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Arms and the Man
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Plot Summary of Arms and the Man
"Raina Petkoff is a romantic young girl who has an overly idealistic view of war. She is engaged to Sergius, a handsome ineffectual young officer with an equally romantic attitude towards war. In the first act an escaping enemy soldier, Bluntschli, breaks into Raina's bedroom. He is a practical sort and tries to convince her of the realities of war. It makes more sense to carry choclates than ammunition he tells her. She lets him escape; clearly she has become attracted to him. In the second act the soldiers return and bring with them Bluntschli who has helped them in moving their armies, since as a pragmatist, he is willing to fight for whichever side pays. Now he has to deal with the romantic Sergius for the love of Raina."
Jack Goodstein, Resident Scholar



Review Analysis of Arms and the Man
Our unique search engine provides a wealth of detail about books by breaking them down into many different literary elements, all of which are searchable (click here).
Ratings are on a 1-10 scale (Low to High)
Plot
Tone of book? - humorous
Time/era of story - 19th century
Romance/Romance Problems Yes
Kind of romance: - love triangle/polygon
Is this an adult or child's book? - Adult or Young Adult Book
War/Revolt/Disaster on civilians Yes
Conflict: - War, general
Lover is - from very different culture

Main Character
Gender - Male
Profession/status: - infantry soldier
Age: - 20's-30's
Is this an ordinary person caught up in events? Yes
How sensitive is this character? - middling sensitive to others' feelings
Sense of humor - Cynical sense of humor
Intelligence - Very much smarter than other characters
Physique - very athletic

Main Adversary
Identity: - Male
Age: - 20's-30's
Profession/status: - infantry soldier
Eccentric/Smart/Dumb: Yes
Eccentric: - dumb
How much of work is main antagonist actually present in: - a moderate amount
How sensitive is this character? - middling sensitive to others' feelings
Sense of humor - Mostly serious with occasional humor
Intelligence - Dumb
Physique - very athletic

Setting
How much descriptions of surroundings? - 2 ()
Europe Yes
European country: - Baltic States
Misc setting - fancy mansion

Style
Person - mostly 3rd
Accounts of torture and death? - generic/vague references to death/punishment
Unusual Style: - No single main character?
Is this a play? Yes
Amount of dialog - mostly dialog
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George Bernard Shaw Resident Scholar Profiles

TOP SCHOLAR:
  
Jack Goodstein  

SCHOLARS:
shahid jawaid  


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