According to the Bedford Introduction to Literature characters are convincing when they are consistent. (100) In Ernest Hemingway's "Soldier's Home," the narrator states that Harold Krebs, a returning World War One soldier, wishes to live a life "without consequences." (147) Krebs who is a consistent character attempts to avoid consequences in career, romance, and family relationships. In the story's resolution suggests that Krebs has given up his goal of living without consequences.
Krebs who is consistent and convincing struggles to avoid the consequences that go with a career. Krebs on a daily basis keeps himself busy, so he would not think of work more less having a career. He sleeps late in bed, gets up to walk down town to the library to get a book; he walks through the town and spends the hottest hours at the poolroom. (146) This everyday cycle gives Krebs the ability to set his schedule and do what is pleasing to him. It is this style of life that avoids the consequences of having a career or a job.
Another consequence of life Krebs attempts to avoid is romance. When someone is in love, there are consequences that are faced. For example, in a relationship there's commitment, trust, understanding, and communication. Krebs would have liked a girl if she had come to him and not wanted to talk. (147) Girls in his town lived in a sophisticated world, which he did not feel the energy or the courage to break into. He also did not want to do any courting. He loved to look at girls, but he was not emotionally or mentally ready for a serious relationship. " He did not want to have nay courting. He did not want to tell any more lies. It wasn't worth it." (147) Therefore, Krebs did want any to be close to a girl. The world they were in was not the world he was in. (147) It is by this way of thinking of life that he avoids the consequences of romance. .
The last consequence that Krebs struggles to avoid is family.
