Title
Law and Legitimacy in A Farewell to Arms
Document Type
Essay
Annotation
Opens with a summary of the novel's publication history and difficulties with censors before moving to a discussion of its dual love and war plotlines. Contends that while both plots deal with social infraction, their moral breeches are not equal. Weinrib explores how the love story's redeemable morality via common law marriage spotlights the war story's subversive depiction of legal but morally reprehensible episodes, including those portraying the senselessness of military rules, manipulation of military codes, and cruelty of the Italian army. Closes with a discussion of the legal and moral implications of Frederic's shooting the sergeant and desertion.
Published in
Cannons and Codes: Law, Literature, and America's Wars
Date
2021
Pages
179-196
Citation
Weinrib, Laura. "Law and Legitimacy in A Farewell to Arms." In Cannons and Codes: Law, Literature, and America's Wars, edited by Alison L. LaCroix, Jonathan S. Masur, Martha C. Nussbaum, and Laura Weinrib, 179-96. New York: Oxford University Press, 2021.