Bravery is the quality of a person who displays courage and fearlessness in the face of danger. Such qualities show splendor and magnificence in a person. Fear and terror sometimes hinder the determination someone can show. Overcoming this fear is what portrays bravery. In Ernest Hemingway’s A Farewell to Arms, Frederick Henry shows bravery by freely joining the Italian army, risking his life for some ambulance drivers and swimming to freedom, being shot at the whole way.
Frederick Henry grew up in America and in his early twenties, he decided to go to Europe and fight in the Italian army. Henry’s decision in the first place, showed courage and bravery. Fighting for another country over making a living in your own goes above and beyond what is remotely asked for. Even in my wildest dreams, I would probably not even think about fighting for my own country, let alone a foreign country. Times were tough, especially when the start of the winter came. With that winter came “permanent rain and with the rain came the cholera.
But it was checked and in the end and only seven thousand died of it in the army.” (4) In the army, people die, and it is not the nicest place. Frederick Henry chose to enter this world and this portrays bravery.
In chapter nine, Henry shows his brave character once again. In Paula, Henry was installed in a roadside trench. Some of the men were hungry so Henry volunteered to go and fetch some cold macaroni from the other side of the trench.
The major advised him against it and said, “You better wait until the shelling is over.” Henry replied, “They want to eat.” (53) As Henry and the others came back to the dugout, shelling began and bombs burst around them. Then the blast furnace door swung open and Henry was badly injured. This incident showed his selfless courage and bravery. He did not have to do it, yet he went and got the food anyway.
Henry risked his life for the others, and that is another true sign of bravery.
Henry shows courage again in one of the last chapters we read. In the morning after a night of sleeping in a barn, Henry and Piani reunited with a group of soldiers. Suddenly two men from the battle police seize hold of Henry. Piani was led away, questioned, and then shot to death. Henry thought quickly, and sensed an opportunity to escape.
He dove into the water and started to swim away. As Henry swam away, he could hear shots behind him. He pressed on and the sound of gunshots faded. Frederick Henry could not have escaped if he did not have courage. It showed a lot of bravery to swim away, knowing that he would be shot at.
Frederick Henry was a man who portrayed brave qualities.
He joined the Italian army, risked his life for others, and risked his own life for freedom. Bravery is taking that step into the undesired, the unknown. Bravery is putting one’s self into danger without hesitation. Overcoming fears and anxieties is what a truly brave and courageous person does all the time. .
