Soldier's Home - Hemingway
Literary Analysis of Conflicts within “Soldier’s Home”
Ernest Hemingway’s “Soldier’s Home” is a short story about one man’s struggle with returning home after war. Harold Krebs had just returned home, later than the majority of the soldiers, resulting in a dull welcoming from his town. In order to be heard, Krebs lies about his war experience through elaborated stories. Even though Krebs is home, he is lost- lost in society, lost with love, lost within himself. Although Hemingway does not describe much about what Krebs experienced during the war, it is obvious that this man went through a transformation, and returned with what an outsider looking in would call extreme apathy. Harold Krebs, along with millions of other men and women, experienced war, an undertaking many can and will never know. Because of his service, he will never be able to truly return home, return to fulfilling society’s wants, return to the old Harold Krebs. Those who have never experienced what Krebs has, such as his own mother, will never understand what it was like, and will continue to force him to satisfy their standards of what is normal.
Krebs’ sense of compassion and emotion was scarred in the war. He did not however, completely lose a sense of love. He loves pool. His sister said that if he loved her, he would go watch her game. He went. Krebs will never go back to his old self, but he will do his best to follow the expected cycle of life for a Kansas boy, in order to satisfy his parents’ wants. Krebs, unlike many soldiers, did not die in the war, but maybe that is the outcome for every soldier. For all soldiers alike, the war wins, not the people. Although some come home, their old selves die during the war. Krebs was a victim of the war. He died, and a soldier returned home.
Hemingway speaks of this corporal as “Krebs” in the beginning of the story, just how he would have been addressed as a Marine. Later in the story we are introduced to a new character, Harold, Harold Krebs,
Ernest Hemingway’s “Soldier’s Home” is a short story about one man’s struggle with returning home after war. Harold Krebs had just returned home, later than the majority of the soldiers, resulting in a dull welcoming from his town. In order to be heard, Krebs lies about his war experience through elaborated stories. Even though Krebs is home, he is lost- lost in society, lost with love, lost within himself. Although Hemingway does not describe much about what Krebs experienced during the war, it is obvious that this man went through a transformation, and returned with what an outsider looking in would call extreme apathy. Harold Krebs, along with millions of other men and women, experienced war, an undertaking many can and will never know. Because of his service, he will never be able to truly return home, return to fulfilling society’s wants, return to the old Harold Krebs. Those who have never experienced what Krebs has, such as his own mother, will never understand what it was like, and will continue to force him to satisfy their standards of what is normal.
Krebs’ sense of compassion and emotion was scarred in the war. He did not however, completely lose a sense of love. He loves pool. His sister said that if he loved her, he would go watch her game. He went. Krebs will never go back to his old self, but he will do his best to follow the expected cycle of life for a Kansas boy, in order to satisfy his parents’ wants. Krebs, unlike many soldiers, did not die in the war, but maybe that is the outcome for every soldier. For all soldiers alike, the war wins, not the people. Although some come home, their old selves die during the war. Krebs was a victim of the war. He died, and a soldier returned home.
Hemingway speaks of this corporal as “Krebs” in the beginning of the story, just how he would have been addressed as a Marine. Later in the story we are introduced to a new character, Harold, Harold Krebs,