Hemingway’s A Farewell to Arms and For Whom the Bell Tolls: Two Sides of a Coin

Abstract

The article investigates how Ernest Hemingway’s works A Farewell to Arms and For Whom the Bell Tolls, known as classics of American literature, are similar in varied aspects. This comparative-analytical study attempts to identify essential features of each novel and to explain how these integrate and complement each other. Here we adopt the qualitative descriptive approach as a methodological tool to obtain data to compare and contrast the novels from varied perspectives. Several articles and books of the novels are examined to comprehend about thematical, biographical, and diachronic aspects of the novels. Besides, it also explores more the setting of novels (war), the eternal love, autobiographic nature, characterization, language, and plotting style, and how the two characters meet their tragic end to prove both novels as two sides of a coin. Also, it answers how some features weave two novels together. The explanation expects that Hemingway's works, written in a distinct writing style and with a focus on topics, will continue to capture and connect with modern readers, as well as contribute to world literature.