Soldier's Home

Ernest Hemingway “Soldier’s Home" is an outstanding short story that shows the tragic impact of war on the life of a young soldier who returns home. The story paints a vibrant picture of a soldier’s life after coming back from a shocking experience. Hemingway shows impacts of war on a soldier with the main character being Harold Krebs, who faces hostility in his hometown after his return from fighting in the war. The main character in the story is Kreb with the author making usage of repetition, characterization, and symbolism to bring out the message in the story.

In “Soldier’s Home” the story revolves around the fact that going to war changed Harold Krebs. When he left going overseas he was a young

He was used to live in his brother’s shadow, but when the boat accident happened to them, he was the only one to survive. As he was always indentifying himself the less important one, he considered it was wrong that he was the one who would still have a life. As a result of nervous breakdown, he tried to kill himself with cutting his wrists in the bathroom, fortunately his father found out and save him. Then he went to the psychiatric for four months. When he comes back, there are still issues he needs to deal with.

He tries to fit in with the other soldiers and becomes rather close to them. He even goes so far as to start talking in a British accent which he

hostile environment his father sought to escape. His mother betrayed him as she never embraced

Harold Krebs personality in the image with his fraternity brothers shows how differently, he was before he joined the Marines. Hemingway spoke of “A picture which shows him among his fraternity brothers, all of them wearing exactly the same height and style collar” (Hemingway 133). In the picture, Krebs seems to be the most popular guy because he was in a fraternity group. It also shows that Krebs was in a place where he was able to connect or conform to his fraternity peers. His fraternity brothers made him feel part of a family. He was excited and enjoyed his life as a college student. Harold Krebs was an ordinary average college boy, but all that changed when he went to war.

There are several incidents in which demonstrate him isolating and further alienating himself from society. An example of this would be “He liked the look of the girls that were walking...the world they were in was not the world he was in. He would of liked to have one of them. But it was not worth it”(3). This quote shows he is in a so-called different world than those around him. Also it shows he does not try or want to interact with other people. Interacting with other people calls for the need of emotion which he is lacking. It also seems that his mother is the only person really trying to help and be there for him. Krebs father never talks to him directly in the short story. Whenever his father is in the story, it is because Krebs mother is being the messenger between him and his

This had to of put a genuine strain on his relationship with his relatives, who in Krebs mind, clearly lived in a parallel universe.

Soldier’s Home is a story about the experiences of a soldier returning from war. The narrative starts with a description of an image or photograph of Harold Krebs. Krebs is the main character of this story. He was a young man who was attending the Methodist College in Kansas before he had to enlist in the Marines to find in the war (Hemingway 111-116). The opening picture is an increasingly significant source of contrast between the young man who went to war and the one who comes back who has become silent and alienated after coming home. Krebs comes back in 1919 even though the war ended in 1918. His return is not marked by celebrations and parades that were often given to the young soldiers who had managed to come home early. Rather, Krebs finds out that the people are not overly excited about his news of the war unless he lies and exaggerates about his role during the war (Hemingway 111-116).

altogether. He tells his mother that he “no longer believes in God,” and he believes that in his

His mom sees him changing without her and regrets not being able to change with him

Harold Krebs is a man who has gone through a life-changing event and has experienced many consequences made by his own choices and decisions. He then has to come to the understanding that he has to try and rebuild his life as he knew it. Things weren’t working out at his family’s house so he decided to move to Kansas City where he would get a job. This war was a hundred years ago and Krebs came back and had no clue what to do with his life when he got back. The

Ultimately it is the death of his mother that is the real reason for his moving on. The

Overall, 25% of casualties of WWII were caused the traumas of war, and this rate went up to as high as 50% because the average service member was deployed for up to four years away from home. Since WWII was so intense and fought in different climates on so many different fronts many service members were affected, military and civilian psychiatrists were confronted with the reality that psychological weakness had little to do with subsequent distress in combat. Thus, terminology changed from “combat neurosis” to “combat exhaustion,” or “battle fatigue” Reflecting the consensus that all service members were vulnerable to battle fatigue due to their

Krebs has the typical mother that wants the best for her son. Her father was in the Civil War and he told her stories about how it was so she feels as if she has an understanding of what Krebs is going through. ‘“I know what your own dear grandfather, my own father, told us about the Civil War and I have prayed for you. I pray for you all day long, Harold’” (6). Judging from the way Krebs turned out, her father probably didn’t tell her everything. Krebs’s mom and father want him to get a job and settle down desperately. “’We want you to enjoy yourself. But you are going to have to settle down to work, Harold. Your father doesn’t care what you start in at. All work is honorable as he says. But you’ve got to make a start at something. He asked me to speak to you this morning and then you can stop in and see him at his office’” (6). It is understandably that they want their son active but they do