A Farewell to Arms, Malcolm Cowley focuses on the symbolism of rain. He sees rain, a frequent occurrence in the book, as symbolizing disaster. He points out that, at the beginning of A Farewell to Arms, Henry talks about how "things went very badly" and how this is connected to "At the start of the winter came permanent rain". Later on in the book we see Miss Barkley afraid of rain. She says, "Sometimes I see me dead in it", referring to the rain. It is raining the entire time Miss Barkley is in childbirth and when both she and her baby die. Wyndham Lewis, in the same book of critical essays, points out that Hemingway is obsessed with war, the setting for much of A Farewell to Arms. He feels that the author sees war as an alternative to baseball, a sport of kings. He says that the war years "were a democratic, a levelling, school". For Hemingway, raised in a strict home environment, war is a release; an opportunity to show that he is a real man. The essayist, Edgar Johnson says that for the loner "it is society as a whole that is rejected, social responsibility, social concern" abandoned. Lieutenant Henry, like Hemingway, leads a private life as an isolated individual. He socializes with the officers, talks with the priest and visits the officer's brothel, but those relationships are superficial. This avoidance of real relationships and involvement do not show an insensitive person, but rather someone who is protecting himself from getting involved and hurt. It is clear that in all of Hemingway's books and from his own life that he sees the world as his enemy. Johnson says, "He will solve the problem of dealing with the world by taking refuge in individualism and isolated personal relationships and sensations". John Killinger says that it was inevitable that Catherine and her baby would die. The theme, that a person is trapped in relationships, is shown in all Hemingway's stories. In A Farewe...
