short critiques of

ERNEST HEMINGWAY'S

short stories

SOLDIER'S HOME

       I enjoyed reading "Soldier's Home" because Hemingway's manner of writing isn't a stylistic superficiality; his style has inherent meaning and actually adds psychological depth to his characters. Regarding "Soldier's Home," for example, Thomas Strychacz notes that "the detached narrative voice matches Krebs' emotional deadness; its distanced, reportorial tone matches his own lack of involvement with his mother, the girls, and his own future" (see page 74 of The Cambridge Companion to Ernest Hemingway, edited by Scott Donaldson.)
       Perhaps the reasons for Krebs' emotional detachment are due to the symptoms of Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder (known as "shell shock" in Hemingway's day) and also because of his desire "to live along without consequences." Apparently Krebs didn't want life to touch him because life was painful and everything dies, a harsh reality he learned on the battlefields of war. To become numb and detached from life is one way to deal with stress.
       I love how Hemingway details the food and drink his characters consume in his stories. It's a common occurrence in many of his books and its not just a trivial filler (no pun intended). In "Soldier's Home" I like how the phrase "the bacon fat hardening on his plate" seems to symbolize the tense conversation Krebs has with his mother at the breakfast table.
       Trivia: Ernest Hemingway started his own writing career in 1917 at none other than The Kansas City Star newspaper.

HILLS LIKE WHITE ELEPHANTS

       I love how much power Hemingway placed in such a concise story as "Hills Like White Elephants." It's a great example of his direct, muscular writing style. Carlos Baker, the great Hemingway scholar, noted that "'Hills Like White Elephants' throws light into the nether regions of selfish human abnormality - which is one way of looking at the matter of abortion" (Hemingway, the Writer as Artist, page 141.) Baker made this proclamation in the early 1970s when abortion was a hot-button social issue. Baker may have been politically motivated when he made his comment because the Supreme Court was considering Roe v. Wade at the time but hadn't issued its final decision.
       The short story "Hills Like White Elephants" was first published in 1927 during the wild and woolly, hedonistic, roaring twenties. Perhaps it might not have been a successful publication if it had been published during a more conservative time.
       The theme of pregnancy complicating a couples' happiness is also presented by Hemingway in A Farewell to Arms. I won't give any details because I don't want to spoil it for you, but I whole heartily recommend it without any reservations.
       For an in-depth (and fictional) narrative about how an abortion affects an unmarried, loving couple, I recommend "The Wild Palms" by William Faulkner.