Thoughts of War in Big Two Hearted River by Ernest Hemingway Essay

“Big Two-Hearted River” finds Nick in a place of depression, it seems, one where he has no choice but to go through the motions, focus one task at a time, and drift through his life. He goes place to place, task to task, focusing solely on

In "War," Nick Adams progresses from an innocent, invincible soldier to a traumatized, realistic human. Ernest Hemingway utilizes his minimalist approach to highlight the destructive consequences of war and display that no benefits come from violence. Nick departs for war as a confident soldier but learns very quickly about the reality of war because of his injury. Then, he feels the psychological effects of the war through his lack of rest. Finally, Nick leaves the war as a fortunate, hopeful man with much still to experience. The war gives Nick a realistic outlook on life and matures him through all the death and destruction.

Ernest Hemingway's "Big Two-Hearted River"* is such a rich text that it has probably received more literary critical attention than many novels of several times its length. Hemingway's ardent use of intricate detail and his intentional, calculated use of short, simple sentences help to make "River" a treasure chest of critical ideas and possible interpretations. Historically, much of the criticism of "River" has examined the dark underlying themes of the story, such as the alleged omission of some preceding, devastating event and Nick's wounded spiritual and mental state. These sentences, such as "There was no town, nothing but the rails and the burned-over country," are

In the story Big Two Hearted River Hemmingway explains how coming back from the war is almost like a pause in your life. You have death inside you because you've experienced so many horrible things in war. Hemmingway uses his main character, Nick to show how he moved on from coming back from war. Nick came back home to a burnt town, and nothing but the wilderness.

As "Big Two-Hearted River" opens, Nick has recently returned home after the war. Troubled by his war experiences and having difficulty adjusting to normal life again, Nick does something that makes perfect sense: He returns to the familiar wilderness where he and his dad shared so many good times when Nick was young and innocent. He plans to fish for trout, but the real purpose of his trip is to find some solace and tranquility to help him heal from his war trauma. Today we would say he has PTSD; this fishing trip serves as his self-prescribed therapy. (Remember the whole "Lost Generation" concept?)

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.

He comes from a scaring past and uses nature as a possible way to heal the internal wounds. Nick shows a side to nature that is frightening. The swamp proves to be a challenge for Nick, one that he has no hurry to discover. With Nick the area he is currently occupying has been extremely tamed by humans to the point of desolation. “Yes, it was black too, iridescent where the back and the head were dusty, Go on hopper, Nick said, speaking out loud for the first time, Fly away somewhere, He tossed the grasshopper up into the air and watched him sail away to a charcoal stump across the road.”

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.

Throughout Hemingway’s stories the use of train tracks in “Big Two Hearted River,” ”A Canary For One,” and “Hills Like White Elephants.” have symbolized many things that have revealed and/or explained many things in his stories. The first case is in two,”Big Two Hearted River,” how it shows the leaving train and disappearing around the hill, shows how he hasn't moved on from his troubles and wants to stay from where he started while time is still continuing to go on. This quote,”THe train went on up the tracks out of sight, around one of the hills of burnt timber.” “There was no town, nothing but the rails and the the burned -over country.” This quote shows how he went back to where he is stuck mentally and physically showing that it is

Without the prior knowledge of the effect of “Indian Camp” on Nick’s psyche, one could easily declare the events and his thoughts in “Big Two-Hearted River” as normal, per the passage of time and his assumed maturity. But, as certain imagery that evokes war in “Big Two-Hearted River” suggests, Nick also suppressed the events of Fossalta. The first scene in this story has him walking through the fire-destroyed town of Seney (Hemingway 209). He is carrying a pack and a fishing rod just as a soldier would wear a pack and carry a gun, and, as he was a soldier, it can be inferred that he saw similar scenes of destruction before (210). Phrases evoking war were also used by the narrator, such as when Nick left “the burned town behind in the heat,” as if the town was ‘in the heat’ of battle with gunfire (210). Likewise, the imagery of the blackened grasshoppers also evokes war. Nick “realize[s] that they had all turned black from living in the burned-over land,” (the same land that is similar to scenes of war) just as he was psychologically blackened by the war because of his injuries (212). He also “wondered how long they would stay that way,” implying his questioning of when he would recover and hope that he could (Hannum 107, Hemingway

“Big Two Hearted River”, a semi-autobiographical short story by Ernest Hemingway, is a story about the main character, Nick, returning to Big Two Hearted River in order to recover from his inner wounds. Nick Adams goes on a journey alone in nature for a therapeutic purpose as he suffers from PTSD. However, Hemingway purposely avoided any direct discussion regarding to Nick’s mental wounds. The absence of the discussion is contributed by Hemingway’s writing style, the Iceberg principle. Hemingway focuses explicitly on what occurs on the surface without mentioning actual theme. This indicates that the theme of self-healing cannot be uncovered by simply looking at the text itself. In order to comprehend the actual theme of the story, the character development of Nick must be examined. This is possible since Nick Adams is a recurring character of Hemingway’s stories. The two preceding stories of “Big Two Hearted River”, “Now I lay me” and “A Way you’ll Never Be”, directly discusses Nick’s suffering from shell-shock and how he comforts himself by returning to Big Two Hearted river in his mind. The two short stories will be analyzed and connected to “Big Two Hearted River” in the essay first. This will provide a strong understanding of Nick’s psyche and the reason behind his return to nature. Then, “Big Two Hearted River” the short story itself will be carefully analyzed.

Ernest Hemingway practices a method in his writing he coined as the “iceberg technique”, whereby only 30% is apparent, but the remaining meaning is found beneath the surface. Employing this technique, Hemingway’s Big Two Hearted River: Part II reads as a simple-minded story of a man on a fishing expedition, but the subtext found through Hemingway’s use of symbolism and metaphors creates a greater significance relating to the protagonist’s inner-struggle after the war. The concept of escapism is prominent in Nick’s actions throughout the short story, where he appears to not only physically remove himself from his past in the war, but attempts to emotionally disengage himself as well. Hemingway uses minute details to describe the protagonist’s

His lack of confidence provoked him to rely on his friend’s misleading advice to make choices. Nick faced death, dealt with complicated relationships, violence and suffrage at a young age. These emotional events molded him to an utterly wounded man internally, but a dictator externally. Some people say “You become the person that you surround yourself with”.

This river is clearly a source of guidance or direction for him, as shown by the statement that “He did not need to get his map out. He knew where he was from the position of the river” (Hemingway 163). This description of Nick's story brings up an important point. How exactly do the two men compare, and what does it mean for the “modern”

In the passage “Two Ways of Seeing a River,” author Mark Twain attempts to share the feelings of loss he experienced after he was disillusioned to the beauty of the Mississippi River. Twain was a famous Nineteenth century author who had previously worked as a steamboat captain and who grew up along the river. The organization of the paragraphs in relation to each other is linear, and the content of each paragraph is dominated by a different rhetorical device.