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The story begins in Goriza, Italy, the headquarters of Frederic Henry’s troop, during World War I. Frederic is an American volunteer in the in the Ambulance Corps, and a second lieutenant in the Italian army. Henry has just returned from a leave and had traveled throughout Europe. Lieutenant Rinaldi, one of the secondary characters in the novel, shares a room with Frederic Henry. Rinaldi, is an emotional Italian, and is always in love with someone. When Rinaldi, is first introduced he is infatuated with Catherine Barkley, a nurse at the local hospital. Frederic goes one night with Rinaldi to meet her. When Frederic meets Catherine he finds her to be very beautiful and at first the relationship between them consists of a game based on his attempts to seduce her. He does try to make one attempt to try to kiss her, but Catherine becomes very offended and quickly slaps him on the face. Frederic learns from very early on that Catherine had lost her fiancé, who was killed during the war. Catherine is still rather shaken up from the experience and is not ready to really get into another relationship. Frederic has no intention of ever falling in love with her. “ I did not care what I was getting into. This was better tha