The irrelevant God in A Farewell to Arms A Farewell to Arms begins with a cinematic overview, seen from the eye of God, of the hills surrounding Gorizia: the camera of our mind l The eye, racing forward in time, sweeps up and down the landscape, catching as it passes isolated events of the first year in the city. Eventually the film slowly slows down, passing through the window of a brothel to meet the eyes of Frederic Henry watching the snow fall. As we connect to Frederic Henry's perspective, we return (as he turns) to the conversation at hand, a theological debate between the priest and Lieutenant Rinaldi. This debate, its dialectic embodied in these two polar opposites, is a central question of A Farewell to Arms: what is our relationship with God? This is, in fact, the main philosophical arc of the novel; A Farewell to Arms can be seen as the synthesis of these two worldviews in Henry's final relationship with God. Fredrick Henry's silence during this original debate is very significant: it indicates, of course, that he has not yet made up his mind. It would be very easy for him to take the side of Rinaldi and his atheists or the priest, yet he remains silent as they speak, even after comments are directed at him from both camps about an anti-religious book called Black Pig. “It's very precious. tell about those priests. You'll like it," says Rinaldi. “Don't read it,” replies the priest (8). Henry's only comment in this chapter is his statement that the arrival of winter will end the offensive, a comment which is seized upon by the group and used as another point of contention for the group. The priest wants Henry to go to Abruzzo: "There is good hunting. Would you like... middle of paper......ta P, 1984.Bloom, Harold. Introduction. Farewell to by Ernest Hemingway Weapons Ed. Harold Bloom New York: Chelsea, 1987.Donaldson, The Escape of Frederic Henry and the Pose of Hemingway: A Reevaluation Ed. The Apprenticeship of Ernest Hemingway. New York: Farrar, 1954. Fetterly, The Resentful Cryptogram of Ernest Hemingway, Ed. Harold Bloom, New York Ed. New York: Stein and Day, 1966. Grebstein, Hemingway's Craft Carbondale: Southern Illinois P, 1973. A Farewell to Arms New York Killinger, John Hemingway and the Dead Gods: A Study in Existentialism: U of Kentucky P, 1960.