1. The various forms of WATER: rain, snow, lakes, rivers.

The water is always a symbol of the inevitability of death and the hopelessness of life. Although it sometimes appears to be a more positive symbol (the river, the lake, and the snow at first seem to promise an escape from the condition of war), its actual significance remains constant.

a) RAIN is the controlling water image in the book. Every form of water (snow, rivers, lakes) eventually become indistinguishable from "the rain" and shares in its symbolic significance. The rain is both a token of the meaninglessness of life and a harbinger of death.

Rain indicates the arrival of spring, when the offensive of the new year begins, and of autumn, when the year’s concluding offensive takes place (Fredrick is wounded in the spring; the retreat from Caporetto occurs in the fall).

A "rain" of blood falls on Fredrick from the stretcher above him as he is taken to the field hospital after being wounded.

Catherine is afraid of "the rain." She imagines herself dying in it and turns to her lover in order to achieve Protection against what the rain represents.

It rains the day after Catherine reveals her pregnancy.

It is raining when Fredrick goes back to the front, leaving Catherine alone and pregnant in Milan.

It is raining during the retreat in book III.

It is raining when Amyo is shot.

It is raining when Catherine dies.

b) RIVERS and LAKES function as symbolic dividing lines, or neutral areas between opposing forces.

The city of Gorizia, where Fredrick is stationed, is separated from the Austrian front by a river.

During the Caporetto retreat in Book III, Fredrick and his company are trapped on the "enemy" side of the river, a place where the distinction between allies and opponents becomes blurred. In this symbolic no-man’s land, Aymo is killed by a retreating fellow Italian and Fredrick is assumed to be an Austrian in an Italian uniform.

Fredrick escapes being executed by the caribinieri by jumping into the Tagliamento River.

Fredrick and Catherine escape to the neutral country of Switzerland by rowing across Lake Maggiori in Book IV.

c) SNOW and ICE represent temporary relief from the threat of death and the pain of life. "Snow" is an anaesthetic which does not actually cure the condition of mortality but at least postpones its consequences for a short time.

The war is halted for the year by the arrival of the winter snow.

Fredrick compares the dripping blood from the stretcher above him to the melting of an icicle.

The nurses in the field hospital wear white uniforms symbolic of their restorative function. Catherine is wearing white when Fredrick first meets her.

The doctor uses "snow" (an opium derivative) to deaden the pain of Fredrick's wound.

The mountains of Switzerland, where Fredrick and Catherine go to escape the war, are covered with snow.

 

2. THE MOUNTAINS are "the battlefront." where the actual fighting and dying of war take place. The mountains are an ironic symbol because Fredrick and Catherine retreat to the mountains of Switzerland in order to escape from the war. They do not realize that they are only moving to another "front" where the "battle" of life will continue, only in a different form.

Fredrick is wounded at the end of the long mountain road leading to the front.

Fredrick is bothered by the strategic difficulties of mountain warfare.

Fredrick and Catherine go to Switzerland because it is "snowing" in the mountains there.

The lovers are anxious to get a mountain cabin in the snow.

Catherine dies in the mountainous country of Switzerland.

3. THE NIGHT is a time of despair, when the impossibility of conventional religious faith and the absence of enduring moral values are most apparent. The darkness of night removes the distractions of the daytime and forces the characters to identify the principles of belief that give their lives meaning.

Fredrick explains the difference between night and day in his apology to the priest for not visiting his home in the Abruzzi.

It is dark when Fredrick leaves on the mission in which he will be wounded.

Fredrick explains to the priest that he thinks of God only at night. In the same conversation he wonders if loving a woman would be like loving God.

When their affair begins in Milan, Fredrick and Catherine meet secretly at night.

When he returns to the front, Fredrick resolves to think of Catherine during the night.

The Caporetto retreat begins at night, in the rain.

Fredrick explains to Count Greffi that he is religious only at night.

Catherine’s last promise to Fredrick is that she will "come and stay with [him] at night."

 

1. The Wound—an indication of mortality; a reminder of the brevity of life and of the importance of not wasting the precious moments that remain; a consequence of the "battle" of  life.

Fredrick takes both love and war rather lightly until he is wounded. The experience makes him more critical of the war and more anxious to establish a serious relationship with Catherine.

Fredrick is unable to see his stillborn child as anything but an enemy until he is convinced that it too has suffered, or been "wounded." The child is not mortal, in Fredrick’s mind, until it has suffered.

Catherine’s caesarian scar is described as a "wound."

2. The Enemy—everything that serves to make human life shorter and less pleasant. Although the Germans are the literal enemy, there are any number of more serious "enemies" in the book. In fact, it is significant that we never get a clear impression of the Germans or Austrians. They are merely symptomatic of a general condition of "war" that affects every area of human endeavor.

It is actually Fredrick who is responsible for the fate of Passini and Amyo. He leads them to their deaths. The leaders are the "enemies" of those they command.

During the retreat from Caporetto, the military police become the "enemies" of the officers. They would have killed Fredrick had he not jumped into the Tagliamento river.

