A Farewell to Arms
Ernest Hemingway

CHAPTER 37

Henry rows, making progress by going with the wind. It is a tough job but, aside from the danger of being caught by Italian border patrols, not overly hazardous.

Hemingway works in some fine descriptions of the moonlit lake as the rain stops and the clouds scud away. There's a bit of comic relief when Henry tries to use an umbrella as a sail. It snaps, of course, making him look foolish.

He rows on, his hands blistering. Catherine takes a short turn to spell him. Well after daybreak, they reach the Swiss side of the lake, land, and have breakfast. Switzerland looks "cheerful and clean even with the rain."

After breakfast they are arrested. Their story is that they want to come to Switzerland for the winter sports. Coupled with the fact that they have valid passports and plenty of money, their story is just absurd enough to impress the practical, businesslike Swiss. Note the officer's reaction to their money: he gives them the business card of his father, a hotel keeper! Other officials sound like tour guides, each vying for the rich tourists' patronage. A subtly critical, yet funny scene.

The upshot of it all is that they're allowed to tour in the country and are taken to a hotel.

NOTE: Had Hemingway been spinning a romantic love story, here is where he should have stopped. There is a sense of closure at this point. Henry and Catherine are safe; they're in love, and, as long as Henry's grandfather keeps sending money, they can live. A simple love story, however, is not the author's intention. Too much has happened that transcends romance- other conflicts and other meanings. These have to be wrapped up and clarified in Book V, the conclusion.  

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