ABSTRACT
In the re-reading of Catherine Barkley in A Farewell to Arms in this chapter, she reveals herself to be an independent, strong, heroic, resilient and stoical individual. Catherine, like a true child of feminism, combines the equality of financial choice with heterosexual intimacy. Frederic’s war wound certifies his masculinity and simultaneously reveals traditional feminine traits as dependence and vulnerability. Taking the gender perspective, one may say, masculine and feminine caring intermingle in the hospital setting. Catherine’s death seems almost as a ‘punishment’ for having asserted female subjectivity. Hemingway, does not strip Catherine even in her death of her responsibility as teacher and mentor.
