A Farewell to Arms Men and Masculinity Quotes

How we cite our quotes: Citations follow this format: (Chapter.Paragraph)

Quote #1

"Tell me, baby, when you lie here all the time in hot weather don’t you get excited?" (10.35)

Rinaldi’s speech drips with sexuality. We wonder if this wouldn’t sound better in Italian. For Rinaldi, masculinity is all about sexiness, and he can’t seem to turn it off.

Quote #2

"Sometimes I think you and [the priest] are a little that way." (10.43)

Oh, Rinaldi, you just don’t quit. It’s hard to know whether he brings up the possibility of the priest and Frederic being gay because he’s teasing Frederic, or because he’s curious about it, or because he is gay himself.

Quote #3

"[My legs] are full of trench-mortar fragments, old screws and bedsprings and things." (13.62)

Notice how smoothly Frederic brings things around from the battlefield of literal war, to the battlefield of the bedroom. We can pretty well imagine what he means by "old screws" but he makes it clear when he adds "bedsprings" to the mix.