Readers of Ernest Hemingway’s A Farewell to Arms may feel a jolt of recognition when they learn about the author's early adulthood. Like the novel’s protagonist, Hemingway was an American who volunteered in the Italian ambulance corps during World War I, sustained a serious injury, and fell in love with a nurse. These similarities highlight the way Hemingway drew from his own observations and experiences of war to create fictional depictions that told the "truth" better than journalism. In fact, Hemingway once said, "A writer’s job is to tell the truth. The writer's standard of fidelity to the truth should be so high that his invention, out of his experience, should produce a truer account than anything factual can be. For facts can be observed badly; but when a good writer is creating something, he has time and scope to make of it an absolute truth."

In this lesson, students will learn about Hemingway’s service in World War I, his famously unreciprocated affections for his nurse, Agnes, and his bitter disillusionment when he was greeted as a hero after the war. Students will then compare and contrast Hemingway's life with this work to analyze his messages about war through his authorial choices. For an optional writing extension, students are invited to describe an experience that led them to an important understanding, then explain how they would fictionalize that experience to sharpen for a reader the insights that they gained.

Essential Questions:

• What are the key differences between Hemingway’s life and A Farewell to Arms?
• How do those differences help us understand Hemingway’s message about war?
• What are some factors, such speeding up pace or adding suspense, that influence the ways authors shape their stories?

About the Author:

Jessica Leader is a teacher and author. She has taught middle and high school English and social studies for 13 years in New York, Kentucky, and Washington, DC and has authored curriculum materials for several Ken Burns films. Her middle-grade novel, Nice and Mean, was published by Simon and Schuster. She believes in the power of great stories.