Ernest Hemingway's "Soldier's Home" is a short story that was published in 1925, as part of his collection "In Our Time." The story is narrated in the first person by the protagonist, Harold Krebs, who has recently returned home from World War I. Krebs has had a difficult time adjusting to civilian life and finds it hard to connect with his family and community.
The story begins with Krebs's arrival home in Oklahoma, after he has been discharged from the army. His family is overjoyed to see him, but Krebs is distant and disaffected. He finds it hard to talk about his experiences in the war and doesn't feel like he has anything in common with his friends and family anymore.
As the story progresses, we see Krebs struggling to find his place in the world. He is disillusioned with the small-town life he once knew and feels like he has nothing to do. He becomes isolated and spends most of his time alone, reading and playing records.
One of the most poignant aspects of "Soldier's Home" is the way it portrays the psychological toll that war can take on soldiers. Krebs is clearly suffering from post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD) and is struggling to cope with the memories of the atrocities he saw during the war. He is unable to connect with others and feels like he is fundamentally different from the people around him.
Despite the difficult themes, "Soldier's Home" is ultimately a hopeful story. Although Krebs is struggling to find his place in the world, he is resilient and determined to overcome his difficulties. He may never be able to fully return to the life he once knew, but he is able to find some sense of peace and acceptance in his new reality.
In conclusion, "Soldier's Home" is a powerful and poignant tale that explores the psychological consequences of war and the difficulties of returning home. Hemingway's writing is evocative and moving, and the story remains relevant today as a reminder of the sacrifices that soldiers make for their country.
(PDF) Soldiers Home
Krebs acquired the nausea in regard to experience that is the result of untruth or exaggeration, and when he occasionally met another man who had really been a soldier and the talked a few minutes in the dressing room at a dance he fell into the easy pose of the old soldier among other soldiers: that he had been badly, sickeningly frightened all the time. . Krebs found that to be listened to at all he had to lie and after he had done this twice he, too, had a reaction against the war and against talking about it. At first Krebs, who had been at Belleau Wood, Soissons, the Champagne, St. By the time Krebs returned to his home town in Oklahoma the greeting of heroes was over.
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Mihiel and in the Argonne did not want to talk about the war at all. At first Krebs, who had been at Belleau Wood, Soissons, the Champagne, St. The car always stood outside the First National Bank building where his father had an office on the second floor. Even his lies were not sensational at the pool room. All of the times that had been able to make him feel cool and clear inside himself when he thought of them; the times so long back when he had done the one thing, the only thing for a man to do, easily and naturally, when he might have done something else, now lost their cool, valuable quality and then were lost themselves. There is a picture which shows him among his fraternity brothers, all of them wearing exactly the same height and style collar. Now, after the war, it was still the same car.
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Later he felt the need to talk but no one wanted to hear about it. Before Krebs went away to the war he had never been allowed to drive the family motor car. He enlisted in the Marines in 1917 and did not return to the United States until the second division returned from the Rhine in the summer of 1919. Krebs and the corporal look too big for their uni- forms. His acquaintances, who had heard detailed accounts of German women found chained to machine guns in the Argonne and who could not comprehend, or were barred by their patriotism from interest in, any German machine gunners who were not chained, were not thrilled by his stories. The Rhine does not show in the picture. There is a picture which shows him among his fraternity brothers, all of them wearing exactly the same height and style collar.
The men from the town who had been drafted had all been welcomed elaborately on their return. The Rhine does not show in the picture. He enlisted in the Marines in 1917 and did not return to the United States until the second division returned from the Rhine in the summer of 1919. All of the times that had been able to make him feel cool and clear inside himself when he thought of them; the times so long back when he had done the one thing, the only thing for a man to do, easily and naturally, when he might have done something else, now lost their cool, valuable quality and then were lost themselves. A distaste for everything that had happened to him in the war set in because of the lies he had told.
He came back much too late. By the time Krebs returned to his home town in Oklahoma the greeting of heroes was over. All of the times that had been able to make him feel cool and clear inside himself when he thought of them; the times so long back when he had done the one thing, the only thing for a man to do, easily and naturally, when he might have done something else, now lost their cool, valuable quality and then were lost themselves. Krebs went to the war from a Methodist college in Kansas. The men from the town who had been drafted had all been welcomed elaborately on their return. People seemed to think it was rather ridiculous for Krebs to be getting back so late, years after the war was over.
