A Farewell to Arms Language and Communication Quotes

This makes us wonder who Catherine has been fighting with in her life. She knows an awful lot about the pitfalls of bad communication. Moments like this make us wonder if she’s older than Frederic. Her age is as ambiguous as his. She was engaged for eight years, but she qualifies it, saying she "grew up" with her fiancé. But growing up could mean a number of things, including losing virginities together.

We see the truth of Rinaldi’s statement most acutely during the scenes with Catherine. Frederic does not reveal moments of physical intimacy. Those are private, and, as Rinaldi says, sacred to Frederic anyway.

We love how Frederic describes Aymo’s use of the "F" word, and there is no doubt what he means. When Frederic uses it himself a few lines later, it’s even funnier. We wonder if the editors or Hemingway chose not to put the actual word in. If it’s Hemingway, than we can assume that Frederic uses the word, but won’t use it when narrating this story for some reason.