A Farewell to Arms: Similes 4 key examples

From the first chapter, the reader understands Henry's tendency to detach from reality and escape into his imagination. It is clear that Henry consistently tries to take the most destructive and bloody aspects of war—in this case, explosives and artillery—and attempts to make something beautiful out of them. It is also his mortar shell injury that allows his relationship with Catherine to deepen into love.

In this simile, for example, the flashes in the night are not representations of all of the pointless deaths but are instead something as wonderful as summer lightning. Storms in the summertime are fleeting and indicate that blues skies are fast-approaching. The air is warm and full of possibility. It follows that the war is portrayed as being like a thunderstorm that will soon pass, something that Henry believes he can experience from a distance without much emotional involvement or hardship. This distance is something that Henry initially strives for both externally (his physical distance to the front) and internally (his emotional attachments to people).

One would expect the danger to occur during the battle itself, so this scene comes about unexpectedly. Unlike the glorified injuries that soldiers receive in battles, Henry gets hit while eating with his fellow soldiers. Getting hit by a mortar shell while doing something as mundane as eating macaroni and cheese, though, undermines the gravity and glory of war. It is so sudden and unceremonious that it is almost darkly humorous, demonstrating the absurdity and senselessness of World War I.

Moreover, the sharp shift from discussing Henry’s “piece of cheese” to the "screaming" and splintering world around him takes the reader by surprise. The simile comparing the exploding shell to "a blast-furnace door sw[inging] open" and the ensuing visual and auditory imagery make the moment even more shocking and vivid. The jarring escalation in imagery, in particular, mirrors the shock that accompanies an explosion. This is one of the more emotive and dramatic moments in the novel, made ironic by its banal prelude.

One of the reasons that Henry is so enamored by Catherine is her all-around smoothness and loveliness. The smoothness of her skin in particular is very different from the sharp shrapnel Henry often encounters during his time fighting in World War I. Catherine's smoothness physically offers Henry comfort, much like the music of Caruso offers the soldiers comfort. A piano can also be an escape for musicians, proving that Catherine is Henry’s escape: his piano keys. 

Catherine, on the other hand, describes Henry's skin as emery paper, or sandpaper. Henry is a little rough around the edges, especially given his experiences in the war. However, this roughness is something that Catherine desires. Having just lost her fiancée to the war, Catherine is desperate to feel anything other than grief. Sometimes, the only other feeling available is pain. 

Helen believes that Henry has ruined Catherine and irreparably damaged her life. In Helen's eyes, Henry is a snake because he impregnated her and left for the front, only to return with the prospect of living the rest of their lives in hiding. Comparing him to a snake also evokes the biblical story of Adam and Eve and their introduction to sin by the snake. Perhaps to Helen, having a child out of wedlock is the ultimate sin, something she cannot look past

By comparing Henry to not simply a snake, but "a snake with an Italian uniform," Helen reveals her true feelings toward World War I. Sneakiness is a characteristic that Helen corresponds with Italian men, specifically. Her attitude demonstrates the prejudices that countries can hold against even their ally countries. Even though allied countries fight for the same side in wars, they do not always mesh on a deeper, cultural level. As an English nurse, Helen is clearly weary of her time in Italy and, like most characters, ready for the end of the war.