Ch. 4 (Catherine to Henry): "...I remember having a silly idea he might come to the hospital where I was. With a sabre cut, I suppose, and a bandage around his head. Or shot through the shoulder. Something picturesque...He didn't have a sabre cut. They blew him all to bits."
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This quote describes Catherine having a romantic notion while working in the hospital. The idea of her fiancée being away fighting then later wounded and sent back is poetic to her. This quote is an example of the loss of innocence theme; she is oblivious to the destruction war brings, and is only aware of her soon to be husband out there fighting for her. Many, like Catherine, relate war to a kind of love story where the soldier gets wounded and is sent home and they live a happy life together. In this quote, Catherine wakes up from that idea, and faces the truth: It’s no love story, that soldier is on the battlefield fighting for his life, surrounded by death and suffering.
This passage shows Catherine's realization that war is not as romantic and pleasant as she thought it would be. She had the idea that her fiancé would return with small wounds and everything would be ideal, but she found out the hard way that on the front you have a small chance of survival. After reading the novel, I have also found that her "silly idea" of her fiancé returning from battle seems to reflect Frederic's return after being hit with a trench mortar shell. Catherine has learned that in war things are anything, but picturesque.
Catherine is, like anybody who has a loved one in a war, hoping for her fiancé’s return. She is a wartime nurse and has been around plenty of wounded and dying men so I do not believe she has a romantic idea about the war as a whole. However, she wants her fiancé back in one piece which leads her to hope for a “picturesque” injury that is not lethal in the least. I agree with Robey about her “silly idea” translated to her relationship with Henry. The only difference is they are not married and their relationship seems particularly odd with Catherine’s need for constant reassurance about being a “good wife” and making Henry happy. I imagine this had not been a problem with her previous fiancé, but developed from his death.
Catherine is wishing to have been able to see her fiancé but she is wishing for him to be wounded in order for them to be together. There is no such thing as a"picturesque" wound as Catherine is trying to describe. No wound is ever good even if it is just a sabre cut. This passage is also a foreshadowing of her whole life blowing up and ending abruptly just like her fiancé did. There is no such thing as a picturesque wound much less life.
I agree with Austin Cain. The fact that she wanted her Fiance to be wounded so she could see him is kind of a dark fantasy. The fact that she wanted her Fiance to be in pain, just that she could see him, is pretty brutal. No matter what kind of wound there is always a chance that it could be fatal and to wish that your Fiance would be wounded shows a little twist to Catherine as a character.
Catherine was lonely and wished that her fiancé would come in the hospital wounded so that they could be together and he would not have to go back into the war. She thought that it would be so romantic and picturesque if this would happen, but the reality was that he was blown to bits and died. This passage clearly shows us the harsh reality of war. In war, people don’t just get wounded from fighting. War is a mass murderer that cannot be arrested. Through this passage, the reader sees that Catherine is slowly discovering the realties of war. I believe that she is still in shock that he died and she doesn’t want to admit that things don’t always go the way people want them to.
This quote demonstrates Catherine's deep longing to see her fiance. She wants to see him so bad that she wishes for him to be wounded. Although she does wish for a small wound, it is still ironic that one would wish for someone they loved to be hurt in any way. She was brought back to the reality of war when her fiance was blown up. She realizes that war is not about romantic love between a man and a woman, but it is about a love between a man and his country. I also think this passage foreshadows Catherine's relationship with Henry. Henry does get hurt from a blown up trench mortar shell and stays at the hospital where she works.
In this passage, one sees some of the more delicate aspects of war. As Meredith stated, war is not about the relationship between a man and a woman, but between a man and his country. One sees here that Catherine has been forcefully brought to this disappointing truth. It is ironic how she thought her former fiancé would return to her with some small physical ailment, (she describes it as one would describe a trophy, something "picturesque") yet instead, he was "blown to bits." It is also ironic how this passage is also foreshadowing for Henry's wounds. He did not suffer a sabre cut, but one could say his wound was more in the "picturesque" state. Also, in Catherine's first love, her lover was killed and she was left to mourn. In her second love, she would be killed and her lover would be left to mourn. Romanticism is never a good motive when dealing in the matters of war.
