In Love and War

Lauren Clarke

ENG 3A, period 1

Journal: Movie Review

March 22, 2000

 

            During WWII, Ernest Hemingway was wounded carrying an injured soldier across the battlefield. His heroic actions landed him under the care of the women at the Red Cross. He had a bullet in the side of his leg right up near the knee. To make matters worse he got Gan Greene and was very close to getting his leg amputated. Luckily enough he met Agnes, a nurse who insisted she could find an ulterior way to save him from amputation or death. Barely focusing on how she cured him, the attention was definitely brought to the love story between the two.

            During Ernest’s recovery he fell madly in love with ‘Aggie’ as he liked to call her. She was eight years older and was reluctant to have the feelings she was having. Ernie was young and gorgeous, very passionate about everything. A talented young writer with a great deal of pride. When the war ended the went their separate ways promising to write and meet again back in the United States, the would wed and live happily ever after. Or so Ernie thought.

            Agnes had other plans in mind. After they parted, Aggie met a wealthy doctor with breathtaking land in Venice. He asked for her hand in marriage soon after he met her. Agnes wrote Ernie in the States and told him about this request, she broke it to him that she was not coming back to him and there would be no wedding for them. He was terribly upset and moved out to his cottage. He stayed there for eight months until Agnes finally showed up at his doorstep. She told him there was no wedding, she could not marry the doctor because she did not love the doctor she loved him.

“I love you,” she said. He ignored her and stared off into the trees, then onto the lake. Agnes sighed and slowly walked to the end of the porch. She looked back at Ernie one last time. “I will love you until the day I die” with those words Agnes turned and headed up into the hills and away from the cottage, away from the lake, her dreams, her life, Ernie. He lowered his head not even turning around to catch a glimpse of her as she walk away.

Ernest and Agnes never saw each other ever again. He married four times and then killed himself. Some say he could live with the pain anymore and gave up. She married once but never really loved anyone the way she loved him. His pride got in the way of his happiness and he lived with the anger and sadness all his life. Brilliant man though he went on to be a worldly renowned author writing the famous novel Farewell to Arms.

Love stories barely ever have great endings. They are either to fake or not possible. This story was enormously sad, I cried of course. I think that it wasn’t necessary for it to end that way. He had too much pride and he should have swallowed it and taken her back. Although she shouldn’t have abandoned him in the first place. As a hopeless romantic might I add that they could have at least had a passionate kiss before parting? Her being swept away on some train, you know the cheese ball gooey stuff.