Cycles of Violence in The Battler
Ernest Hemingway's "The Battler" provides a continued account of Nick Adams' dangerous and violent life. Previous stories compiled in "The Short Stories" edition of Hemingway's work documents some of the tribulations of Nick Adams, one of Hemingway's protagonists. Apparently, Nick has been plagued by moments of sheer humility, terror, and immutable violence. In the Hemingway short story "Indian Camp," Nick is a young boy who witnesses a dreadfully difficult birth by a Native American woman, enduring all the while the hubris of his surgeon father, who is contestibly insensitive to Nick's innocence. Once the birth has ended, the husband of the woman is found with a freshly slit throat, again
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His state of affairs does not improve, however. Nick happens upon a camp of tow men, one of whom is an ex-prizefighter, Ad Francis. Upon arrival, Nick calls out, "Hello," and is greeted by Ad with "Where'd you get that shiner?" (p. 130) Not a typical response, but Nick is about to learn he is not in a set of typical circumstances. Ad Francis' face is described "queerly formed and mutilated...putty in color," with a sunken nose, slitted eyes and with "only one ear." (p. 131) Clearly, the implication is that Ad Francis has seen some beatings in his day. This is confirmed by the man himself: "They all bust their hands on me...they couldn't hurt me." (p. 132) The extreme physical toll taken by Ad has affected him mentally. "Listen," he tells Nick, "I'm not quite right." (p. 132) Like Nick, Ad is a man who has encountered violence and humiliation all of his life. Countless blows have found their mark on his now-deformed face. In a way, Ad is a physical representation of Nick's fortitude and perserverance, a fellow sufferer whose pain has surfaced in a more tangible way, who takes immediate notice of things like black eyes.
Soon after Nick's introduction to Ad, another man approaches the fire. Nick is introduced to Bugs as Ad's "pal...he's crazy too." (p. 133) Physically, Bugs is a stark contrast to Ad's figure: tall, black, low-voiced and calm. Bugs begins to cook a dinner of ham and eggs over the campfire that the
One of the most important themes, masculinity, is portrayed directly at the start of Hemingway's short story collection starting with "Indian Camp." In the first short story the reader sees the novels protagonist, Nick Adams', "response to violence and suffering inflicted on others will ultimately define his own sense of masculinity" (Frazier). Witnessing this dramatic event at such a young age will define Nick's life and change the way he views certain aspects of life just from watching a woman give birth. Nick's maturity and responsibility are also themes that are greatly exploited just as well as his masculinity.
Readers tend to look closely at the chapter structure and interpret them as individual pieces without stepping back to see them as a whole; yet, Hemingway notes that there is, in fact, a sense of unity between the chapters and vignettes. An obvious unifying thread is the presence of the Nick Adams stories. “Indian Camp” introduces the reader to a young, impressionable Nick. What follows are several interspersed stories that trace his coming of age in pieces such as “The Three Day Blow” and “The Battler.” The book concludes as the post-war Nick Adams provides an account of a fly-fishing adventure, bringing a sense closure to this central character. What complicates the book are the vignettes that are interspersed within the story sequence. This structure works to juxtapose thoughts and ideas, perhaps even disorient the reader, thus challenging the reader to find new interpretative strategies, much like a perspective one might need to look at modern art. Hemingway carefully chose this structure (just as he so mindfully chose his prose) as a way of framing Modernism through the written
Horizontal violence is a negative phenomenon that is increasing significantly in the hospital setting. It is defined as bullying, verbal and physical aggression that occurs to employees in the workforce. Horizontal violence has harmful effects on nurses as it lowers their self- esteem, and makes them feel as if they have no power in their career. This phenomenon also negatively impacts patient centered care and safety as nurses are more vulnerable to making medication errors and careless mistakes. Horizontal violence can be decreased in the hospital setting if interventions are implemented by members of the health care team. Education is key to decrease the occurrence of horizontal violence as it enables health care workers to
When one goes into the profession of nursing it is usually not for the money, job security or the glamour of the job. Those of us who chose nursing as our profession generally care for others and want to make a difference in the world. New nurses are excited to become licensed and to start working in the profession of nursing. When new nurses enter the field of nursing, they are often met with more experienced nurses who have practiced longer and subsequently has more experience. This maybe an opportunity for the new graduate to learn and grow or it can lead to horizontal violence in the work place. Horizontal violence decreases patient safety and job satisfaction drastically.
Hemingway, to illustrate the theme of sovereignty, uses the character of Nick Adams. Nick is a character who has been injured in the war and, though his wound has healed over, Nick has yet to recover mentally from the attack. Hemingway’s portrayal of Nick is of a man who is trying to regain his identity. Hemingway depicts this through stream of consciousness and symbolism. The stream of
Hemingway's "Indian Camp" concerns Nick Adams' journey into the unknown to ultimately experience and witness the full cycle of birth and death. Although Nick's experience is a major theme in the story, cultural inequality also is an issue that adds to the the story's narrative range. Throughout this short story, there are many examples of racial domination between Nick's family and the Indians. Dr. Adams' and Uncle George's racist behavior toward the Native Americans are based on the history of competition between Caucasians and America's indigenous peoples.
