A Farewell to Arms as an Anti-War Novel There are indications in each of the novel's five books that Ernest Hemingway intended A Farewell to Arms as an anti-war testament . The First World War was a cruel war without winners; “War is not won by victory” (47). Lieutenant Frederic Henry, the book's hero and narrator, experiences disillusionment, desperation, and the disaster of war. But Henry also experiences passionate love; a discrepancy that ironically further describes the senselessness and frustration felt by soldiers and citizens. In Book I, the army is still waiting to spring into action, and the world is a world of boredom with men who drink to pass the time and prostitute themselves to get women. War itself is a man's game; "for me it is no more dangerous than the war in the movies" (34). Love is also a game. When Henry meets and makes his sexual advances to Catherine Barkley, he is only trying to relieve the boredom of war; “I knew I didn't love Catherine Barkley or have any idea that I loved her. This was a game, like bridge, where you said things instead of playing cards” (28). Book II depicts a slight transformation as Henry, injured, spends time in the hospital. He is suddenly more involved in the war, but, as a release from the war, he now recognizes his great love for Catherine. War, however, is never far away. Protest riots occur in Rome and Turin and there is a sense that the war is becoming a stalemate, the army disillusioned; "there was a great contrast between his world pessimism and personal cheerfulness" (127), the prospects of victory evaporated; "the war couldn't be much worse" (129). In Book III Henry says (175): "I have always been embarrassed by the words sacred, glorious, sacrifice and by the express...... middle of paper... ...they caught you astray and killed you" (314) Henry clearly sees the close link between love and war, as he demonstrates when he compares the death of his beloved with the death of his fighting friends: “Or they killed you for free like Aymo. Or they gave you syphilis like Rinaldi. But in the end they killed you. You could count on it. Stick around and they would kill you" (aa). A Farewell to Arms is clearly an anti-war novel; the story moves from naive play, through the phases of love and hope, to pure desperation and the understanding that a war can lead to no victor. The novel's passionate love story further reinforces the message by showing the ironic similarity, but also its discrepancy, with the war take into serious consideration, this discrepancy is the important message of this novel; make love, not war.