Morality in “A Farewell to Arms”

The fancy of deterrent exampleity refers to the dimension of gentle existence whereby man confronts or finds himself, an exaltation flock of man, or an exemplification state and goal of his existence which he finds himself oriented toward. The ideal vision thus constitutes for him an exigency, a demand to make forion in accord with the ideal vision and goal. By the same token, this ideal vision of man constitutes a fundamental norm in comparison to which his life and actions atomic itemize 18 judged to be either right or unlawful, good or mediocre.Right and aggrieve literally mean being straight or non, in ain credit line with, in conformity or non, with the norm. On the other hand, good and bad atomic number 18 often utilizationd as equivalents of right and wrong. However, in much precise language, right and wrong refer specifically to that which is morally natural covering or obligatory. Thus, the right action is that which we ought to do or ought to have done, whereas the wrong action is that which we ought to refrain from or ought to have refrained from doing. (Williams)In a shorter and briefer paygrade of the concept of morality, morality stands for what is established as standard for right and wrong. It goes for what the society has as norm or custom. An action thunder mug be tolerable though it is not moral. However in this regard, rightness and wrongness are out of issue. Practicability is utter to be the motivation force for such(prenominal) action which is primarily due to its casing as necessary. Yet, necessity is purely beyond the force field of morality. cleanity in A Farewell to weapons orFarewell to ManzanarThe story boldly exposed the duty period of the character of Lt. Fredric enthalpy while he engaged to different characters. First transformation occurs after he met Catherine. Before, he was initially expound as youthful and womanizer. The nature of his scarper asked him to leave his personal interests over hi s goal as soldier that which is to obey the army and fight for his country. In this initial scene, heat content was not in reality aware(p) of what he was doing.He hanged out with his comrades. He drank alcoholic beverages. He engaged himself to many women. But such seemed to be normal for a soldier like him. Being a soldier, he was ordered to risk his life in order to do his job. As compensation, he wanted to relax by having night-outs and drinking sessions with his co-soldiers. However, when he knew Catherine, he suddenly became beneficial in his life. He was now more kind in all that he did. He stopped going to bars. He stopped hanging out with his comrades. He instead focused himself on his relationship with Catherine. For a while, he wanted to be free from his induce as a soldier.Nevertheless no matter how he was serious with the girl, he just cannot put away his being a soldier. Catherine was pregnant. He wanted to be at her side. Yet he knew that he had to go back to t he front and function as a soldier. He was in a dilemma. He knew that if he chose the former, he would neglect his duty as a soldier to his country. And if he chose the latter he would neglect his promise to Catherine and to their baby as father. But like what was stated earlier, he knew that his work requires sacrifice of his personal interests that which is more important is the interest of his country and countrymen. by and by on, he purely considered the latter.Upon knowing that there was this conspiracy to bring overpower the army by some of his co-soldiers, he escaped from the army. In this scene, enthalpy can be seen as a soldier that upon knowing what was really happening, he had chosen to leave the army instead of reporting the nonessential to his superiors maybe because he was somewhat worried of himself. But then as a servant of his country, his duty is to protect and fight for his country no matter what happen. In this aspect, he acted against his duty.When he fl ed from the army, he happened to meet again with Catherine. Realizing that he had a responsibility toward her and their baby, he convinced her to go to Switzerland and gather in new life. The girl agreed and together they ran away. It is to be noted that ahead the two met and became in love with each other, they had already duties to their countries.Henry was a soldier and Catherine was a nurse. When they escaped, they turned down these supposed jobs in interestingness of their own interests. Honestly, I cannot literally say that they had committed a moral crime of being selfish. Selfishness can be right in certain(a) stations. But still, they left their posts as servants of their country hence somehow they can be criticized for doing such.To