A Farewell to Arms Book 5, Chapter 39 Summary

Summary

By mid-January the narrator and Catherine are living through a settled, bright cold winter in Switzerland; the snow is packed and the roads are passable again. They take long walks across the mountain to the Bains de l’Alliaz, where a dark, smoky inn full of woodcutters offers warmth and glühwein. The couple sits by the stove, observes horses and foxes outside, and enjoys the uncomplicated pleasure of the landscape and each other’s company.

On the walks and later seated on roadside logs they speak quietly about ordinary and consequential matters: Frederic’s beard (which Catherine admires), the chamois hunters, foxes, money, and the possibility of his family contacting him now that they are in Switzerland. They confirm they have funds and sketch out intentions about communicating with his family. Catherine talks about postponing cutting her hair until after the baby is born and imagines being “a fine new and different girl” for Frederic; the conversation moves easily between playful domestic fantasies and more intimate admissions. They repeatedly affirm their preference for solitude and each other. The chapter ends with a mutual, rueful declaration: Catherine says she wants to ruin Frederic, and he replies that he wants that too, closing the scene on affectionate complicity.

Key events

1. By mid-January the narrator has grown a beard and winter is firmly established.
2. They take long walks to the Bains de l’Alliaz, stopping at an inn for glühwein.
3. They watch woodcutters, horses, and two foxes on the road home.
4. Catherine praises the narrator’s beard and they joke about chamois hunters.
5. They discuss money, Frederic’s family, and whether to contact them.
6. Catherine describes plans for cutting her hair after the baby is born.
7. They exchange declarations of love and the desire to ‘ruin’ each other.

Analysis

This chapter deepens the novel’s focus on intimacy, exile, and the small rituals that sustain Frederic and Catherine. The winter landscape — bright, hard, and isolating — mirrors the couple’s insulated life in Switzerland: the packed snow, the cold air, and the hushed roads create a private world in which their relationship becomes a refuge. The chapter emphasizes ordinary sensory detail (glühwein, stove heat, frosty horse breath), anchoring their domestic happiness in concrete images rather than grand statements. Symbols work quietly: Frederic’s beard suggests a new, rustic masculinity and a kind of belonging to the mountain life; the fox’s tail prompts fantasies of warmth and comfort; the inn’s light against the dark woods underscores the couple’s small island of warmth in a broader cold world.

Narratively, the first-person voice remains understated and observational, letting dialogue carry emotional weight; much is revealed through casual, practical talk about money and family rather than melodrama. The scene also continues to foreground the couple’s desire for seclusion and control over their future, even as practical anxieties (possible contact from Frederic’s family) intrude. The closing exchange — playful, almost conspiratorial — reinforces the theme that love here is both tender and possessive, domestic and defiantly private.

Important quotes

“You have a splendid beard now,”

Catherine BarkleyCatherine admires Frederic’s beard, linking his appearance to the mountain woodcutters and signaling comfort with his rustic new look.

“We live in a country where nothing makes any difference. Isn’t it grand how we never see any one? You don’t want to see people do you, darling?”

Catherine BarkleyCatherine articulates and celebrates their isolated life in Switzerland, valuing privacy and seclusion as part of their happiness.

“I want to ruin you.”

Catherine BarkleySaid playfully yet possessively, this line closes the chapter and underscores the couple’s intense, intimate bond and willingness to upend ordinary life for each other.

Characters in Book 5, Chapter 39

• Frederic Henry
• Catherine Barkley