The Unrecognized Soldier Home Essay
The Unrecognized Soldier In the beginning of the short story “Soldier Home,” by Ernest Hemingway, the main character, Harold Krebs is introduced as a young, religious, college frat boy who joins the Army along with some of his fellow peers. He spent 2 years in the Rhine and even took a photo with 2 unattractive German Ladies. When Krebs returns home to an almost unnatural world he feels unfit and unwelcome due to the lack of compassion and notoriety from his home town of Oklahoma. Hemingway says, this may be due to Krebs returning home “much too late” (187). “People seemed to think it was rather ridiculous for Krebs to be getting back so late, years after the war was over” (187). In my opinion, any normal person that experiences this lack of compassion and understanding for the sacrifices they made in war would feel a sense of rejection by the people. This type of rejection would cause any normal person to fall into a state of depression.
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Nieto 2 Due to the characters feelings towards society and not feeling accepted, Krebs, devised several methods to gain respect and feel relevant to his town and his peers.
Krebs was not welcomed home and his stories filled of actualities were not warranted. Hemingway writes that, “When he felt the need to talk, no one wanted to hear about it” (187). This resulted in Krebs instinctive nature to fabricate stories, in order to gain an audience for his tribulations. Krebs lied because he was disconnected from society and he was building his own reality and his perception of what society wanted to hear. Krebs soon becomes so consumed with his lies and made up stories that he feels he has lost touch with his true self. Krebs became sick and “acquired the nausea in regard to experience that is the result of untruth or exaggeration” (188), “In this way he lost everything” (187). According to the text it can be inferred that Krebs left for the war as an extrovert and returned home as an introvert due to the psychological effects of the
war. Not only was Krebs suffering from Psychological effects he was also having Physiological effects as well. “He was sleeping late in bed,” getting bored easily during the day and hiding out during the “hottest hours of the day in the cool dark of the pool room” (188). Krebs was struggling Psychologically because he was feeling disconnected with society. I feel that Krebs struggles with the conflict of change and he wonders did he change or did the world change? As he sits on his front porch gazing at the women walking down the street he realizes that the world he once lived in had become a bit more complex since he has returned home. Krebs was used to the simple life, of waking up to eat a bowl of cereal and read the paper and lie around the house to relax. Now he has to fit back in to a new world, filled with new people and Nieto 3 he is unsure of how to do that. He often wonders if he could ever love a woman and even has trouble praying with his Mother. Towards the end of the text while talking with his Mother about his plans for life Krebs finally starts to realize that something was wrong. At one point his Mother tells him, “God has some work for everyone to do”, “There can be no idle hands in his Kingdom” (190). Krebs instinctively replies, “I’m not in his Kingdom” (190). And later on when his Mother asks, “Don’t you love your mother, dear boy?” (191) Krebs surprisingly replies, “No” (191). Hemingway does a good job at telling the reader this is the turning point. Krebs finally realizes that he has become so depressed and disconnected that he hurt his Mother’s feelings. He felt sorry for his Mother who worried so much for him. Hemingway writes, “He had tried so to keep his life from being so complicated” (191). “Well, that was all over now, anyway” (192). I like the ending to the story, it doesn’t leave the reader wondering what happened and it also doesn’t keep going on into a ramble of nothing.
In conclusion, I enjoyed the read however, I was not entertained by it. I kept reading because I was curious as to how the story would end. Hemingway did an excellent job at portraying a soldier suffering from what would now be called PTSD (Post Traumatic Stress Disorder). However, this was not recognized until the late 1900’s.
Works Cited
Hemingway, Ernest. "Soldier Home." Bedford Introduction to Literature: Reading, Thinking, Writing. By Michael Meyer. Boston :: Bedford Bks St Martin 's, 2013. N. pag. Print.
Nieto 2 Due to the characters feelings towards society and not feeling accepted, Krebs, devised several methods to gain respect and feel relevant to his town and his peers.
Krebs was not welcomed home and his stories filled of actualities were not warranted. Hemingway writes that, “When he felt the need to talk, no one wanted to hear about it” (187). This resulted in Krebs instinctive nature to fabricate stories, in order to gain an audience for his tribulations. Krebs lied because he was disconnected from society and he was building his own reality and his perception of what society wanted to hear. Krebs soon becomes so consumed with his lies and made up stories that he feels he has lost touch with his true self. Krebs became sick and “acquired the nausea in regard to experience that is the result of untruth or exaggeration” (188), “In this way he lost everything” (187). According to the text it can be inferred that Krebs left for the war as an extrovert and returned home as an introvert due to the psychological effects of the
war. Not only was Krebs suffering from Psychological effects he was also having Physiological effects as well. “He was sleeping late in bed,” getting bored easily during the day and hiding out during the “hottest hours of the day in the cool dark of the pool room” (188). Krebs was struggling Psychologically because he was feeling disconnected with society. I feel that Krebs struggles with the conflict of change and he wonders did he change or did the world change? As he sits on his front porch gazing at the women walking down the street he realizes that the world he once lived in had become a bit more complex since he has returned home. Krebs was used to the simple life, of waking up to eat a bowl of cereal and read the paper and lie around the house to relax. Now he has to fit back in to a new world, filled with new people and Nieto 3 he is unsure of how to do that. He often wonders if he could ever love a woman and even has trouble praying with his Mother. Towards the end of the text while talking with his Mother about his plans for life Krebs finally starts to realize that something was wrong. At one point his Mother tells him, “God has some work for everyone to do”, “There can be no idle hands in his Kingdom” (190). Krebs instinctively replies, “I’m not in his Kingdom” (190). And later on when his Mother asks, “Don’t you love your mother, dear boy?” (191) Krebs surprisingly replies, “No” (191). Hemingway does a good job at telling the reader this is the turning point. Krebs finally realizes that he has become so depressed and disconnected that he hurt his Mother’s feelings. He felt sorry for his Mother who worried so much for him. Hemingway writes, “He had tried so to keep his life from being so complicated” (191). “Well, that was all over now, anyway” (192). I like the ending to the story, it doesn’t leave the reader wondering what happened and it also doesn’t keep going on into a ramble of nothing.
In conclusion, I enjoyed the read however, I was not entertained by it. I kept reading because I was curious as to how the story would end. Hemingway did an excellent job at portraying a soldier suffering from what would now be called PTSD (Post Traumatic Stress Disorder). However, this was not recognized until the late 1900’s.
Works Cited
Hemingway, Ernest. "Soldier Home." Bedford Introduction to Literature: Reading, Thinking, Writing. By Michael Meyer. Boston :: Bedford Bks St Martin 's, 2013. N. pag. Print.