A Farewell to Arms Women and Femininity Quotes

Catherine flip-flops on the idea of marriage throughout the novel. She always finds some reason not to get legally married, but she’s a true believer in acting married.

This is the only time we see Catherine act violently, and she doesn’t like what she’s done. She does want Frederic to kiss her, as we see. We wonder if she slaps him because she doesn’t want to be thought of as being too "easy." He seems to take her slap as an indication of just how much she does want him.

Throughout the novel, Catherine expresses her jealousy in funny ways. At another point she says she wishes she’d been with the women Frederic has been with so she can talk about them with him.