The Italian front of World War I, although remembered as less devastating than the bloodbath in France, reflected every deplorable aspect of the war. The effects were far-reaching; almost 600,000 Italian soldiers lost their lives and more than a million were injured. Among enlisted men and civilians alike, no one has escaped the poisonous touch of war. This was the case of Frederick Henry, an American architecture student in Rome at the time of the outbreak of the war. When he entered the ranks as an Italian lieutenant, Federico never anticipated the misery that would accompany military life. However, apart from a few chapters in the middle of the novel, Hemingway's A Farewell to Arms is by no means a painful account of the tribulations and tragedies of war. In the midst of rampant evil, Federico finds salvation in the form of love. His relationship with Catherine Barkley is a respite from the savagery. Their "union" leads him to establish his own principles and is ultimately his refuge from the chaos of war. Hemingway provides several clues throughout the novel that foreshadow Catherine's role in Frederick's development, as well as the impact their relationship has on his life. The reader can trace a pattern of regression from the war, each time mirrored by a progression in his attachment to Catherine. In contrast, a period of deeper devotion to Catherine predicts a revolution in his regard to the war. With the conclusion of the novel, a reformation has occurred in Frederick Henry. He transforms from a disillusioned young man into a weather-beaten soul who has suffered life's greatest sufferings: losing in love and losing in war. When Henry is first introduced, he is arrogant and dissolute and... middle of paper... colleagues. Ultimately, abandonment is his final act of self-realization and commitment to Catherine. Henry says a "farewell to arms" and frees himself from all responsibility for a war in which he has little interest. The fourth book is a brief interlude of peace and normality for the couple. Once they escape to Switzerland, Catherine and Frederick expect an idyllic existence. But the fifth book is on its heels, and an unimaginable tragedy looms in Hemingway's foreboding words: "If people bring so much courage into this world, the world must kill them to break them, so of course it kills them." Of course, Hemingway revealed the ending, but only at the end of the fifth book is the reader aware of the extent of Frederick's loss. Frederick is a transformed man, educated by his love, forever changed by the war, and a complete person by the time they spent together.