so extremely significant because it can be justified by, if nothing more abstract than he would be killed, being suspected as a spy.As the two lovers retreat to Lausanne, Frederic reveals that he is “trapped biologically” (139). He becomes extremely restless waiting on the birth of their child. He and Catherine spend their days reading and playing games. Catherine senses Frederic’s restiveness and suggests that he grow a beard. Frederic agrees and does so, only to shave it a few pages later. He looks in the mirror sees another, not someone that he wishes to be. As the fifth book proceeds, it is suggested that Frederic reverts back to the use of cliches that he had previously denounced in earlier chapters. Catherine’s condition worsens and once again Frederic is confronted with the timely notion of death. He takes on the persona of a nervous expectant father and clings to every last sign of structure or identity 9Gelfant 80). Catherine’s inevitable fate has driven Frederic into a senseless cesspool of babbling thoughts. “Get away hell! It would have been the same if we had been married fifty times. And what if she should die? She won’t die. People don’t die in childbirth nowadays. That was what all the husbands thought. Yes, but what if she should die? She won’t die. She’s just having a bad time. Initial labor is usually protracted… It’s just nature giving her hell” (Hemingway 320).These words show Frederic’s scattered train of thought. He attempts to shield himself from death with these cliches, although he knows that Catherine has no chance. Frederic even begins to pray to God in one last futile attempt to hang on to Catherine, but he is rejected (Watkins 113). It is unfortunate that Frederic’s final resolution is a consequence of his lover and child’s death. Even more so, it is dramatically ironic that Frederic’...
