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Ernest Hemingway - Soldier's Home

 

            As wars come and go, they leave a legacy and traumatizing experience for some folks. Ernest Hemingway's "Soldier's Home", is a short story about a soldier, Harold Krebs, who comes back from World War 1 as a whole new person. After returning home, he feels as if he is rejected from his community's values and doesn't feel at home. Also, the people don't find interest in any of the returning soldiers as they fought a brutal war. After years, things had gone back to regular and no one wanted to hear his interesting war stories. To get the people's attention, he had to begin telling lies to get their full undivided attention. The traumatizing war altered Krebs' view of his hometown and loved ones. He desires a woman, but he does not want to spend time to interact with one. His loving mother wants Krebs to be like other ordinary men in the town. In Ernest Hemingway's "Soldier's Home", Harold Krebs is traumatized by his return and in exchange, he is transformed completely through patterns of emotional feelings. .
             The protagonist, Harold Krebs was a normal teenager until he was drafted into the army. After the war ended, he did not want to return to his hometown. When Krebs comes back home, his apathy begins. For example, when he saw the girls in his hometown, he doesn't have any feelings towards them. The author writes about Krebs' opinion: "His town had heard too many atrocity stories to be thrilled by the actualities Krebs found out that to be listened to all he had to lie" (165). Krebs' apathetic attitude is built up because basically he had to tell lies in front of his friends and families in order to get attention. Krebs is not interested in talking about his stories and prevents himself from loving anyone. In addition to his behavior, he develops the habit of using the word "nada"which means "nothing". For Krebs, this perspective is a genuine reaction to the terror of war, and it truly takes a man to recognize and acknowledge this.


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