Ernest Hemingway is a writer who writes from his own experiences in life. He believes that to be a truly great writer, one must feel what he or she writes. He shows this is his novel, A Farewell to Arms. He writes from the pain that he felt from love, family, and life. He writes from his own life and even though his name changes from book to book he is still the main character. His other works include; In Our Time, The Sun Also Rises, A Farewell to Arms, For Whom the Bell Tolls, The Old Man and the Sea, A Movable Feast, and Islands in the Stream. His writings stretch from 1925 until 1970 and this is what makes Hemingway one of the most brilliant and wonderful writers of our time. .
In 1917, the United States was involved in World War 1 and the young Hemingway was a part of it all. Even though he was unable fight he entered into the war by becoming an ambulance driver. Once in Italy he was dispensing cigarettes and chocolate to some soldiers when they fell under fire. He was shot in the knee and some other places but he made it to a post and to safety and saving some lives in the process. This is how the plot behind A Farewell to Arms came to be.
When the young Frederic Henry entered into the war as a volunteer ambulance driver he had no idea how it would changed his whole world and his whole life. He met a young British nurse named Catherine. He looked at this pretty girl as a war flirt. He never expected to love her. After he was wounded from shrapnel he was sent to a hospital where Catherine worked. They fell in love and soon Henry was planning to take leave and marry her. Catherine told him that there is no reason and told him, "How could we be more married?" (pp. 118) When his recovery is almost complete Catherine told him that she was pregnant. After this shock, he awoke very sickly and was told that he had jaundice. He was ordered to the front where the war was harsh and hard.