Simply put, Ernest Hemingway revolutionized narrative fiction. His writing style is like nothing that had appeared before him, and he has inspired a huge percentage of popular narrative fiction after him. Indeed, after Hemingway, the predominant writing style almost instantly came to be seen as old-fashioned. Yet in many ways, he breaks the rules of what is conventionally considered good or even correct writing. Certainly his grammar, syntax, and use of punctuation are unconventional. Examine any passage of narrative (not dialogue) in these chapters and identify its most important features. Consider both what he includes and what he leaves out.
First-person narration puts the reader into the story. We experience the events of the novel through the narrator, and thus we are forced to identify with him. What kind of person is this narrator? Given how little he talks about himself — look how long it takes him even to tell us his name — how does Hemingway convey his psychology and his character to us?
The narrator may not be forthcoming about his opinions either with us or with the novel’s other characters, but he records (faithfully, we assume) various conversations he has with other characters about the war, women and sex, and even metaphysics. Discuss how Hemingway explores these issues through character like the young priest, Rinaldi, Catherine Barkley, and Manera.