Who is the antagonist in A Farewell to Arms? Does the antagonist require Lt. Henry to look at himself in a profound new way?

Most usually in fiction an antagonist is a human character
who opposes or works against the protagonist; however, sometimes an antagonist can be an
entity, such as an organization or some type of force. In this novel, Lt. Frederic
Henry's antagonist is World War I as it is being fought on the Italian front. It is the
war that most threatens him and succeeds in almost killing
him.

After being wounded, Frederic recovers and returns to
the war. He functions with grace and courage, discharging his duties as an officer in a
conscientious and professional manner. During the disastrous retreat from Caporetto,
however, Frederic finds himself in a line of soldiers crossing a bridge over the
Tagliamento River. Ahead of him he sees Italian officers being questioned by the
carabinieri who are looking for deserters and infiltrating enemy troops. Frederic
witnesses officers being executed. When he is pulled out of line because he speaks
Italian with an accent, Frederic knows he is about to die. He dives into the river to
escape execution.

Making his way through Italy hidden in a
railroad flat-car, Frederic at this point does see himself in a profound new way. He had
run to avoid being shot, but lying on the floor of the car under a canvas cover, he
makes a conscious decision to desert. He is through with the
war:

Anger was
washed away in the river along with any obligation. Although that ceased when the
carabiniere put his hands on my collar. I would like to have had the uniform off
although I did not care much about the outward forms. I had taken off the stars, but
that was for convenience. It was no point of honor. I was not against them. I was
through . . . it was not my show anymore and I wished this bloody train would get to
Mestre and I would eat and stop thinking. I would have to
stop.

Frederic no longer sees
himself as an officer with responsibilities to his men. Through no fault of his own, he
has been separated from his men and has lost his ambulances. He claims a new identity,
his own. His uniform is now foreign to him. He has cut off the stars to avoid
apprehension as the deserter he has chosen to be; later he would notice that the cloth
bears the outline of where they had been, symbolizing the life he had left
behind.

This new identity does not come easily to Frederic
as he considers it. It marks a profound difference in him. He knows he will have to stop
thinking about the choice he has made.