217;s shrewdness. She commits herself absolutely to the affair only because she had not given her innocence to her deceased fianc (Donaldson 60). Catherine possesses the one major insight that Frederic does not: death is the end of all existence. Frederic attaches himself to Catherine because he yearns for a sort of order.Having discovered the value of his relationship with Catherine, Frederic returns to the front, only to find the army in complete and utter chaos. Frederic is welcomed by his old friends but is greatly disturbed by their low morale. His once carefree companion, Rinaldi, is now a rough cynic, convinced that he has contracted syphilis. The war has completely transformed this character and he is suffering to a great degree (Benson 91-92). Because of this disorder, Frederic is incapable of identifying with his old comrades and makes the final decision to desert the army. Although he is legally bound, Frederic no longer feels obligated to serve a country to which he does not belong. His allegiance is shattered when he witnesses Italian officials firing on their own men. The only meaning Frederic can derive from this is that he does not want to die a senseless death without meaning or honor. He then retreats to the river. This is a symbolic point in the novel because Frederic is “[moving] actively toward a game worth playing” (94). Frederic’s plunge into the Tagliamento is seen by many as a baptism (Watkins 109). Indeed, Frederic announces that his “Anger was washed away in the river along with any obligation” (Hemingway 232). He then goes on to explain that he is completely finished with the war, thus this chapter of his life is closed (Donaldson “Introduction” 20).The whole section of the novel that is concluded with Frederic’s lunge into the river has a major factor that adheres it other than the obvious component of war: Frederic’s treatment of time. Th...
