It might just be me but I think Frederic's time off from war is helping him more than he thinks. Other than the obvious medical attention, he is getting somewhat re-sensitized. He again shows back his deep love for Catherine and he is spending more time in decisions, taking more interest in what goes on around him. He asked for many different suggestions on what to do about his leg before actually taking action. He's learning to use his brain again for reasons other than to kill. His new location, Milan, could also have this effect on him.
Similar to Oskar's journey in Extremely Loud, Frederic comes back to his senses through these chapters. Oskar finally learns to let go of his father while everything will still be okay. Oskar was stuck in an uncomfortable state of panic and greif before he spent so much time with the Blacks and finally opened up. Frederic was in a static state of numbness, until he took himself out of the tense, war environment and realized how life regularly swept on.
Except I don't think he really underwent a full transformation. I see where you're going here, and I think to a certain extent that you are right. He's spending much mroe time focusing on himself, even though that's just more drinking and sex. But he also doesn't seem too upset to be going back to war, and to re-desensitize himself.
ReplyDeletetrue true but once you go black, you never go back. Like once you've experienced what goes on in war its really hard to fully bring yourself back to the average society without going slightly or completely insane. The movie The Hurt Locker is a great example of this.
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