In Our Time By Ernest Hemingway

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.

First of all, Nick has to survive for days without any family to support him. Nick got a letter from his father. Nick is hoping that he can escape the labor camp and save his father but it is hard without family and knowing they can be in danger. This relates to not having family to support him because his mom is still in London and his father was taken to another labor camp while Nick is in a camp. A quote that helps support Nick’s love to his father, "Oh, he'll care" Nick said. "I'm going to be waiting for him up in his bedroom, and I'm not going to say a word about how I got there until he promises help my father." (Roland Smith Pg. 214) Nick will go at great lengths to save his father even if it mean risking his life. This

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

In this moment, Nick realizes for the first time that though his story is set on the East Coast, the western character of his acquaintances is the source of the story’s tensions and attitudes.

James Baldwin once said: “History is not the past. History is the present. We carry our history with us. To think otherwise is criminal”. This quote stated by James Baldwin perfectly summarizes the many problems that people are acquainted within society. Throughout history, people are bunched up into groups where they are labeled certain things which carries on into today’s world. People are not viewed as individuals with the certain choice making abilities but rather subjected to being grouped by irrelevant factors into certain groups. By doing this, other people are able to take advantage of these people that are classified into groups by exploiting them for their own benefit. This is the unfortunate system which history has allowed to

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

Nick is a World War I veteran who, as many veterans, suffers from emotional trauma that his experiences from the war left him with. Multiple scenes throughout the story, Big Two Hearted River, relates to Nick, the main character’s, journey toward recovery. Nick describes his surroundings in way that parallels to his own experiences and current voyage in respect to his revival.. He takes a calming adventure saturated with calming natural paths over hills, through woodland, and along a river to find peace with himself and to return to his prewar state of mind.

The world of Ernest Hemingway’s “Big Two-Hearted River” exists through the mostly unemotional eyes of the character Nick. Stemming from his reactions and the suppression of some of his feelings, the reader gets a sense of how Nick is living in a temporary escape from society and his troubles in life. Despite the disaster that befell the town of Seney, this tale remains one of an optimistic ideal because of the various themes of survival and the continuation of life. Although Seney itself is a wasteland, the pine plain and the campsite could easily be seen as an Eden, lush with life and ripe with the survival of nature.

In Big Two Hearted River, Ernest Hemingway used his own experiences he had during the war and the issues he had when injured in the war. As soon as Nick stepped off the train the reader could feel the disappointment that Nick had and the understanding that he was a troubled soul. At the same time this was Nick’s way to treat himself by staying close to nature and the simpler things in life. No matter how happy Nick would get he would continue to have flashbacks of things he has done and friends he has lost along the way. Throughout the short story by Hemingway, Nick will continue to move through his problems from the war by camping and catch his food from the river and the reader will be able to see Nicks pain and happiness.

While reading Ernest Hemingway's short story 'Big Two Hearted River,'; one might think that it is just about a man named Nick Adams returning to Seney, to go camping and fishing. It may not be clear to some readers why the town of Seney is burned down or why Hemingway talks about each of Nick's action in great amount of detail. While first reading the story one might not notice that Hemingway has many symbolic parts, so that he can get the true meaning of the story across to the reader. The story is truly about Nick Adams wanting to get on with his life enjoying to its fullest and putting all of the awful events that have happened to him in the past.

     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.

According to Hemingway biographer James R. Mellon, Hemingway regarded "Big Two-Hearted River" as the "climactic story in [his short story collection] In Our Time and the culminating episode in the Nick Adams adventures that he included in the book."

Many authors, critics, and everyday social readers define Ernest Hemingway as the prime example of 20th century American literature. Hemingway’s works transcend time itself, so that even readers today analyze and criticize his works. His works, of course, have drawn praises and animosity from all corners of the globe. Critics often applause Hemingway on his short simple prose, for which many people recognize him for. His writing builds upon the masterful usage of “short, simple words and short, simple sentences” (Wagner, 3) to create clear and easy to

The dozen of the Nick Adams stories allowed Nick to develop his character from a child to an adult. The

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.