Soldiers Home Analysis

To be engaged in war is to be engaged in an armed conflict. Death is an all too ordinary product of war. It is an unsolicited reward for many soldiers that are fighting for their country’s own fictitious freedom. For some of these men, the battlefield is a glimpse into hell, and for others, it is a means to heaven. Many people worry about what happens during war and what will become of their loved ones while they’re fighting, but few realize what happens to those soldiers once they come home. The short stories "Soldier's Home” by Ernest Hemingway and "Speaking of Courage” by Tim O'Brien explore the thematic after effects of war and how it impacts a young person's life. Young people who

Ernest Hemingway “Soldier’s Home" is an outstanding short story that shows the tragic impact of war on the life of a young soldier who returns home. The story paints a vibrant picture of a soldier’s life after coming back from a shocking experience. Hemingway shows impacts of war on a soldier with the main character being Harold Krebs, who faces hostility in his hometown after his return from fighting in the war. The main character in the story is Kreb with the author making usage of repetition, characterization, and symbolism to bring out the message in the story.

As a young man coming back from the war, Krebs expected things to be the same when he got home and they were, except one. Sure the town looked older and all the girls had matured into beautiful women, Krebs had never expected that he would be the one to change. The horrific experiences of the first World War had alienated and removed those he had cared about, including his family, who stood naïve to the realities and consequences only those who live it first hand would comprehend.

After reading “Soldiers Home” by Ernest Hemmingway, Krebs seems to play an awkward character after returning home from the war. He puts himself distant from everyone including his mother and sister. The only person he would speak to would be his friend from the war, Keith. Krebs’s father doesn’t let him use the car before Krebs left to war because his father used to drive his clients in the vehicle for his real estate job. Also Krebs’s father was very strict with giving permission to anyone using the car including his own wife.

The beginning of the 20th century saw the most devastating war in human history. World War 1 cost ‘nine million lives and in the end no ground was gained’(O’Connor). Those who fought and lived through the war became known as the Lost Generation. They were cynical with society and “lost faith in traditional values like courage, patriotism, and masculinity’(O’Connor). The Short Story ‘Soldier’s Home’ is an example of a Lost Generation story.

The two pieces are similar because they both tell a story of two men leaving for combat and having to deal with the cruel and terrible acts that occur in wars. Before going to war, Krebs had a normal life-like others who were never involved in a war. In "Soldier's Home", Krebs lied and exaggerated to the point that after his return home he began to suffer from nausea. This is similar to O'Brian's account when he writes that to make a war story believable to the general population, one must lie and stretch the truth. Unlike Krebs, O'Brian communicates with people about his involvements so they are able to visualize a real painted picture of what war is like. Hemingway allows the reader in his story to know that people did not want to hear the

He was still in shock, therefore he did not see the world as what civilians called “normal”. When Krebs came back from the war, “People seemed to think it was rather ridiculous for Krebs to be getting back so late, years after the war was over” (Hemingway 111). This expresses that Kreb had a difficult time transitioning from war life to ordinary life. Krebs was not “ridiculous,” the civilians were, because they assumed that he should instantly forgive and forget his war actions.

I responded to question number four for this assignment. The question, which is broken into four parts asks, why does Krebs avoid complications and consequences? How has the war changed his attitudes toward work and women? How is his hometown different from France and Germany? And lastly, what is the conflict in the story?

In the story, “Soldier’s Home” it is told from the third person narrator point of view. Hemingway, having been a former journalist is able to show how distant Krebs is because of being the type of journalist who is detached just like Krebs was detached by his experience in World War I. As Hemingway writes he shows how Krebs holds his emotions in that he knows his mother will not understand. When Krebs calls his mom “Mummy” he is trying to comfort her by acting like a child. At the end Krebs makes a decision to leave and go to Kansas City because he feels he may not ever reconnect with his family.

Krebs doesn’t return home straight after war like all the other troops. He travels around for a few more years after the war has long ago ended. “He enlisted in the Marines in 1917 and did not return to the United States…” (Hemingway 111). Why would he not return home unless he feels that his home is not his home anymore? No one seem to wonder where he was or why it took him so long to return home. During the war he lost the connection that linked him back home, so he dismissed the idea of returning. When Krebs finally return home, “People seemed to think it was rather ridiculous for Krebs to be getting back so late, years after the war was over” (Hemingway 111). The people he has known since birth didn’t welcome him back with opened arms.

Isolation can be used as a tool for comfort and protection or as a guise to hide one’s own sorrows. Krebs’ isolation is due to the effects of the war and his town’s reaction to the war. For his town “had heard too many atrocity stories to be thrilled by actualities” that it forced war-ridden Krebs in to solitude (Hemingway 187). The many consequences of the war effected Krebs to “not want any consequences ever again” (Hemingway 188). Krebs isolation is due to the need of protecting himself from consequences. His mind is still in the war, but his body is not. He finds comfort in isolation because consequences only come from interaction with others that leads to forming connections that lead to vulnerability. When someone is vulnerable, they are more likely to get hurt. Miss Brill’s isolation is due to her obtuseness about the perception of the people around her. Miss Brill’s distorted perception of herself makes her think that “somebody would have noticed if she hadn’t been there; she was part of the performance

Hemingway reveals the short story through a narrator’s voice. The narrator is not necessarily a bystander, as he recognizes, for the most part, that the war stripped the soul from Krebs. It is made clear that Hemingway understands more than what can be physically observed about Krebs, as his feelings are thoroughly detailed throughout.

In this way, he lost everything. (Hemingway “Soldier’s Home” 112)” Hemmingway tells us the feeling Krebs gets when he has to lie. Krebs is scared to get caught in his lies or dig himself deeper into his lies about him at war. We know Krebs uses stories he has heard from other soldiers. We know this because Hemingway writes “His lies were quite unimportant lies and consisted in attributing to himself things other men had seen, done or heard of, and stating as facts certain apocryphal incidents familiar to all soldiers. (Hemingway “Soldier’s Home” 112)”

In “Soldier’s Home,” Hemingway shares the life of Krebs, a young soldier, who has trouble adjusting to life after the war. Due to everyone’s need to see the war in a certain light, he struggles to reveal to others his experiences. This leads him into a depression while his fellow war mates carry on with their lives. Hemingway states, “Krebs found that to be listened to at all he had to lie, and after he had done this twice he, too, had a reaction against the war and against talking about it. A distaste for everything that had happened to him in the war set in because of the lies he had told” (Hemingway, 365). Due to the absence of an outlet, Krebs finds it hard to really go back to the

“Soldier’s Home" written by Ernest Hemingway was published in 1925. It is a brilliant story that addresses the terrible after effects of war that a young man suffers upon returning home from serving his country. The tale gives a rather vivid account of a young soldier and his actions and lack of emotions after experiencing horrifying events that took place in the battle fields. The main character is Harold Krebs, who is not welcomed or celebrated when he came back home. There were no parades, parties or anything of the sort. Krebs becomes frustrated because no one will listen to what he has gone through. His mother does not seem the least bit interested in listening either. No one cares anymore because they have already heard all the horrific stories. He is living at home with his mother and younger sisters but he really is not involved in their lives. He is not trying to integrate himself back into society and sleeps all day and has no job. He has no desire to be in a romantic relationship with a woman. Although he is attracted to women he does not want to have to deal with domestic issues. Krebs eventually leaves home because he is tired of his mother confronting him about the way he is living his life. He wants his life to be simple and is not able to love or pray anymore. The war experience has taken his soul. I believe that there are several causes of his continued alienation. His experiences as a young man at war, what he experienced