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A Farewell to Arms by Ernest Hemingway portrays the struggles of Frederic Henry, an American soldier working as an ambulance driver in the Italian army during World War I. Frederic joins the war in an attempt to prove his masculinity, but in a war where traditional ideals have become no longer attainable, largely due to the war’s lack of validation, men not only lost their reason to fight, but along with it their masculinity that had been promised to them as they signed up for the war. The first section looks into the masculine dilemma. Frederic represents the men struggling to conform to traditional standards of masculinity in a war they have already been disillusioned with. Frederic struggles to keep himself in war, and strains to suppress his emotions that are considered a sign of weakness in men. As a way to alleviate himself from his discordant desires and also maintain a masculine exterior, Frederic resorts to drinking excessively. Alcohol, however, is a momentary diversion. Once the anesthetics wear off Frederic takes the next measure of forcing himself not to think. To remain committed to his duty, he tries to re-illusion himself to the legitimacy of war, ignores the validity of his own actions, and makes himself act like an instrument of the authorities. His efforts fall to no use when he is forced to leave war by the battle police. The second section looks into how Frederic attempts but fails to find his masculinity in war. Frederic is forced to live a life in hiding and ultimately flees to Switzerland to escape arrest. Even as a war fugitive, he is unable to relinquish a sense of guilt and obligation towards war as he searches for ways to employ himself. With no clear occupation he instead becomes increasingly passive and more dependent on his relationship with Catherine. Men joined the war with ambitions of becoming a man. Frederic’s tenacious struggle portrays how strongly the masculine ideal was engraved in the minds of men. Once in war, however, men found themselves emasculated and like Frederic, they were weakened by the war.