Hemingway's Dissatisfaction with Post-War Society

World War I shattered the illusions of many individuals, and many artists - members of the "Lost Generation" - revealed this post-war pessimism in their works. They criticized society, particularly that of the United States, and often opted to live in Europe, a place that, like their illusions, had been severely injured by the war. There they could escape the impending optimism one encountered in the physically untouched States, and their mentally untouched society. Ernest Hemingway was a prominent figure in such circles of thought. He spent much time in Europe after driving an ambulance on the front, like his contemporary Gertrude Stein.

The short stories in In Our Time, exemplify Hemingway's feelings about life after his experience with war. In particular, "Soldier's Home" conveys the feelings of isolation and disillusion that many experienced after the war ended and they returned to the States. In "Soldier's Home," Harold Krebs has just returned from fighting in the war. Being a young adult, he goes back home to live with his parents and his younger sisters, who only experienced the war through the news. The tension in the Krebs household continues to build throughout the story.

The theme of isolation is a major vein in this particular story. To draw attention to Harold's post-war isolation, in which he is emotionally and mentally alone, Hemingway begins the novel by describing him as a part of an inclusive group: "There is a picture which shows him among his fraternity brothers, all of them wearing exactly the same height and style collar" (69). In the fraternity he was a part that made up a whole, the members of which even dressed alike. After the war he himself no longer seems to be whole, and he is certainly not a part of his familial unit.

In the next paragraph, the figure of Krebs gradually becomes less crisp. Hemingway uses parallel language to describe another photograph of Harold. He goes from posing in a picture of homogenous fraternity boys, to posing in one in which the figures are not so well-kept: "There is a picture which shows him on the Rhine with two German girls and another corporal. Krebs and the corporal look too big for their uniforms. The German girls are not beautiful. The Rhine does not show in the picture" (69). The ill-fitting uniforms represent the beginning of a loss of belonging or "fitting in." The army is not just another fraternity - it is not a social club. The mandatory uniforms are not even the correct size. The German girls represent the beginning of the twisted outlook that Harold has. Hemingway's description of the girls shows the start of Harold's change of perspective. The Harold Krebs pictured with his fraternity is not the same Harold Krebs pictured with the two girls and a peer.

In the following paragraph, Hemingway brings the reader to the "current" mindset of Krebs, and underlines one of Krebs' main problems: "By the time Krebs returned to his home town in Oklahoma the greeting of heroes was over. He came back much too late" (69). In these first three paragraphs Hemingway has taken a seemingly popular, "normal," member of society, and evolved him into the character that the audience meets - someone who is unable to find a welcome even in his "home town," and who can no longer function normally in society.

When Krebs returns to the United States, he no longer has a group that he belongs to. His fraternity was a temporary social unit, and his parents and sisters are the only people who have interacted with the old-Harold and the new-Harold. He comes back home to find that mentally, he has no peers. To his family, war is a glorified occurrence in society, and it was Harold's "duty" to participate in it. Harold, on the other hand, sees people in a different perspective after he returns home. He knows that, since he has been through such vastly different experiences from most people, that they do not exist in the same place, mentally or emotionally. This is one reason that he does not attempt to date or make friends after he returns:

He liked the girls that were walking along the other side of the street. He liked the look of them much better than the French girls or the German girls. But the world they were in was not the world he was in. He would like to have one of them. But it was not worth it. (72)

Krebs's situation, and his inability to re-adapt to his family and society, serves as a microcosm of what was happening to those who belonged to the "Lost Generation" on a regular basis in all kinds of social interaction. These people saw the aftermath of war, and realized that war is not glorious, as pre-war Americans had believed. They saw that war is a horrific thing that destroys humans and countries. Krebs is unable to fit into a society where "nothing was changed [. . .] except that the young girls had grown up" (71). He has changed too much to be able to feel comfortable in an environment that remains stagnant.

The family tension in "Soldier's Home" is almost unbearable. Harold's father symbolizes the traditional view in the United States in which a "real" man must be glorified in war, have a family, and a job, and contribute to society. Harold represents those who have become disillusioned with these traditional beliefs, and he has no desire to live up to his father's standards. Harold feels that he should be honored somewhat, but all he receives are reprimands when he reads his father's newspaper: "Harold, please don't muss up the paper. Your father can't read his Star if it's been mussed" (73).

Harold is given a bit more freedom by his family, but he feels that they do not offer it genuinely. Before he left, Harold was never allowed to use his father's car. After his return, his mother informs him that his father is willing to let him borrow it in the evenings. However, Harold feels that his father must be reluctant to allow such a thing. And although Mrs. Krebs insists that it was all Mr. Krebs' idea, there is at least one obvious motive for such a thing: The Krebs' want their son to start dating and settle down "like Charley Simmons" (75), a young man who already had started a career and a family. They are willing to allow Harold to use the car if it means that he will begin to interact with others. Another stipulation concerning the borrowing of the car is that Harold has to get a job: "Your father doesn't care what you start in at. All work is honorable as he says. But you've got to make a start at something" (75). How can the Krebs' expect someone who has just dealt with war first-hand to settle down and be a content worker bee?

Harold's frustrations build up inside of him until he finally begins to release some of his anger, perhaps towards the wrong person. His mother receives the brunt of Harold's direct anger. He is mad at his father, but instead of confronting Mr. Krebs, Harold accuses his mother of prompting Mr. Krebs to allow the lending of the automobile: "I'll bet you made him" (73). When Mrs. Krebs asks Harold if he loves her, Harold replies, "No" (76). Although he later retracts his answer, it is obvious that Harold is unable to love anybody, or any place, after his experiences. Though he does not hate his mother, or his family, he does not love them. "I don't love anybody" (76).

Harold has been robbed of any religious illusions as well. His mother asks him to pray with her, and Harold asks her to pray for him, because he is unable to pray (76). Religion is for optimists, and the "Lost Generation" was just that - lost. Their system of values was drastically different from those of their parents. They often cast off religion, just as it was held dear by their traditional parents. This "Lost Generation" could not believe that God existed in a world that had just experienced a world war. They could not believe that war is glorious when they had just witnessed a war of epic proportions. They could not even justify settling down and raising a family in such a world. How could they bring new life into a world like this?

In the end, Harold decides to "go to Kansas city and get a job and she [Mrs. Krebs] would feel alright about it" (77). Although he feels that he has to leave and get a job, he views it more as an escape, because he will be freed from his family. Hemingway uses the words "got away" as if Krebs is a prisoner - And in a way he is one.

In "Soldier's Home," Hemingway, as is his custom, manages to give the reader the intensity of a novel in just nine pages of story. In these nine pages the reader sees Harold changed almost 180 degrees, and also sees the complexity of Harold's problems through his own thoughts and perceptions instead of through the critical eyes of Harold's family.

The title "Soldier's Home" literally can be construed in two ways, and both are important to the theme of the story. It can mean, "the soldier is home," or "the home of the soldier." Taken to mean "the soldier is home" the title points to the problems that Krebs faces after he returns home and realizes that he can no longer function in "normal" society. Similarly, "the home of the soldier" suggests that Krebs is displaced and is not "at home." If home is where the heart is, then it seems that Krebs lost his "heart" in the war and, therefore, the notion of "home" is elusive to him.

Work Cited

Hemingway, Ernest. In Our Time. New York: Scribner, 2003.