In Hemingway's A Farewell to Arms, Frederic Henry finds in his relationship with Catherine Barkley – a relationship they view as a marriage – security, comfort and tangible feelings of love: things that conventional religious devotion and practice had not been able to offer him. Frederick does not love God, he is only “afraid of Him at night sometimes,” a result of the guilt felt after indulging in the immoral sexual pleasures of the brothel (72). Frederick and Catherine have no religion other than their love for each other, but he retains a kind of ingrained religious sensibility. Sex is something central to both Catholic tradition (in terms of dogma) and the relationship between Frederick and Catherine, and is a source of mental conflict for Frederick. Their love for each other becomes like a substitute for religion, their ritual practice being sex; However, Catherine's death at the end of the novel is a direct result of their premarital sexual relations. Although Frederick cannot completely rid himself of religiously inspired sexual guilt and anxiety, he continues to have premarital sex. At the end of the novel, he is blinded by a great loss and is forced to recognize, too late, that his great love – his religion – could not last and that the premarital sexual relations which constituted his ritual could not bring him happiness only temporarily, as sexual activity without fail leading to emotional and physical degradation. Say no to plagiarism. Get a tailor-made essay on "Why violent video games should not be banned"? Get the original essay The Italian Catholicism present in A Farewell to Arms is hostile to premarital sexuality. Aymo's two virgin Catholic peasant women, “probably very religious,” react strongly emotionally to Aymo's use of the word “––––,” “the vulgar word” to refer to sex (197, 196). They misunderstand its meaning; we start to sob with fear. Frederick's sexual improprieties are the source of much emotional and spiritual turmoil and affect him in a way not entirely different from that of Catholic girls, their fear being inspired by their desire not to violate the principles of their religion. Frederick fears God at night, guilty of what the priest calls “passion and lust” (72). Rinaldi teasingly describes Frederick's actions upon his return from the brothels: He tries to "wipe the Villa Rossa from [his] teeth," to "[erase] prostitution with a toothbrush" (168). There is a stigma attached to sexuality due to the cultural dominance of Catholic beliefs, the repercussions of which (guilt) can affect even those who do not necessarily believe or follow the precepts of the religion. Despite religiously inspired feelings of guilt and fear, Frederick has no affection for God or Catholicism. “I have always been bothered by the words sacred, glorious, sacrifice and the expression in vain,” he says (184). These abstractions are irrelevant: “I had seen nothing sacred” (185). Where the abstract is obscene, the concrete had dignity. For Frédéric, Catholicism cannot offer him anything tangible, so it is of no use to him, it has no meaning. However, his love for Catherine is something that can be made tangible and intimately connected through sex – their sex then achieving a kind of religious ritual status. Their love is not based on sacrifice, but on the need, emotional and physical that can be satisfied through their relationship. However, Frederick's "religious" love for Catherine must compete” (327).