The Wounded and the Words: A Farewell to Arms
Hemingway's 1929 novel of a wounded American volunteer, read beside how the wounded are written about today. Five seminars over three to four weeks.
Ernest Hemingway’s narrator is an American ambulance volunteer wounded on the Italian Front in World War I. Your student reads the novel closely for style, irony and word choice, then compares how a novel and the news tell the story of a wounded soldier. The unit does not argue for or against any war.
The book is in the U.S. public domain, so the full text is free.
What’s inside
- Five seminars over three to four weeks, each a 60- to 75-minute discussion and writing session.
- Readings: the 1929 novel (free on Project Gutenberg), October 2026 reporting on America’s wounded, and the Pentagon’s casualty figures.
- Three choices for military families, all for the same credit: the full unit, a history-only unit that uses World War I history in place of the news, or skip it for now.
- A content preview for parents.
- High school writing task: an 800- to 1,000-word comparative essay, with a 20-point rubric.
- A grades 7–8 excerpt path: five 40- to 50-minute sessions on short passages a parent previews, ending with a one-page letter to a wounded service member.
- A word bank and a portfolio record.
Grades and standards
Grades 11–12 (strong 10th graders), with a grades 7–8 excerpt path. West Virginia standards: ELA.11.1, ELA.11.7, ELA.11.9, ELA.12.9, ELA.11.14, ELA.12.14, ELA.11.15, ELA.11.20, ELA.11.30, ELA.10.3, ELA.10.14, ELA.7.9, ELA.7.14, ELA.8.3, ELA.8.22.
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