The narrator would go to the hospital to receive treatment for his knee; there he was in contact with others who, like him, had been wounded in battle. The lives they had lived before the war were different, and their battle with both the enemy and with life separated them from those who had not fought this battle. It also drew them together, "We were all a little detached, and there was nothing that held us together except that we met at the hospital every afternoon. . . we felt held together by there being something that had happened that they, the people who disliked us, did not understand." The American soldier, though bonded to these men by experi

The major, who had problems with his arm, did not believe that the therapy they were doing in the hospital would help. This unbelieving could be seen as soon as major was introduced through his disbelieving and negative tone. Although he did not believe in the machines he never missed a day, rationalizing that if it were to work, he was eligible to be "returned to normalcy". The major faced the loss of his wife, "whom he had not married until he was definitely invalided out of the war." The effects that fear of loss had on him can be seen in the conversation with the American soldier about the future. He became very vulnerable at the when the American said that he wanted to go back to the States and get married. He believed that by getting married one is putting himself in a position of eventual loss. "He cannot marry. He cannot marry," he said angrily. "If he is to lose everything, he should not place himself in a position to lose that. He should not place himself in a position to lose. He should find things he cannot lose." After making a phone-call, from which he learned about the death of his wife, he came to the American and apologized for being rude. At this point the American realized what the major was thinking when he said that he is against marriage. Furthermore, the doctor provided an American with more information a

Some topics in this essay:
Milan Italy, Comp Hemingway's, american soldier, lose position lose, position lose, theme tone, lose position, life war,