Catherine as "Code Hero" in A Farewell to ArmsIn the last book of A Farewell to Arms, when pregnant Catherine Barkley has painful contractions, Frederic Henry, the narrator and protagonist of the novel, reminds his "wife" that she is "a good, brave girl" (ALS 313). The next day, after undergoing a cesarean section and giving birth to a stillborn baby, Catherine demonstrates how courageous she is; although he knows he is dying, he still has the dignity and strength to accept such a fate. In fact, he finds himself in the (unfair) position of trying to comfort his distraught lover. As death approaches, Catherine's candor is notable as her final words to Frederic suggest that she possesses some sense or understanding of her own mortality and what will soon happen: "I'm not afraid at all. It's just a dirty trick " (FTA 331). The "it" that Catherine refers to is presumably death, but, in fact, the indefinite may refer to life, a process that Catherine sees as a "rotten game" (ALS 31), since much of it is left to chance and death. it's always the end. Such an insight put forward by Catherine is not at all unusual, because, from the moment she and Frederic first fall in love until the moment of his death, Catherine repeatedly reveals her inherent heroic qualities, especially in the way she reflects Hemingway" hero of the code" criterion of "grace under pressure". Yet critics have repeatedly misunderstood Catherine since the novel's publication some seventy years ago. Those who have engaged in clearly feminist analyzes over the past twenty-five years have been particularly harsh on Hemingway's characterization of Catherine, regarding it as condescending and superficial. In his response to the phallocentres...... center of paper...... by Ernest Hemingway.The New York Times September 29, 1929: 5.Lewis, Robert W. "A Farewell to Arms": The War of . New York: Twayne, 1992. Lynn, Kenneth. Hemingway. New York: Fawcett Columbine, 1987. Nagel, James. “Catherine Barkley and Retrospective Narrative.” Critical essays on "A Farewell to Arms" by Ernest Hemingway. Giorgio Monteiro. New York: Hall, 1994. 161-74.Spanier, Sandra Whipple. “Catherine Barkley and the Hemingway Code: Ritual and Survival in A Farewell to Arms.” Ed. Harold Bloom. New York: Chelsea House, 1987. 131-48. Spofford, William K. “Beyond the Feminist Perspective: Love in a Farewell to Arms.” Fitzgerald/Hemingway Annual 1978.Eds. Matthew J. Bruccoli and Richard Layman. Detroit: Gale Research, 1979. 307-12.Young, Philip. Ernest Hemingway: A Reconsideration. Rev. ed. New York: Harcourt, 1966.