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A Farewell to Arms Chapter 19 Summary

  • Frederic starts physical therapy that summer, and because he doesn’t need the crutches anymore, and therefore doesn’t need a nurse, he and Catherine can’t go around town together much. Sometimes, though, they go to dinner with Helen.
  • All he wants is to be with Catherine, and he "kills" time with races, newspapers, and magazines.
  • He meets Meyers and his wife, people from the races, and they chitchat.
  • The hospital has lots of patients now, and he feels like the war will either go on forever or that it will end soon.
  • He meets some acquaintances, including some army men and two male singers, one of whom is named Ralph Simmons. Also present is Ettore Moretti, a San Francisco Italian in the Italian army.
  • They all talk about the war and drink in a bar.
  • Ettore has been wounded in the arm by a grenade, but had shot the man who threw it.
  • They wish each other luck and Frederic thinks of Ettore, who is twenty-three and "a legitimate hero," but people find him boring.
  • Later, Catherine tells Frederic that Ettore is "a dreadful, dreadful boy."
  • Catherine asks about his day and he tells her about the Mr. and Mrs. Meyers.
  • It is raining, and it makes Frederic sleepy and Catherine afraid.
  • He presses her to tell him why, and she admits it’s because she sees Frederic and herself dead when she looks at it.
  • He comforts her and she tries not to be afraid.