Soldier’s Home by Ernest Hemingway
In Soldier’s Home, Ernest Hemingway depicts Harold Krebs return home from World War I and the problems he faces when dealing with his homecoming and transition back towards a normal life. After the fighting overseas commenced, it took Krebs a year to finally leave Europe and return to his family in Oklahoma. Once home, he found it hard to talk about all he had seen in his tour of duty overseas, which should be attributed to the fact that he saw action in some of the bloodiest, most crucial battles towards the culmination of the war. Therefore, Krebs difficulty in acknowledging his past is because he was indeed a “good soldier” (139), whose efforts in order to survive “The Great War,” were not
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This is why he could not love anymore; the mere thought of it nauseated him. He could not assimilate back into living a regular life with the thoughts of regular men. In seeing so much that should be out of the ordinary, he never wanted to deal with common human issues again, not to mention consequences. Krebs relationship with his sister is probably his best with anyone in the house. This is most likely due to the fact that she is around 11 years old and is infatuated with her older brother. When she talks about telling her friends where she learned to pitch a ball, she says “I tell them all you’re my beau. Aren’t you my beau, Hare?”(139). This type of talk does not bother Krebs in this situation, unlike the girls whom he refuses to talk to in his town. His sister is pre-pubescent, so she has unlikely developed the body of a woman and also, she shows improbable signs of having sexual urges by asking him if she is his girl and if he will “love [her] always”(140). By observing the problems Krebs has with his own family members after the war, one can understand why his problems communicating in the outside world, with strangers, exists.
While living at home and re-adjusting to what had been his old life, Krebs could not even interact with other people, specifically the girls, that lived in his town; never mind having a conversation with
The story, A Soldiers Home, is about a man in conflict with the past and present events in his life. The young man’s name is Harold Krebs. He recently returned from World War 1 to find everything almost exactly the same as when he left. He moved back into his parents house, where he found the same car sitting in the same drive way. He also found the girls looking the same, except now they all had short hair. When he returned to his home town in Oklahoma the hysteria of the soldiers coming home was all over. The other soldiers had come home years before Krebs had so everyone was over the excitement. When he first returned home he didn’t want to talk about the war at all. Then, when he suddenly felt the urge and need to talk about it no one
Krebs also withdraws into his room because of the consequence that returning from war has left him and Berlin feeling lost, insecure, and out of place. Krebs “would have liked to have a girl but he did not want to have to spend a long time getting her.” In the army, Krebs got German and French girls without many complications because you couldn’t talk much with them, nor did you need to talk. It was much simpler, and now that Krebs is back, he is scared to jump into his society for a girl. It is evident that the war has taken away the transitional period from dependency to independency from his parents. He joined while he was still a boy and now that he has returned he is expected to move on and get a job and girl, “Charley Simmons, who is just your age, has a good job and is going to be married.” Like
Barb Cratzville is the very passive and insecure wife of Tom Cratzville who struggles with balancing her roles as a mother and a wife. As a person, Barb is lost in her life and seems to have a hard time seeing the light at the end of the tunnel. She tolerates her husband's behavior even though she knows that he could potentially harm their entire family. She knows that her husband’s addiction is getting out of hand but she does not leave the relationship and disregards what her sister has to say about it. Often time’s people who are experiencing domestic abuse are afraid to speak out because they are afraid of what their partner might do to them. In the film, Soft is the Heart of a Child, Tom pushes Barb in the midst of his anger and rage but she does not seem too phased by his actions. This action indicated that Barb is used to being abused by her husband however, she continues to stay with him. Barb continues her relationship with Tom because she does not want to feel like her family is broken. She thinks that if they are able to present themselves as the perfect family to the outside world then all of the trauma that is occurring within the family won’t seem as severe.
In Ernest Hemingway’s short story “A Soldier’s Home”, Krebs, a soldier, returns to his hometown from fighting in World War I. As indicated throughout the story, “home” for Krebs is not unlike the war front: confusing, complicated, and restless. Hemingway uses the setting in Kansas, during World War I, to convey Krebs post-war life in comparison to his pre-war.
The initial reaction I received from reading Soldier's Home, and my feelings about Soldier's Home now are not the same. Initially, I thought Harold Krebs is this soldier who fought for two years, returns home, and is disconnected from society because he is in a childlike state of mind, while everyone else has grown up. I felt that Krebs lost his immature years, late teens to early 20's, because he went from college to the military. I still see him as disconnected from society, because there isn't anyone or anything that can connect him to the simple life that his once before close friends and family are living. He has been through a traumatic experience for the past two years, and he does not
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.
