Towards the end of the novel I found myself relating Sam to Frederick Henry from Hemingway's A Farewell to Arms. Before this certain point in her life Sam seems to have lived a life that had no real meaning to it. They both came from broken families not really knowing what a loving and unending relationship felt like. Then, in both the novels they find something that they are truly passionate about and immerse themselves in that.
For Frederick Henry, it is more than definitely Catherine who shows him how to love. Before her introduction, Frederick is lost in life. He has no idea what he is doing or why he is participating in a war in a country he is not even a part of. His life had no true meaning and he kind of just floats around from place to place. However, after Catherine enters his life his every thought is consumed with her. He finally found something that he is attached to a cannot picture his life without.
I feel like Sam had similar experience in this time period of her life that the book takes place. It seems like she never really had an outstanding relationship with her mother and Emmett other than the fact that they used to watch movies together, but as a reader one can tell that she still yearns for something more in life. This is when she becomes consumed with Vietnam. The fact that her father was killed in Vietnam and she never got a chance to meet him gives her very good reasoning to want to learn everything about it. I think that by learning and knowing everything she can about the war makes her have a connection with her father. Her obsessiveness about Vietnam and Frederick's with Catherine remind me of one another, because they both find something that makes that connection of a loving and undying comfort.
2 comments:
This is a very interesting connection. The scene from “Farewell to Arms” when they are in the boat going across the lake is especially reminding of Sam’s urge to find out everything she can about the war, which is something that she has grown passionate about throughout the book. This is the same with Frederick Henry, his love and infatuation with Catherine becomes the only thing that he does in life, just as Vietnam was for Sam.
The fact that these two people's lives were meaningless up until a certain point is very interesting. Sam's obsession for Vietnam can be related to "Farewell to Arms" situation. I think they both finally found something that they could control in their lives, which was not seen in their lives before.
Post a Comment