This passage shows that Catherine has had to face the touch realities of war. To those who have not experienced it, war can be the perfect backdrop to some love story where a long lost love fights to stay alive just so he can get back to his love and sweep her off her feet. This is Catherine's original picture of war. She longed for romance. However, when she finds out that her love comes to a terrible death, she had to face it. Catherine loses her innocence and this is a great example of how war makes people mature before they're ready to. I agree with Meredith- yes, some soldiers have someone they want to get home to, but their relationship and love for their country is the most important thing in wartime. It is very paradoxical that Catherine wanted her fiance to get injured. Why would you want a loved one to get hurt?
Catherine was wishing for a poetic wound or a perfect wound that would allow her to her fiancee one more time. She ignored the fact that they other side was trying to kill as many of her side as possible and wouldn't stop to let her fiancee go. She is oblivious to the fact that there are no emotions or no people that stop to care about emotions. They just want to win. She realized this harsh reality when her fiancee arrived to see her blown to not so lovely little bits.
I agree with Austin Cain—there is nothing picturesque about a wound even if it isn’t too grave. I think her “silly idea” was somewhat of a self-assurance that things will be okay for her and her fiancé. Even though appearing at a hospital with a wound is not okay it would have been a way for Catherine to see her love and for them to be together. When her fiancé was blown to bits she realized the weight of war and that there isn’t anything romantic about it. Also, I agree with Meredith. I find it a bit ironic that her fiancé was blown up and ended her love, but then her love was reignited when Henry was brought to the hospital after being blown up.
I disagree with all the comments that refute the idea that the wound Catherine had in mind is picturesque. Picturesque is a word that describes something that might be viewed in a picture, something that might evoke mental images. The very fact that she had imagined these wounds, potentially non-fatal wounds similar to those she would see when nursing, can be used as evidence that they are in some way picturesque. Catherine's original vision, something slightly more clichéd than the harsh reality she faced, entailed the naïve notion that a soldier returning home might only be wounded. She was faced with the real brutality of war, the hard truth that things aren't pretty and picturesque. Self admittedly "silly" for possessing this point of view, Catherine is now speaking from an enlightened point of view. She now knows that war is no game with pretty “fairytale” endings, a truth that will follow her, Henry, and everyone else involved in the war throughout the war's own duration. Catherine’s love for drama and picture perfect situations and relationships is demonstrated here. She was willing to sacrifice the welfare of her previous love interest in order to achieve a picturesque reunion. While I disagree with previous comments stating that this is an underlying, dark flaw in Catherine’s character, I do think that it is an accurate reflection of her needy and dramatic nature.
Pride Snow
I agree completely with Gille on this topic, Catherine knows that the only way that she will be able to see Henry on a regular basis is for him to be wounded and in her hospital. She imagines that Henry will come to her with a glorified, romantic sabre cut or bullet wound to his shoulder. The reality is that war is the farthest thing away from romanticism, there is nothing pretty or beautiful about it. When Catherine finally sees Henry’s injuries she comes to that realization, war is not an art of any sort, but the bloodiest, most painful way to settle an argument.
I’m not really sure what Catherine’s motives are behind wanting her fiancé in the hospital. I’d like to think that she cares so much for her fiancé that she wants him to get injured just enough so that he’s brought to the hospital and can put off death for just a little longer, but, knowing how needy and naïve Catherine is, I’d have to think otherwise. To want her fiancé to get wounded just so he could come to her hospital and love and pay attention to her more is extremely selfish. Also, she seems to have pushed out of her mind the possibility that her fiancé could die in the big horrible war because that wasn’t part of her romantic fantasy. It also bothers me how Catherine seems more upset over her fiancé’s death, not because he was a good man, had a family, and was too young to die, but because she no longer had a fiancé. I think that this passage shows how selfish and naïve Catherine is.
Catherine was hoping that her fiance might somehow get a small injury that he would be put into the hospital for and she could see him and nurse him back to health while he was safe at the hospital. This just shows her innocence and ignorance to war. It's not a fairytale thing where your loved one goes off to fight and comes back to see you with a small wound. War is deadly and not at all sympathetic to the ones that you love or to the plans that you may have with someone. She realizes this to late after the war destroyed killed her fiance.
Catherine is so in love with Frederic that she wants to be with him no matter what. In this case she would rather see him wounded than not see him at all. She dreams of him having a where injury where she could see him but in reality he got his knee blown to pieces. Catherine doesn't understand how war shows no mercy on anyone and love can't save him from getting hurt or dying.
*an injury where
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