In Soldier's Home, Ernest Hemingway paints a vivid picture of Harold Krebs return home from World War I and the issues he confronts while trying to shift his way back towards the ordinary life he once lived. After his battling over seas took place, it took Krebs over a year to finally leave Europe and make his way back home to his family in Oklahoma. After finally finding the drive to come home, Krebs found that it was difficult to express his feelings towards all he had seen during his tour of duty, which must be attributed to the fact that he was in the heart of some of the bloodiest and most crucial battles mankind has ever seen. Therefore, Krebs difficulty in acknowledging his past is because he was indeed a “good soldier” (133), whose
A “Soldier’s Home” by Ernest Hemmingway is an intriguing story about a man by the name of Krebs who enlists in the Marine Corps during his attendance at a Methodist college in Kansas. After serving for two years at the Rhine, he returned with the second division in 1919 but Krebs wasn’t in the same state of mind as before he left. The reason why Krebs was so distraught when he returned home was not because of the fact that no one wanted to listen to his war stories but because him and other soldiers were without any real benefits such as medical, education, extra remuneration, or anything to help him get back into the real world. This reason stated is the reason that Krebs and soldiers alike came home from war with nothing to show for
The new desire for an uncomplicated life also stops him from developing a relationship with the opposite sex. Instead of pursuing females, he admires the “pattern” of their clothing from their “round Dutch collars” to their “silk stocking”. Krebs’ view of females is that they live “in such a complicated world” full of relationship issues. These issues keep him away because he does not want “any consequences” from the complications of a female. Krebs sees the girls as a “nice pattern. He liked the pattern”, but he cannot break into their pattern because it would deal with emotions. He believes that breaking the emotional pattern would not be worth the results.
Ernest Hemingway’s “Soldiers Home” is about a young man named Krebs who is learning to adjust to society after his experience in Europe during World War I. Hemingway’s purpose for writing this story can be confusing and also very telling. I believe Krebs was not a soldier at all and in fact, deceives his family, his friends, and his community into believing he was an experienced soldier in World War I. At first glance, Krebs may be seen as a war hero. However, by observing the characteristics such as Kreb’s background, actions, motivation, and the author’s Implied Evaluation, we see that he is not a war hero at all.
Kat at the start of this film is socially repellent. In her English class, she portrays her intelligence within the class which Joey replies with ‘As opposed to a bitter, self-righteous hag who has no friends?’ which all of his friends laugh and high five him. As you can tell, much like Hortensio and Gremio, this is another dehumanising statement and his friend’s reaction emphasises the male disgust towards Kat. Additionally, her own sister Bianca tells Cameron how she feels about Kat, describing her as a ‘hideous breed of loser… unsolved mystery…a bitch.’ All descriptions of her sister highlight she is hated by all of her peers and HER OWN SISTER, even though in this context female individuality is acceptable. However, at the end, Kat has evolved from who she was once. Kat has a speech which is a clear parallel to Katharina’s monologue. Kat states ‘I hate the way you talk… I hate it when you stare… I hate it when you make me laugh, even worse when you make me cry… I hate it that you’re not around… I hate the way I don’t hate you, not even close, not even a little bit, not even at all.’ The anaphoric repetition creates a cumulative listing effect emphasising each statement intensively in which it is reversed due to the double meaning in the last few lines, making the audience question whether she ‘hates’ that list. As well as that, when she says ‘cry’, there is a medium shot
Here, he maintains his callous and emotionless demeanor that he has demonstrated throughout the story. Much to the reader’s surprise, Krebs renounces his statement of not loving his mother once he observes that she is obviously upset with his previous apathetic comment, and he then proceeds to lie to her about loving her in an attempt to quickly ameliorate the situation. Krebs then goes on to make the decision to “go to Kansas City and get a job [so that his mother] would feel all right about it.” It is important to note that Krebs did not react on emotion or sympathy at any point during this time; he reacted to a situation where he faced negative consequences. This proves that Krebs did not change at any point throughout the
This is an essay on the short story “Soldier’s Home” by Hemingway. Will the life of a soldier ever be the same after returning from war? Many generations of young adults have gone from their homes with tranquil settings to experience war and come home to a different world. Many have witnessed the devastations and atrocities that occur with war. Harold Krebs, a young man from a small town with a loving family is no different from those before him and those to follow. The anguish of what war is however cannot dispel the thoughts and memories of what many young men come home to face in the real world. Many have trouble coping in the new world known as home.
Soldier’s Home is a story about the experiences of a soldier returning from war. The narrative starts with a description of an image or photograph of Harold Krebs. Krebs is the main character of this story. He was a young man who was attending the Methodist College in Kansas before he had to enlist in the Marines to find in the war (Hemingway 111-116). The opening picture is an increasingly significant source of contrast between the young man who went to war and the one who comes back who has become silent and alienated after coming home. Krebs comes back in 1919 even though the war ended in 1918. His return is not marked by celebrations and parades that were often given to the young soldiers who had managed to come home early. Rather, Krebs finds out that the people are not overly excited about his news of the war unless he lies and exaggerates about his role during the war (Hemingway 111-116).
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.