There is a popular saying: "Home is where the heart is." This is indeed true in Ernest Hemingway's "Soldier's Home." Because of the atrocities of war, the protagonist, Harold Krebs' heart is no longer in his homeland. Hemingway uses setting to convey this irrecoverable loss in Krebs. In particular, he uses the war setting, the hometown setting, and the domestic (home) setting, in order to show the change in Krebs and his incapability to readapt to his home life.
             The story starts with a reference to the Methodist college that Krebs attends. While he was there, he took a picture with his fraternity brothers, all of whom are wearing matching uniforms. Here, the reader can see that there was nothing unconventional about Krebs. He was just a normal small-town boy, hardly distinguishable from the other boys. Immediately upon his return from the war, however, Krebs discovers that the town that he was once a part of, has for the most part, stayed the same, while he, because of his experiences in the war, has changed dramatically. "Nothing was changed in the town except that the young girls had grown up." Of course, there are superficial changes like the style of dress in the girls and the small affects of the war. However, these changes are miniscule compared to the drastic change that Krebs undergoes due to the war. Interestingly, Krebs feels that the people in his hometown are too complicated for him to associate with. "But they lived in s!
             uch a complicated world of already defined alliances and shifting feuds that Krebs did not feel the energy or the courage to break into it." Ironically, Krebs is a soldier, one who is accustomed to act of courage, defined alliances, and feuds. However, Krebs is unable to adapt to this new environment, one that seems to be already firmly established. He is an outsider in his own hometown.
             Hemingway does not explicitly write about Krebs' ex...