"Evidently it did not matter whether I was there or not.
This quote shows that Henry doesn't really believe he is a part of this war and the anguish that comes from it. Only later in the novel when he falls deeper in love with Catherine, does he actually see the war as people should see it. Also this is one of the reasons why he deserts the Italian army. He saw the Italian army so confused and disordered that he had no reason to stay. He would rather go to and stay with Catherine, where it was a more controlled environment. .
"I didn't know about anything then. I thought it would be worse for him. I thought perhaps he couldn't stand it and then of course he was killed and that was the end of it.".
"I don't know." .
"Oh, yes," she said. "That's the end of it" (Pg. 19).
This quote shows that Catherine knows that death is the end of all things. She started to believe in this idea when her fiancée died. The quote also shows that Frederick doesn't believe that death is the end of all things. He never really understands this concept until Catherine dies after having the baby. This is also when he realizes that he must live a life of discipline to fully understand the world.
I did not care what I was getting into. . . . I did not love Catherine Barkley nor had any idea of loving her. This was a game, like bridge, in which you said things instead of playing cards. Like bridge you had to pretend you were playing for money or playing for some stakes. Nobody had mentioned what the stakes were." (Pg. 31).
In this passage when Frederick is talking about how he is making his love affair with Catherine like a game, it shows that during this time period, soldiers just wanted to have short term relationships. Frederick never really thought during this time in the novel how things would end or the consequences that would result from it. He just had one thing on his mind and that was keeping the war out of it.