Internal Conflict In Soldier's Home

Ernest Hemingway’s “Soldier’s Home,” is a dramatic short story about a young soldier, Harold Krebs, who is having a hard time adjusting back home after his return from World War I. The main focus of the story points out Krebs’s problems that he faces as he tries to transition back towards a normal life. He does not feel as if he belongs in society and seems to be in a worse state of mind. Ernest Hemingway does a great job developing two crucial internal and external conflicts. The story accurately demonstrates the conflict between Krebs’ external conflict with his mother who simply cannot understand what he has been through and his internal struggle with himself as he tries to fit back into society. In “Soldier's Home,” Hemingway uses conflict
As earlier as the introduction, Hemingway displays Krebs’ conflict when the reader is informed that Harold arrived home a lot later than all the other soldiers. Therefore, the fact that he had not gotten to participate in the earlier return of soldiers symbolizes how he did not “fit in” to the normal routine from the very beginning. In addition, after the soldier returns home the reader can notice how Hemingway defines Krebs as a mere observer of life rather than a participant. For example, he watches girls as they walk by his house, however he does not like to interact with them. Furthermore, he states that would want a girl but does not want to deal with the consequences of having one. Hemingway writes “He did not want any consequences ever again. He wanted to live along without consequences” (Hemingway 349). Another example, how Hemingway displays Krebs dull outlook on life is when Krebs notices that nothing else has changed, in his hometown, except the fact that the young girls have grown up. The recognition proves Krebs is aware that what he has experienced in the war as changed him; though the author does not inform the reader if Krebs fully understands his