Between the four years of 1861 and 1865 the United States was engaged in a Civil War. This involved a division between the free North and the slave holding South, where eleven southern states split from the Union, altogether refusing the idea of a single American nation. Abraham Lincoln, who was the president at the time, disapproved of this revolt and had “500,000 soldiers to crush what threatened to be an aggressive rebellion.” In April 1861, the first shots were fired, and what followed became an unthinkable tragedy of gigantic proportions. Thousands upon thousands of soldiers were killed and millions more wounded; large areas of the South were engulfed by aggressive battles almost resulting in a Union defeat under determined Confederate forces. Focusing on the major turning point battle of the war, the Battle at Gettysburg, the confederate Army was led by General Robert E. Lee, and the Union Army was led by General George G. Meade. This battle lasted for three days - July 1st through the 3rd, 1863, and ended when the Confederates had failed to break up the main Union line.
Whilst the Greek and Roman predecessors of revenge tragedy showed little compunction in gruesome on-stage violence, the Elizabethan spectators were, by the time of publication and performance of Shakespearian plays, a more educated audience who would appreciate the poetic style and subtle references to classical literature. This is not to say that the sixteenth century public were sensitive to acts of startling brutality; public executions and bear baiting were frequent occurrences that no doubt permeated the psyche of a nation. It has been argued that Shakespeare, conscious of his contemporaries' efforts in this genre decided to `out-do his predecessors' but a far more probable explanation is that Shakespeare, accommodating the
In ?Indian Camp? the roles we see in ?Hills Like White Elephants? are reversed. The primary characters are now those in the service sector with the Indians filling the rest of Hemingway's equation as the foreigners. As the father figure tries to gently bring his son up properly his moral lessons and further introduction to reality are solely facilitated through their traumatic experience in the service industry dealing with a female who is a foreigner just like as in ?Hills Like White Elephants?. Except here it isn't explicitly stated that the Indians speak a native language, English, another language or a combination as the waitress in the previous story. It's through the apathetic treatment of his patient that Nicks father first develops a new depth to his character. In telling statement to the son when he begs the father to do something about the Indian womans
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 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.
Political violence is the leading cause of wars today. Personal agendas have led to many of the political objectives that cause violence today this has caused many problems throughout the world and will continue to do so until a solution to this issue is found. Political objectives have been advanced involuntarily dependent upon the kind of government a nation exercises. For instance, in a democratic nation political groups must worry about convincing the majority in order to advance ethically. Those who try to influence the majority through acts of violence are considered today as “terror” organizations. Though perhaps if it were not because of the recent 9/11 terror attacks that maybe such warrants would not be seen as terror attacks,
The books Child of the Dark by Carolina Maria de Jesus and Testimony by Victor Montejo describes the lives of two individuals from different societies. In both of these societies there was much hardship and violence. The two main characters who wrote these books describe life through their point of view and explains the hardship and challenges they had living in a society filled with violence.
Throughout life, the people that you may encounter and form relationships with will be the ones that shape who you are and ultimately influence your decisions, actions and personality. In “The Battler” by Ernest Hemingway, Nick Adams, a young man of roughly twenty years of age encounters an older gentleman named Ad Francis, a once-famous boxer who claims to have gone “crazy” after his life as a fighter. Ad is accompanied by his best friend Bugs, a black man who accompanies him on his travels throughout the country and helps keep Ad in-check. At one point, Bugs offers Nick and Ad some ham and eggs that he had just cooked on the fire, and asks for nick to cut the bread with his knife. At the sight of the blade Ad demands that Nick hand over the knife. In order to keep Nick out of any danger that might arise from a conflict with Ad, Bugs whacks Ad in the back of the head with a frying pan, rendering him immobile and unconscious, keeping Nick out of harms way.
As one re-reads the story, it is evident that Hemingway has chosen this style for a particular reason. Hemingway did not have Ole executed, because in doing so the reader would focus all the attention to his tragic death. The murder does not occur, and the reader is forced to focus on the reaction of Nick, Sam and George, and the nonchalant attitude of "The Killers." "One has to read it two or three times before he realizes that Nick Adams is the central figure" (Walcutt, 305). The story can be broken into four scenes; first, "The Killers" are introduced; second, Nick warns Ole; third, Nick speaks to Mrs. Bell; fourth, Nick returns to the cafe. Nick is the only character present in each scene, and in returning to the cafe his final statement to George is, "'I can't stand to think about him waiting in the room and knowing he's going to get it. It's too damned awful."' George replies, "'You better not think about it'"(Hemingway, 252). It is obvious Nick is unwilling to accept defeat, and give up his delusion of a world without evil. To maintain his delusion, he is willing to escape the reality that is presented to him. "So, of the two boys, it is obviously Nick on whom the impression has been made. George has managed to come to terms with the situation. By this line of reasoning, it is Nick's story" (Brooks, 195). Nick is the only character that evolves; Nick is a round character. The other
Talking about war tends to make people feel emotional, feel a sort of adrenaline rush, mad, and even proud. These emotions can at times, in my opinion, bring groups together and separate others because of disagreements on views and beliefs. While it is not easy to talk to anyone about delicate topics such as this one, it is important to acknowledge how war can influence societal behavior and culture. Many can argue that war unites people, particularly speaking of the United States; a country is known for its patriotism and pride when it comes down to its military forces and achievements across nations.