A Farewell to Arms: Chapter 10

The color-coded bars in this section make it easy to track the themes throughout the work. Each color corresponds to one of the themes explained in the Themes section of this LitChart. For instance, indicates that all five themes apply to that part of the summary.

Summary Analysis Themes

Rinaldi visits Henry, who is lying wounded in the field hospital, and brings him a bottle of cognac. He also informs Henry that he will receive a medal for heroism, even though Henry declares that he did nothing at all heroic during the battle. Rinaldi leaves, promising to send Catherine to visit Henry.

The army has to promote the idea of heroism in order to keep its men fighting. So it gives medals to men who did nothing heroic, such as Henry. A realist, Henry understands how the Italian Army is using him.