An Analytical Critique of Hemingway's `In Our Time'
An Analytical Critique of Hemingway's `In Our Time'
Ernest Hemingway, popularly recognized, not only as one of the United States most important novelists but as one of leading literary figures of the past century, displays a pronounced tendency to leave more unsaid than said in his works. Employing short and punctuated sentences which rarely betray emotions and, indeed, reveal an insistence upon keeping painful memories away, Hemingway, nevertheless, says a great deal through his silences. While this is evident throughout his short story collection, In Our Time, the essay shall focus on illustrating this in relation to only two of these stories; Chapter II and "Indian Camp."
Even though Chapter II is barely a few lines long and is completely unrelated to the Nick Adams' stories which figure throughout much of the collection, its silences are full of unspoken emotions which reflect the Nick Adams' themes of stoicism and manhood. In this story, matador after matador enter the bullfighting ring and, as a test of their manhood, confront a raging bull in a strange, but graceful, dance of death. For the first matador, the fight is over before it began and the second is quite nearly killed. A young kid" enters the ring and "had to kill five bulls" (83). In language which reveals much through its silences, Hemingway portrays the young matador as stoical and determined; a "kid" intent on passing this test of manhood. He does; succeeding where two other seasoned matadors failed. He repeatedly kills before falling to the ground exhausted, even as the "crowd hollered and threw things down into the bull ring" (83). The kid "finally made it"(83).
Granted that the story as summarized in the preceding paragraph does not give the impression of richness or of emotive silences speaking to the readers but, in fact it does. The language Hemingway used is as precise as the bull fight itself. There is no time to waste words but instead, each word must be carefully selected in order to immediately convey its meaning, just as every move the bull fighter makes must hit its target or bring him closer to achieving his goal. The very brief sentences and simple vocabulary used hide beneath them the enormity of the test which the young kid" is facing; a test of manhood which he is taking before an entire crowd. The "kid' is on display and, as evident in the final scene where "he sat down in the sand and puked" the tension which he had experienced throughout, not to mention the physical stress, where unbearable. They were painful on both the psychological and the physical levels but, because the "kid" is a true man in the Hemingway sense, he stoically bore it all and focused on the now and on the task before him.
"Indian Camp," even though it is seemingly very different, is remarkably similar. It is similarly a story of blood, gore, physical suffering and unbearable emotional pain which is, nevertheless, left unexpressed. In this story, Nick Adams' father is called to the Indian camp to help a woman in labor. She'd been trying to give birth for two days, and was obviously in tremendous pain. Without the use of any anesthetics, Nick's father performs operates on the woman and saves the lives of both mother and child. He does so in silence, never betraying any emotions and, at one point, even tells his son that he does not even hear the woman's screams as they are not "important."
The similarities between the two protagonists are remarkable. Like the young matador, Nick's father keeps his emotions at bay and battles against the odds to succeed at what he set out to do. Similarly, like the matador he is confronting a test of skill, of manhood and, like the young "kid," he too has an audience in his brother, son and supposedly, the father-to-be. His success, just as the matador's, is proof of his masculinity even as it is a pyrrhic victory. The matador's success was dependant upon the killing of a "good" and proud bull and the doctor's success is tempered by the father-to-be's suicide. Above all, both protagonist's keep their emotions at bay, neither overtly reveling in their success or giving into the physical and psychological stress which their respective tests imposed upon them. They maintain a stoical attitude which Hemingway conveys through terse, brief, simple, unemotionally and, paradoxically, silent language.
As readers delve beneath the surface, they are confronted with the fact that "Indian Camp" is, indeed, a painful story. The physical pain and suffering which the woman experiences are psychologically unbearable. The Indian men distance themselves, sit beyond the range of her screams and smoke in silence. Nick's father, as is evident from what he tells his son, cannot afford to hear her screams. Were he to hear her agony, his resolve may very well weaken, incapacitating him from performing the operation necessary to save two lives. By telling his son that he does not hear the screams, he is actually saying that he cannot afford to hear them; that within the context of his goal, the screams are unimportant and will only serve to impede action. Nick's father is, in essence, telling him that the true man must do what is set out before him without giving into any emotions and, without letting the pain of others feed into him. Men must be pragmatic, not emotional and the pragmatism which Hemingway seemingly upholds is reflected in his economical use and choice of language. That does not mean to say that the pain is not there but that it is hidden beneath the surface, unspoken.
In both the stories reviewed and compared, Hemingway's silences are extremely eloquent and expressive. He does not allow his characters to betray their emotions or to indulge in painful moments and memories. They are, nevertheless, very much present.
Bibliography
Hemingway, Ernest. In Our Time. New York: Scribner's, 1925.
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