In Our Time Critical Paper
In Hemingway's collection of short stories, In Our Time, we follow a character by the name of Nick Adams. We are introduced to Nick in "Indian Camp" as a young boy, and follow him to adulthood in both Parts I and II of "Big Two-Hearted River". Through this we see Nick develop and learn about some major facts of life. Nick is a character who is changes through the effects of war on many different levels. Although Hemingway hardly mentions the war, he uses the stories to express different effects and emotions caused by the war. In "Indian Camp" we meet Nick as he joins his father to help a pregnant Indian woman in labor. Nick's father, a doctor, brings him to experience this as a sort of initiation of life. His father wants him to learn about life and wants to teach his son about being a doctor. While doing this, Nick's father is unconsciously presenting Nick with life while trying to shield him from death. When the Indian man commits suicide, Nick's father does not want him to see it. A man who commits suicide lacks courage, and that is not something that Nick's father wants him to learn. Nick's father did not say much to him about this incident. This strong, silent masculinity reappears throughout these stories. When
This introduces Nick to prefer a masculine life rather than a feminine life. This toughness is part of the masculinity that Nick seems to be on the road to. Nick's mother is lying in the room, blinds drawn, surrounded by Christian Science books. He is looking for his father to fix what has happened and comfort him. this happens, Nick's behavior also changes. He sets up a small camp, and keeps telling himself that "It [is] a good camp" (147). In this story he takes a journey which is a physical indication of his internal progress. We see Nick trying to enjoy life by fishing and camping. We also see Nick alone in this whole experience, since people that did not go to war cannot understand what he is going through. Nick made the decision that he did not want the domestic life that Marjorie wanted. It does not matter if their homes were literally demolished, they were all symbolically demolished. Hemingway used many different emotions in this book to describe what people go through during war. In "The End of Something" Nick breaks up with his girlfriend Marjorie. He is trying to decide what type of person he wants to become, and whether that life includes marriage, love, and domesticity. Witnessing suicide was too disturbing to Nick at his young age, thus restraining his psychological development.
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