Ch. 41: A doctor came in followed by a nurse. He held something in his two hands that looked like a freshly skinned rabbit and hurried across the corridor with it and in through another door. I went down to the door he had gone into and found them in the room doing things to a new-born child. The doctor held him up for me to see. He held him by the heels and slapped him.
14 comments:
Hemingway’s portrayal of this baby as a freshly skinned rabbit was a dark simile that contrasts the ideas of how an offspring should be thought of—with love, care, and new life. Henry finds a doctor doing things to “a” new born baby, not his. This passive attitude towards his baby, in my opinion, shows the reader how he is detached from his relationship with the baby and is only interested in Catherine.
I could also sense death when I read this passage because of the rabbit description because any animal which is skinned must already be dead. The baby’s premature death is also foreshadowed in an earlier passage about how Catherine’s hips are narrow. In this conversation, she said "She's been very good. . .She makes little trouble.” This could mean the baby has been dead for some time now.
I agree with William that the way Fredric depicts his newly born child as a "freshly skinned rabbit" is horrifying and very dark. A typical father would be very anxious to see their baby but Fredric shows no emotion at all. This is another example of how war has desensitized Henry from any emotion even when it comes to his own child. Although I agree with the majority of what William has said I do not think that he is only interested in Catherine, Fredric is no longer interested with either Catherine nor the baby. If he was totally in love with her he would also care for and be interested in their stillborn infant. Because of war and the death of his good friends Aymo and Rinaldi he distances himself emotionally to where he will not get hurt again. This is why it is so easy for him to move on and not be heart broken about his child's death.
I think war has completely changed Fredrick's opinion on the world and mainly his personality. I do think that Fredrick's description of his newborn child was very dark, I have to take his side. Fredrick has been trough more than i can imagine. I can honestly say none of us have been through war. But the fact is the war changes us. With the death of his closest friends, Aymo and Rinaldi, at this point his world is upside down. Then to come back and learn that you newborn child is dead and the love of your life is going to die, also would be earth shattering. But his description of his baby was the first thing that came to him. He has been in the war for a long time and of course he used a dark description but not that he doesn't love his child its because that is what he has been used to. He has seen thousands of men lose there lives and horrible injuries, so he says "freshly skinned rabbit" because he is used to it.
The way Hemingway describes the newborn as a “freshly skinned rabbit” makes us readers think immediately of death. But we second-guess ourselves because we are unaware that the baby is dead, yet. This shows us that, like Catherine, Frederic doesn’t care much about the child. He only wishes to keep Catherine happy. He shows no emotion and doesn’t wish to see his child when it is born. All he cares about is Catherine. Hemingway’s writing style in this passage made me think that the baby was only sick but he was clearly telling us that the baby was dead. It makes more sense now that I have finished the novel and know what actually happed to the baby. His writing style tricks you into thinking something else may have happened.
Most parents think their child is the most beautiful thing ever. The reader does not sense even a smidgen of that admiration between Frederic and his newborn child because it is not there at all. This is obvious because when the doctor asks if he is proud of his son, he says no because his son nearly killed Catherine. This shows that Frederic loved Catherine and was far more concerned with her health. Hemingway uses foreshadowing once again by describing the baby as a freshly skinned rabbit. Animals are only skinned once they are dead. I also noticed that Frederic does not refer to the newborn as his, but as "a" newborn. This further demonstrates the distance between the two. I think part of the reason Frederic doesn't love his child is the war's effect on him. The war has made him a harder man. It is not easy for him to love. He knows the bad things in life and they have scarred him forever.
This passage shows that Frederic's personality has been drastically changed by the war; he has become hard and cold. I agree with William on his standpoint with Frederic's passive nature towards his baby. He calls it "a" baby, not his. Also, comparing the baby to a freshly skinned rabbit alarms the reader, for any animal that is skinned is thought of to be dead or near dead. Despite what some of my classmates say on Frederic's opinion towards his baby, I believe he had some love for him. I believe so because later in the chapter, Frederic is crying for Catherine and telling God that "You took the baby but don't let her die." If he hadn't cared at all for his baby he wouldn't have said this. Although I agree with Austin about how Frederic has hardened over the war and distances himself emotionally from others, he wouldn't distance himself from his baby. The baby is a byproduct of Catherine, the woman he loves so dearly, he had to love him at least a little bit.
