Henry was also wounded during the war and was taken to an American hospital in Milan. Here, Henry also met the love of his life. All of these events inspired Hemingway while developing the themes and writing the novel A Farewell to Arms. Hemingway uses real life experiences in many of his books (Sexton 16). Some of these other works include, For Whom the Bell Tolls, The Sun Also Rises, and The Old Man and the Sea. .
The two major themes present in A Farewell to Arms are of course love and war. Although these themes are not obvious by the title, which Hemingway did on purpose, they are easily identified as the two most important themes in the novel. Despite the frequency of their appearance in the same books, love and war are an unlikely mixture of themes. In the novel their courses run exactly but subtly, parallel. This gives the reader a feeling that they have read one story not two. Hemingway was able to interweave the two by dividing each theme into six phases. During the war, Henry went through these six phases. He went from "desultory participation to serious action and a wound, and then through his recuperation in Milan to a retreat which leads to his final desertion" (Young. "Ernest- 274). Interwoven in all of this is Henry's delicate relationship with Catherine. Just like Henry and war, this relationship also undergoes six important stages or steps. They were "from a trifling sexual affair to actual love and her conception, and then through her confinement in the Alps to a trip to the hospital which leads to her death" (Young. "Ernest- 275). Hemingway uses this unusual pair to show one of life's most important lessons, that war can destroy anything, even love. .
Another important theme that is present in the novel is that of service. There are four ideals of service in A Farewell to Arms. Each of these four ideals is present in the novel as a character. The first character the priest, is loyal to god and wishes to serve him throughout the story.