analyze Henrys transformation, his character started at the closure of the continuum, far from being moral. But after he met Catherine, he became aware of the rightness and wrongness of his actions. Conversely, in the end of the story his moral authorization was exposed to conflicting duties duty to his country as a soldier and duty to Catherine and his baby as father. Personally, I think that Henry failed to puzzle out his practical reason for choosing his own interest over his countrys interest. And this can be supported by the ending when Catherine and his child died. It suggested that he had picked the wrong decision therefore he suffered its ill-consequences.Using Kantian Ethics, Utilitarianism and sexual abstention EthicsMoral Theories are important in the valuation of military man actions. They serve as the chief framework and criteria for moral judgment.(Timmons) Furthermore, morality is said to be one of the most contested concepts. Its truthfulness and applicability are always put into question. It is true that morality is more specific than the concept of ethics because ethics refers to the study of human actions whereas morality pertains to a finical set of standards in which moral judgment is bein g based.(Williams)Now, in evaluation of morality, there are different aspects that moral theories tend to look at.(Harris) Kantianism or the Kantianism, one of the Deontological theories, implies that human actions are judged with reference to duty or obligation.(Baron) On the contrary, Utilitarianism states that moral judgment can be done by charitable to the consequences of human actions.(Mill) Nevertheless, Virtue Ethics does not focus its evaluation uncomplete on the duty or consequence of an action but earlier on the character or the innovation of the acting agent.(Hursthouse)It is noteworthy to use the abovementioned moral theories in analyzing the transformation of Lt. Henrys character throughout the story.Kantian ethics would most likely criticize Henry for not fulfilling his duties to his country and to his baby. As mentioned earlier, Henry first left Catherine even if he was already aware of the latters pregnancy. When he escaped from the army, he reconciled with Cathe rine and planned to move to Switzerland. Obviously, as it was manifested in the novel, Henry omit his duty as soldier. For Kantianism, such undertaking is morally wrong.In relation to the Utilitarian principle, greatest good for the greatest number, Henry also failed to act morally.(Mill) He undervalued his job as soldier and instead pursued his personal interest. Though his action would benefit him, Catherine and the baby what was deserted was his task of engagement and protecting his country and his fellow countrymen. Obviously, the latter was greater in number as compared to the former and possessed the most intrinsic good. Utilitarianism would say that Henry failed to act morally.Finally, Virtue ethics suggests that the assessment of Henrys decisions and actions should be based on his character and intention.(Hursthouse Williams) Giving the fact that Henry had this intention of escaping and abandoning the army for he valued more his life (though there is cypher wrong for doin g such), virtue ethics would say that Henry was not virtuous for not being courageous in facing the worse situation that he supposedly had. Moreover, he was not virtuous for he did not make a good judgment in making decisions or in solving the dilemma that he had. As a result, he acted against what is morally right in the light of the Virtue ethics.ConclusionTo gibe up, the novel A Farewell to Arms can be described as a story of struggle.(Hemingway) This struggle was all about unloosen oneself from the sphere of war, from the sphere of morality. Morality suggests what one ought to do and not to do.(Williams) It dialogue about standards and code of conducts. On the other hand, morality fades in the sphere of warfare and in the sphere of love. One has the privilege to either fetch to what he think is right rather than do what society tells him to do so. At the end of the day, what gives person happiness is what really counts.References/ Works CitedBaron, Marcia W. Kantian Ethics A lmost without Apology New ed ed Cornell University Press, 1999.Harris, C. E. Applying Moral Theories 5th ed Wadsworth Publishing, 2006.Hemingway, Ernest. A Farewell to Arms. Reprint ed Scribner, 1995.Hursthouse, Rosalind. On Virtue Ethics. New ed ed Oxford University Press, 2002.Mill, John Stuart. Utilitarianism. IndyPublish, 2005.Timmons, Mark. Moral system Rowman & Littlefield Publishers, Inc. , 2002.Williams, Bernard. Morality An Introduction to Ethics (Canto). Reissue ed Cambridge University Press, 1993.