Introduction
Ernest Hemingway (1899–1961) was one of the most popular and successful American writers of the 20th century and is now considered a modern classic. His novels and stories revolve around bullfighting, big game safaris, and war. Ernest Hemingway is probably one of the best and most influential short story writers. His early story, Soldier’s Home (1925), tells the story of a hero returning from World War II. In 1925, the work was included in the Collection of Contemporary Writers by Boni and Liveright and was published in New York in the collection of short stories In Our Time (Bhuiyan 213). The Soldier’s Home raises the themes of the post-war era for soldiers and their journey back to everyday life.
Harold Krebs returned to Oklahoma in 1919 after World War I. The protagonist is one of the last to return home. In a small town, the first repatriates were honored as heroes, but now this topic is already closed, and no one needs a story about the war anymore. However, Krebs wants to talk about his terrible experiences and experiences during the war. Nevertheless, even when he exaggerates or truncates and lies, no one is interested in his stories. He avoids all the efforts, consequences, and complications encountered in ordinary life. He must find a job and become a valuable member of the community.
The Literature of the Lost Generation
Sometimes the most challenging part of a war is getting home. In his short story, Soldier’s Home, Ernest Hemingway’s character Krebs portrays the hardships he faces on his way home from the war. The protagonist illustrates how difficult it is to adjust to a normal lifestyle compared to life abroad or before he went to war. One of the most exciting ways the author portrays this theme is through the use of the theme of the feeling of loss.
In Western European and American literature of the first half of the 20th century, the central theme was the theme of the First World War and its consequences, both for the individual and for humanity. The definition of lost generation literature began to be applied to the works of writers that reflected the tragic experience of the First World War (Soto 141). The expression lost generation was first cited in 1926 by Ernest Hemingway, after which it became common. The literature on the lost generation is a heterogeneous phenomenon, but its characteristic features can be distinguished (Soto 145):
- The main character of this literature is, as a rule, a person who came from the war and did not find a place for himself in a peaceful life. His return becomes aware of the gap between him and those who did not fight.
- The hero cannot live in a calm, safe environment and chooses a profession associated with risk or leads an ‘extreme’ lifestyle.
- The heroes of the lost generation of writers often live outside their homeland. The very concept of a home for them does not seem to exist: these are people who have lost a sense of stability and attachment to anything.
The feeling of Lost in Hemingway’s Story
In his story, Hemingway paints a characteristic portrait of war repatriates. This theme and the brevity of the story’s size are typical of the literature of the lost generation. The author’s writing style is bare: short sentences, simple words prevail, said, had was. All of it also resembles the choppy speech of a soldier who has forgotten how to conduct everyday conversation, which is focused on what he has experienced.
Difficulty Living Normal After the War
The trauma of war and the complexity of life oppress and numb the heroes of Hemingway’s early works. His characters are closed in themselves, and their conversations are convulsive, not to give free rein to words. When Krebs returns home, he needs to talk to someone in Soldier’s House, but he does not know how to approach people. It is an internal dialogue in which everyone speaks for himself, giving responses to his thoughts. Still, the talking people are such absorbed inhomogeneous concerns that they perfectly understand each other. Moreover, it is worth getting into their environment for a person of another circle, as he already understands them with difficulty. The protagonist demonstrates the forms of posttraumatic stress disorder and how the war brought many hardships to his life when he returned home.
Fractures of the Fate of the Main Hero
Interestingly, the narration of the story does not begin with the return of the soldier home, and not even from the battlefield, which is typical for military literature. The story starts not in the middle of the action but rather with a glimpse of the past perfect: “Krebs went to war from Methodist college in Kansas” (Hemingway 138). Hemingway begins with an awkward summary description of the situation.
In this respect, Hemingway’s early story still resembles a novella or a story, but the first sentence is already interesting. He is already hinting at a disturbing break in the protagonist’s biography. Hemingway begins with two photographs: one of him with his classmates, the other in a uniform that seems too big to him. This scene emphasizes that Krebs is not up to the war, as he is too young and inexperienced.
Conclusion
The former front-line soldier does not seek to play by the rules of a peaceful society. Morally Krebs is not yet ready to realize himself as a full-fledged member of it (Safarova 92). However, it would be unfair to say that the main character is passive because he does not completely withdraw from people. He communicates with acquaintances, with other front-line soldiers, regularly goes to the library, and plays billiards. Though, this becomes not rest but only an idle passing of time to which Krebs developed a special attitude, which can be seen in some opposition.
For Krebs, time and space were divided into before, during, and after the war. Before going to the front, he studied at a Methodist college; he did not have to lie; he also “had never been allowed to drive the family motor car” (Hemingway 139). Harold Krebs constantly returns in his memory to the time before his departure to the front, and it seems to him distant and he has lost everything that was valuable to him (Hemingway 138). The story’s last sentence sounds unexpectedly hopeful: the hero suddenly decides to “go over to the schoolyard and watch Helen play indoor baseball” (Hemingway 148). If Harold Krebs still finds the energy and courage to come to the schoolyard, maybe this will begin his real return home and into life.
The Feeling of Lost in Modern Reality
From a modern point of view, when war seems to be something wild to some extent, many people still face a feeling of loss. Moreover, burnout syndrome is even more relevant today than ever. In Hemingway’s story, the behavior of a young man could be explained by some physical handicap or illness acquired by the hero during the war, but he is absolutely healthy physically. The reason lies in the state of the hero’s spirit, or rather, in the brokenness of his spirit (Soqandi and Birgani 617). Like the protagonist of Hemingway, many modern people are close to themselves and experienced their life before: before the turning point happened and the desire to take part in social interaction disappeared. However, as in the last sentence of Ernest Hemingway’s story, there is hope even for those who consider themselves hopelessly lost.
Works Cited
Bhuiyan, Atanu. “The Line in the Sand: A Feminist and New-Historicist Exploration of the Treatments of the Female Characters in Ernest Hemingway’s Novels the Sun Also Rises and a Farewell to Arms, and Short Stories ‘Soldier’s Home’ and ‘Hills Like White Elephants.” International Journal of Multidisciplinary Thought, vol. 07, no. 03, 2018, pp. 201-250.
Hemingway, Ernest. The Short Stories of Ernest Hemingway. Simon and Schuster, 2002.
Safarova, Dildora. “Ernest Hemingway and the ‘Lost Generation.’” Mental Enlightenment Scientific-Methodological Journal, 2021, pp. 91–98.
Soqandi, Mahnaz, and Shiva Zaheri Birgani. “Lost Hope in Hemingway’s a Farewell to Arms: Existentialism Study.” Britain International of Linguistics Arts and Education (BIoLAE) Journal, vol. 2, no. 2, 2020, pp. 616–621.
Soto, Michael. “The Lost Generation and American Expatriatism.” A Companion to American Literature, 2020, pp. 141–156.