2004, Form B. The most important themes in literature are sometimes developed in scenes in which a death or deaths take place. Choose a novel or play and write a well-organized essay in which you show how a specific death scene helps to illuminate the meaning of the work as a whole. Avoid mere plot summary.
In A Farewell to Arms, the death of Henry's beloved Catherine introduces and presents a major theme in the novel. The theme that is given is love for the soul mate in your life. Henry is deeply in love with Catherine and cannot imagine losing her. He has sacrificed his own as a lieutenant and has given up his family back in the United States. Catherine's death plays a major role and illuminates the meaning of love that cannot last forever in a time of war.
Catherine is a symbol of love in this piece of literature. When Henry falls in love with her, it proves to show that happiness can exist even in the darkest of times. War brings anger and death, but what Catherine and Henry have for each other is a bright spot that has been illuminated in the darkness.
They believe their love can exist forever, but as history can tell, love is always broken. When Catherine dies, it tears Henry apart as he realizes that he will never be loved again. This is the theme in which Catherine's death helps to illuminate the meaning of the work as a whole. Love cannot exist forever; it is like war that seems to drag on but eventually ends.
As you can see, Catherine's death illuminates the meaning of the work as a whole which just goes to show that love is not something that can last forever. It is most similar to war in which the time period is dragged out, but it eventually comes to an end. Love that is broken and cannot last forever is a theme that plays a very important role not only in the book, but in humans too as it forces us to realize that our happiness can perish within a very short time.