Fredrick is Catherine’s lover; but he is also her "enemy." He is responsible for the pregnancy that kills her.

Fredrick perceives the child as its mother’s "enemy" and blames it for killing her.

3. The War—specifically, an indication of social disintegration. The society is at war because the values it is predicated upon have become corrupt and useless. But more generally, the war is a symbol of the human condition. All of human life is a kind of war against the forces that aspire to destroy the individual. Even love and pregnancy are "battlegrounds" in which lovers unintentionally destroy the objects of their affection.

4. The World of War—the arena where the decline of western social and moral values is acted out. It includes the front, the city of Gorizia, and that area outside of the "safe zone" of Milan and southern Italv.

The world of war echoes the values that are at the root of the war: nationalism; imperialism; cultural arrogance; and cynicism about matters of faith and love.

It is a male world, the product of the values of the European officer class.

It is a world of public values that have lost their inner significance and degenerated into hollow formalities: the "lovemaking" of Rinaldi; the "shame" and "honor" that Ferguson wants Catherine to display, the "patriotism" expressed by war-lovers like Ettore and Gino.

5. The World of Love—the arena where Fredrick and Catherine attempt to assert the genuine values that their love inspires. It includes the hospital at the front, the divisional hospital in Milan, and the mountains of Switzerland.

It is based upon a conscious rejection of the corrupt world of public values. Catherine cares nothing for ranks or heroic deeds; Fredrick discards his uniform and pursues "a separate peace," after he decides to abandon the front and to return to Catherine.

It involves the rejection of all social formalities: duty; marriage; religious observances; deference to authority, etc.

It is based upon an attempt to achieve substantial rather than superficial values: "marriage" becomes a compact of love rather than a legal formality; religion becomes a form of personal devotion rather than a social ritual, etc.

It is a "feminine" world where the values of love and nurturing predominate.

It is also a world of "snow," or merely temporary relief.

6. Faith and Religion—these values separate the peasants and mechanics from the officer class. The priest believes in God. Bonello believes in socialism and the workers’ paradise. When Fredrick falls in love with Catherine he experiences a kind of "faith" (in love) that separates him from Rinaldi and the officers. Once he has fallen in love, Fredrick begins to sympathize with the priest and the peasants, who want the war to end so they can go-back to their wives and homes.

7. Class Conflict-- another version of war. Because class conflict transcends the conflict between nations, it is an indication of  broadening social disintegration, of  the entire culture of Europe declaring war upon itself.

The peasants and mechanics do not share the values of the officer class.

The priest does not get along with the officers in Gorizia.

The infantry turns against the officers during the retreat from Caporetto. Fredrick is almost shot for wearing an officers uniform.

 

Rinaldi—a charming cynic and member of the European officer class. Although he is very attractive on the surface, he represents the decayed values of western civilization and the moral perversity of  the class of people who, in the words of the priest "would make war." He is nationalistic, imperialistic, and culturally arrogant. His own disintegration, from syphilis, parallels the degeneration of the world he represents.

The Priest from Abruzzi—a young cleric from the country, who embodies the humble faith that the sophisticated officers have abandoned. Although Fredrick likes the priest personally, he is unable to share the priest's belief in God. Fredrick does, however, discover in love what appears to be a substitute for the priest’s religious conviction. In structural terms, Fredrick’s is torn between the world of sophistication and cynicism that Rinaldi represents and the world of faith, home, and family represented by the priest from Abruzzi.

Count Greffi—an emblem of the age of Metternick and the Congress of Vienna, the era when the nature of modern Europe was determined. He is a last vestige of that aristocratic age and still maintains its values with integrity. He is a man of honor who loves his country, respects authority; and is willing to observe social formalities. But like the culture he represents,  Count Greffi is on the verge of death. 

Nurse Ferguson--the moral voice of European culture. She insists that everyone respect society’s moral restrictions, yet is apparently unaware that the society that has generated these rules is in a state of irreparable decay.

The Patriots (Gino and Ettore)--demonstrate the connection between the values of western civilization and the inevitability of war. They are nationalistic, imperialistic, and in love with the notion of personal and national honor.

The Sergeants, Mechanics, and Drivers—these are the people who suffer the consequences of decisions made by the officers. They share the priest’s desire to return to their homes but are forced to do their duty, or else be shot. They are members of a working class oppressed by a corrupt order of aristocrats.

The Caribinieri—military policemen, or "enemies within the ranks." They are figures of foreboding. Whenever they appear, random and senseless violence is imminent. Two caribinieri are standing in the archway as Fredrick leaves for the front; members of the caribinieri are also executing officers after mock "trials" during the retreat

The Baby—a symbol of hope for the future, of the possibility that the values of  the world of  love  may endure into the next Generation. But the baby is also an "enemy," that kills Catherine and destroys Fredrick's religion. It is also a barometer of the meaningless and arbitrary nature of human suffering. The baby is born dead without ever having had the chance to live.