To Be A Man
Boys grow up wanting to see and do as their fathers do, without the concept of what they have to endure to get there. World War I (WWI) initiated Ernest Hemingway into manhood at a young age. Hemingway served with an ambulance unit in France and Italy, which introduced him to manhood whether he was ready for it or not. By the age of 26, Hemingway published "Indian Camp" in the book In Our Time, describing the how a boy begins his initiation into manhood. Just like Hemingway's life, Nick is introduced into manhood with the cold hard facts of our world. The symbolism drawn from the use of names, objects, and Nick's actions help illustrate the beginning of Nick's transition into manhood. The characters introduced in the beginning are Nick, his father, Uncle George, and two Indians. The two Indians are mere messengers and guides for Nick's father, a doctor, and Uncle George who needs to tend to a medical situation in the Indian village. Nick's father feels that the situation will be the beginning of the introduction into manhood for Nick. Everyone keeps their introduced names until after the baby is born, in which Nick's father gives Nick a new title, interne. Nick is now not just a doctor's son, but an interne to a
The group continues toward the lights of the shanties, but a single shanty with a lamp in the window and the doorway lit by an old woman marks their destination. doctor and his father feels his initiation is going as good. He is still a boy, but soon he will become a man whether his father helps or not. Nick's journey begins in a misty darkness allowing him only to "lay back with his father's arm around him" protecting him from the cold water of the outside world (67). Because Nick's father refers to him as Nickie, trying to reverse the initiation, allows Nick to act like a young boy on the trip home by addressing his father as "Daddy" (70). On the logging road the natural light guides the group along their journey, but a bend in their path introduces dogs, who represent evil, and "the lights of the shanties where the Indian bark-peelers lived" (68). The combination of the bend in their path and the dogs foreshadow a bad turn in events and even though the Indian guides chase the dogs away, their warning should still be noticed. Nick's actions and reactions to the events suggest that he does not want to change, once he realizes what he will have to endure. Nick's questions and his final thought of the trip helps remind the readers that the situation does not completely change him into a man, but rather begins the process. The bad turn in the story was shone by the lantern of Nick's father giving Nick a good look at the harsh reality of the world, the suicide of the birthing wife's husband who was in the bunk right above her. The saturation of the morning sun expresses the birth of a new time for both the life of a new born baby and the beginning of Nick's initiation into manhood. In that split second, the reader is led to believe that Nick's father believes that Nick is still too young and should not have brought his son with him. Nick's father should not have apologized, but rather said he was proud of his son for how he handled it all because his father cannot change the past. Overall Nick probably acted and reacted to the situation just as Hemingway experienced his own initiation when being involved in WWI.
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Acceptance Essays
