to go bad for the Italian army and a retreat is called. Everyone is praying that this will mean the end of the war. The soldiers are all tired of the war which is pointless in their opinion. Everyone seems to be in higher spirits than would be expected from a large defeat. The massive convoy of the retreat is portrayed as a good thing. This causes us once again to have hope for the two lovers. During the retreat the Lieutenant and his men get separated from the convoy. This puts them in a dangerous situation because now they are vulnerable to the German who are slowly filtering in around them. Once again we develope a sense that another roadblock is going to present itself. The foreshadowing of the author is very subtle but it is there nonetheless. I think he is dependent on our natural assumptions of a situation to do much of his work for him. By letting the readers emotion and imagination take control he can illustrate his points much stronger.The madness that has been caused by the retreat causes the Italians to go crazy. they are so scared of enemy infiltration that they are shooting everyone that seems suspect. This puts the Lieutenant in a bad situation, either try to escape or be killed. He Rubish 4does what he has to and makes a run for it. This is the part that I found to be an interesting transition in the story. Up until the big escape the story was focused on the war with the love in the background. After the escape through the river and on the train ride the Lieutenant is reunited with Catherine. After this the book focuses almost totally on their love and puts the war into the background.Being now a fugitive from the Italian army they decide they must escape to Sweden. Escape is the only way that they can be together. By this point they are beginning to see that that the only thing that really holds their world together is their love for each other. They are determined to keep that no matter what they...