When Hemingway said the baby looked like a freshly skinned rabbit, that made me think of death, because you skin a rabbit after you've killed it. This foreshadows the fact that the baby is dead. I also think that it's ironic that Henry didn't realize his own baby was dead. This shows that he doesn't care about the baby. He thinks of the baby as a bad thing because it almost killed Catherine. Maybe the fact that Henry doesn't care for the baby foreshadows the baby's death because you can't really care for something that is dead. He calls it "a" baby instead of "his", which backs up the fact that he doesn't care for him.
This passage has a dark comparison between the newborn child and a freshly skinned rabbit. A freshly skinned is an innocent creature that is dead and has had its fur removed and it is compared to Catherine's child. One is the symbol of death and the other a symbol of life. Frederic also should've realized something was wrong after the spanked the child and it failed to respond or while he saw it in the doctor's hands not making a sound. He also fails to talk about any emotional attachment to his child. I would think that a new father would be more excited to see his child but he just refers to it as a new born child almost as if it isn't his.
Like many of my classmates, I find it ironic that Frederic didn’t refer to the baby as his child. Instead, he says “a new-born child.” This use of removal of the personal wasn’t too surprising because he was never too fond of the idea of being a father. When asked if he was proud Frederic responded no and said that the baby almost killed his mother. This kind of foreshadows Catherine’s death, but more so Frederic not caring for his child. Also, as many of my classmates have pointed out, the simile between the baby and the skinned rabbit that Hemingway uses foreshadows that the infant was stillborn. I knew for sure that the child was dead when Frederic said the baby wasn’t moving or crying. If a baby isn’t crying when born there is almost always something wrong. Also, hanging the baby upside down and slapping him seemed ominous.
I don’t think that Frederic ever really cared about his baby too much. His main concern was Catherine and Catherine only, and I can definitely see how he could view the baby as the murderer of the person he loved most in the world. I agree with Anna that calling the baby that Frederic probably knew was his ‘a’ baby instead of ‘his’ baby, represented the removal of any normal loving or paternal feelings that Frederic might have felt for his child. Describing the baby as a skinned rabbit is like calling it either gross or ready to be cooked, both of which aren’t usually used when talking about a newborn. I do think that Frederic was somewhat desensitized by war, but I think that his disconnection toward the baby was mostly because it caused Catherine’s death. I don’t think that Catherine and Frederic would have been very good parents to the child if it and Catherine had lived. They seemed to be so attached to each other that they wouldn’t do to well with a baby taking attention away from them.
Hemingway shows the reader another side of Frederic in this passage. Instead of the Frederic we know of and come to love; we get a darker, more sinister Frederic that hates his own child because of a miscarriage. This results in the death of the one and only thing Frederic loves, his wife. Another thing I would like to point out is the description of the child. The image of a freshly skinned rabbit is not a pleasant sight and the reader can almost instantaneously pick up on the fact that the child is dead. The doctor slapping the child adds to the tone Hemingway is trying to set, a dark horrifying display of Frederic's grief for his wife.
Henry is clearly not attached in any way to his child. This is exemplified throughout the passage, mainly when Henry refers to the child as, "a child," and not, "my child." This removal of the personal speaks a lot for Henry's lack of pride in the fact that it is his child. He sees no beauty in the life he has created, and instead sees a dead, skinned rabbit. This is clearly not a fatherly outlook and proves that Henry's love never extended past Catherine. The fact that Hemingway referred to the child as a skinned rabbit might even hold negative connotation, as a skinned rabbit is a repulsive sight. Henry certainly seems repulsed and not attached in the slightest to his child. This may be in resentment to the suffering it caused Catherine, but either way is not justified from a father's standpoint. This passage also clearly references the baby's death, first by likening it to a skinned and, therefore, dead rabbit, and then by describing the doctors actions towards the baby.
Pride Snow
Although the description of his baby might appall some people at first, it makes plenty of sense to me. This is not a man whose life has been full of parties, balls, flowers, or elegance. He has been on the battlefield during one of, if not the worst war to every take place. I don’t know any World War I veterans, but I have had the opportunity to speak with other war veterans, and they are all very similar. They generally aren’t happy people, they don’t always look at the bright side or good side of things, because they have had to go through such pain to see their brothers die on a battlefield that it has scarred them forever. I believe whatever capacity Henry had left for love was given to his child and to Catherine.
Frederic looks at his new child as an enemy. The only person Frederic cares about in life is Catherine and he knows this child may kill her and has taken away there peaceful life of two away from them. Frederic doesn't even want to see his child because of this. Parents usually cry out for joy over their new born child but Frederic was completely opposite referring to the child as a "freshly skinned rabbit". I can also see Pride's point of view on this too. Veterans usually don't sugarcoat things. They have seen so many terrible things they call it as they see it. Frederic may have nothing else to compare to but that.
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