain his sense of duty and with bravery.

Another important trait that helps in placing Frederick Henry in the category of code heroes is the sense of duty he has regarding fighting in the war and making it come to an end. The main focus of Henry as a code hero is to serve to his greatest extent in the war (Hemingway 124). He is injured while in the war but as soon as he recovers from the injury he goes back to the front. His main reason for going back to the war is because he believes that he has a duty to finish something that he was involved with in the first place. He want to dedicate everything he has in the war and he believes that “He must keep himself in good health in order to do his duty and serve in the war” (Hemingway, A Farewell to Arms 63). Frederick shows that he is a man of honor and he will serve in the war and keep his commitment to the government till the war is over. Henry

is in love and he is trying to take care of his love while at the same time trying to fulfill his duty in the war. Nolan states that amid the disappointments and disillusionments, Henry is trying to fulfill all of his obligations (271). Frederick is a strong-willed man and this is as a result of everything he has to endure during the war. His strength and willingness to bring peace in the world is shown by fighting for a country that is not even his. Fighting for a country he does not belong to shows that he is a man with a big heart and willing to unite people in peace.

Being a man of honor, Frederick is not just to walk away and take the easy way out of a dangerous situation. He is a coded hero just like the main character in For Whom the Bell Tolls. The central character in this case is Robert Jordan and just like Henry he finds himself in an environment of war where which makes his life almost unendurable but he faces the reality of the circumstances by accepting his face with bravery. In addition, he is in love with a woman, Lady Brett just like Henry is in love even though they perfectly understand that they have to fight in the war in order to create a peaceful environment where they will be free to be with their loved ones. Robert Jordan is just like Frederick Henry when it comes to honor and a sense of duty, “He was serving in a war and he gave absolute loyalty and as complete a performance as he could

give while he was serving” (Hemingway, For Whom the Bell Tolls 136). Jordan feels that it is his duty to serve in the war and that people will be able to look at his actions in the years to come when the war will be over. Henry and Jordan do not want to engage in anything that might affect the war negatively. They want to do whatever is in their power to make the war come to a peaceful end.

Furthermore, at the end of the book Frederick emerges as a moral person. He prevents his men from looting and even goes as far as shooting one of the two sergeants who hitch a ride with the ambulance but when it comes to helping when the ambulance gets stuck down in the mud he refuses. He is a man of honor and does not like seeing other people acting without honor (Donaldson 190). This can also be seen in Robert Jordan who is also a man of honor and conviction especially where he does not like hunting or killing people just for the fun of it. He will only kill people if it is necessary to do that or if it is for the cause of the mission he is serving in. According to Hemingway, this is one character that a code hero should have and this is fighting for a cause instead of just killing for the mere pleasure of doing it. This is the main characteristics of the code hero especially where Hemingway wants his heroes to be identified with virtues such as courage, honor, and ethics. Frederick and Robert believe that they are

made of obeying and as Marcus is able to note, the heroes, “seek the courage to stand, undefeated, against the hammer blows of an irrational world” (Hemingway, A Farewell to Arms 528). Frederick is a man of great courage and this is shown when the doctor tells him to wait for six months for his wound to heal and he says he can’t wait for six months.

The doctor then asks “You are in such a hurry to get back to the front?” and he answers, “Why not?” (Hemingway, A Farewell to Arms 90).
To conclude, Frederick Henry changes as the novel continue to progress and in the process he becomes more and more aligned with Hemingway’s norms. By the end of the novel, he has made a very positive progress and as such he fits into Hemingway’s code hero character. Even though the change he makes does not happen overnight and it is slow, at the end he becomes a true code hero. He survives many things including losing loved ones and he is no longer blind to the reality of the war as he was at the beginning of the novel. Through all the experiences war and love has taught him, he has learned to survive the worst as well as being a strong and admirable man both inside and outside. Through the character of Frederick, Hemingway shows how a person can go through many trying and tedious tests and be shaped by worst experiences. Frederick’s character has gone through many worst things but has still managed to come up top. He endures all he passes through with dignity and learns to accept the reality

of things with courage and calmness.

Works Cited

1. Debata, Pradeep Kumar. "The Magnitude Of Heroism In Ernest Hemingway's A Farewell To Arms And Other Novels." Language In India 13.9 (2013): 101-110. Communication & Mass Media Complete. Web. 14 May 2016.
2. Donaldson, Scott. "CRITICAL READINGS: Frederic Henry's Escape And The Pose Of Passivity." Critical Insights: Ernest Hemingway (2010): 182-202. Literary Reference Center Plus. Web. 14 May 2016.
3. Gurko, Leo. “The Achievement of Ernest Hemingway.” The English Journal 41.6 (June 1952): 291-298. Print.
4. Hemingway, Ernest. Farewell to Arms. London: Arrow, 1929. Print.
5. Hemingway, Ernest. For Whom the Bell Tolls. London: Arrow, 2004. Print.
6. Hemingway, Ernest. The Sun Also Rises. London: Vintage, 1927. Print.
7. Marcus, Fred H. “A Farewell to Arms: The Impact of Irony and the Irrational.” The English Journal 51.8 (November 1962): 527-535. Print.
8. Nolan, Charles. “Shooting the Sergeant-Frederic Henry’s Puzzling Action.” Westchester State College. III (1984): 269-275.
9. Phelan, James. “The Concept of Voice, the Voices of Frederic Henry, and the Structure of A Farewell to Arms.” Oxford University Press. 10 (1991) 214-232.