A "round" character according to E.M. Forster in his
"Aspects of the Novel" is a character who changes not just physically but
also mentally and emotionally throughout the
novel.
Catherine Barkley is certainly a "round" character
who changes dynamically throughout the course of the
novel.
Most modernist novels are existentialist and are
characterised by the fragmentation of the identity of a single character. Hemingway
reveals to us different facets of the character Catherine in the following
manner:
1. At the end of Ch.5 Frederic tells Rinaldi that
he and Catherine are "friends,"
readability="5">So you make progress with Miss
Barkley?We are
friends.2.
At the end of Ch. 14 they are lovers.3. In Ch. 18 they are
virtually husband and wife:Catherine says:readability="5">"We're really married. I
couldn't be any more
married."4.
In Ch. 23 Catherine feels like a whore :readability="5">"But it isn't nice to
feel like one (a
whore)."5.
At the end of Ch.23 Frederic quotes two lines from Marvell's "To His Coy
Mistress,"And
always at my back I hearTime's winged chariot hurrying
nearWas Frederic hinting
that Catherine was like a mistress to
him.?6. The novel ends with Catherine's death after she
had given birth to a still born child. The physical changes are: when the novel begins
she is just another woman but after she meets Frederic and falls in love with him she
becomes an unwed mother who gives birth to a still born
child.So Catherine is a character with multiple facets to
her personality and it is impossible to comprehend her fully: she is friend, lover,
wife, whore, mistress and mother of a still born
child.More research would certainly reveal more complex
facets to Catherine's multiple and dynamic personality and
character.
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