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I had drunk much wine and afterward coffee and Strega and I explained, winefully, how we did not do the things we wanted to do; we never did such things.
for the plot
I tried to tell about the night and the difference between the night and the day and how the night was better unless the day was very clean and cold and I could not tell it; as I cannot tell it now. But if you have had it you know.
“It’s very odd though. Why did you do it?” “I don’t know,” I said. “There isn’t always an explanation for everything.”
You see I didn’t care about the other thing and he could have had it all. He could have had anything he wanted if I would have known.
“Do you suppose it will always go on?” “No.” “What’s to stop it?” “It will crack somewhere.”
referring to an entire war as "it", dancing around an entire historical period because you've yet to be directly affected by it. It's bound to break somewhere.
“Oh, darling,” she said. “You will be good to me, won’t you?” What the hell, I thought.
mood
“There is a class that controls a country that is stupid and does not realize anything and never can. That is why we have this war.”
relevant to this day
I tried to breathe but my breath would not come and I felt myself rush bodily out of myself and out and out and out and all the time bodily in the wind. I went out swiftly, all of myself, and I knew I was dead and that it had all been a mistake to think you just died. Then I floated, and instead of going on I felt myself slide back.
reacting to being hit by mortar shells with "I went out swiftly" is just a little insane.
All the drivers wore puttees but Passini had only one leg. I
My knee wasn’t there. My hand went in and my knee was down on my shin. I
thats horribly gruesome
He’s coming to see you. He makes big preparations.” “I like him.” “Oh, I knew it. Sometimes I think you and he are a little that way. You know.”
You are really an Italian. All fire and smoke and nothing inside. You only pretend to be American. We are brothers and we love each other.”
My God what would a man do with a woman like that except worship her? What else is an Englishwoman good for?”
“Now you see. Underneath we are the same. We are war brothers. Kiss me good-by.”
said. “I hope you don’t suffer.” He seemed very tired and I was not used to seeing him tired. “Not any more.” “I miss you at the mess.” “I wish I were there. I always enjoyed our talking.”
“You do not mind it. You do not see it. You must forgive me. I know you are wounded.” “That is an accident.” “Still even wounded you do not see it. I can tell. I do not see it myself but I feel it a little.”
“You do not love Him at all?” he asked. “I am afraid of him in the night sometimes.” “You should love Him.” “I don’t love much.”
Turkey, I said, was our national bird but the joke translated so badly and they were so puzzled and suspicious that I said yes, we would probably declare war on Turkey. And on Bulgaria? We had drunk several glasses of brandy and I said yes by God on Bulgaria too and on Japan.
I will never forget Romulus suckling the Tiber. What? Nothing.
Let’s all go to Rome. Let’s go to Rome to-night and never come back.
You are drunk, baby. Who made me drunk? I made you drunk, said the major. I made you drunk because I love you and because America is in the war.
Not the nurses with beards of the field hospital.
I don’t mind their beards, I said. If any man wants to raise a beard let him.
You go to live in a big city and have your English there to cuddle you. Why don’t I get wounded? Maybe you will, I said. We must go, said the major.
After a while I wanted a drink of water and found the bell on a cord by the bed and rang it but nobody came. I went to sleep.
“If you had any foreign bodies in your legs they would set up an inflammation and you’d have fever.” “All right,” I said. “We’ll see what comes out.”
to, drew the corks and put the wine and vermouth under the bed. They left me alone and I lay in bed and read the papers awhile, the news from the front, and the list of dead officers with their decorations and then reached down and brought up the bottle of Cinzano and held it straight up on my stomach, the cool glass against my stomach, and took little drinks making rings on my stomach from holding the bottle there between drinks, and watched it get dark outside over the roofs of the town. The swallows circled around and I watched them and the night-hawks flying above the roofs and drank the
...more
“What’s the matter? Don’t you know any news?” I asked. “What news?” “Any news. What’s happened in the town?” “It is time of war,” he said. “The enemy’s ears are everywhere.”
I was crazy about her. I could not believe she was really there and held her tight to me.
“You do love me?” “I really love you. I’m crazy about you. Come on please.”
God knows I had not wanted to fall in love with her. I had not wanted to fall in love with any one. But God knows I had and I lay on the bed in the room of the hospital in Milan and all sorts of things went through my head but I felt wonderful
Austrians were sons of bitches. How many had I killed? I had not killed any but I was anxious to please—and I said I had killed plenty.
medicine have a tendency to seek one another’s company and aid in consultation.
I looked down at the legs. At the field hospital they had the look of not too freshly ground hamburger steak.
He never reagrds it in a serious manner
The doctor spread his delicate fingers on the cap he held and smiled. “You are in such a hurry to get back to the front?” “Why not?”
You look healthy as a goat. Who’s the pretty girl? Is she your girl? I thought so. Isn’t this a bloody war? How does that feel? You are a fine boy. I’ll make you better than new. Does that hurt? You bet it hurts. How they love to hurt you, these doctors.
“I don’t. I don’t want any one else to touch you. I’m silly. I get furious if they touch you.”
And, darling, when you’re going under the ether just think about something
else—not us. Because people get very blabby under an anæsthetic.”
“What should I think about?” “Anything. Anything but us. Think about your people....
This highlight has been truncated due to consecutive passage length restrictions.
“There, darling. Now you’re all clean inside and out. Tell me. How many people have you ever loved?”
“Nobody.” “Not me even?” “Yes, you.” “How many others really?” “None.”
“I want what you want. There isn’t any me any more. Just what you want.”
“You’ll die then. Fight or die. That’s what people do. They don’t marry.”
Catherine Barkley took three nights off night duty and then she came back on again. It was as though we met again after each of us had been away on a long journey.
When she came upstairs it was as though she had been away on a long trip and I went along the hall with her on the crutches and carried the basins and waited outside the doors,
Submissive to catherine
“I thought girls always wanted to be married.” “They do. But, darling, I am married. I’m married to you. Don’t I make you a good wife?”
“I don’t. But I love you so much and you did love some one else before.”
Retroactive jealousy and it being a thing that follows them around throughoug the relationship
The Italians were using up an awful amount of men. I did not see how it could go on.
