'Soldier's Home': Of Broken Hearts and Souls - Ernest Hemingway

'Soldier's Home': Of Broken Hearts and Souls

In the works of Ernest Hemingway, that which is excluded is often as significant as that which is included; a hint is often as important and thought-provoking as an explicit statement. This is why one must read and reread him to enjoy the true flavor of his writing. ‘Soldier's Home’ is a prime example of this art of echo and indirection.

Harold Krebs, the protagonist of ‘Soldier's Home’, is a young veteran portrayed as suffering from an inability to readjust to society - Krebs suffers from returning to the familial, social, and religious "home". Moreover, the story is also about a conflicted mother-son relationship. Krebs' small-town mother cannot comprehend her son's struggles and sufferings caused by the war. She devotes herself to her religion and never questions her own values; she manipulates her son. She is one of the Hemingway ‘overbearing mothers’ who also appear in ‘The Doctor and the Doctor's Wife’ and ‘Now I Lay Me’. Her sermons to her son lack any power to heal his spiritual wounds. She has determined that Krebs should live in God's "Kingdom," find a job, and get married like the other local boys. The husband

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Approximate Word count = 1785
Approximate Pages = 7 (250 words per page double spaced)