Soldier's Home

Ernest Hemmingway is famous for many of his writings in which he uses a small amount of descriptions and the stories are to the point with minimal use of adjectives. Soldier's Home is a story about a man named Harold Krebs who is a soldier returning from war. Many problems arise in Krebs life when he returns home after World War I. He feels like he has no real home and that the people around him do not really care about the experiences he had throughout the war since no one ever asks him or lets him talk about it. He is forced to lie about things that happened to him so people will actually talk to him. He loses all sense of love for family and friends and has no faith in god or his religion anymore. Throughout the story you can see how all the problems in Krebs life push him towards a complete change in his life which comes out in the end of the story.

In the story Hemingway says, "By the time Krebs returned to his home town in Oklahoma the greeting of heroes was over. He came back much too late." The sacrifice that Krebs made for his country is never appreciated throughout the story. After the war, there was a celebration, yet immediately afterwards the soldiers are meant to be productive members of society, essentially denying that the event even happened in truth (Stinley 1). His mother also plays a large role in the story showing how unappreciated his war duties really are until the end of the story when she says she knows how hard it must have been for Krebs. But this comes far too late to change Krebs personal feelings. This contributes to Krebs feeling like a stranger in his own home and losing his emotional feelings for his mother. He feels that out of everyone, his mother should care about his experience during war.

Another major issue that affects Krebs is when he returns home and feels like he has no home. Some people look at it like society has changed and they are not allowing Krebs to be part of it anymore. The United States had failed to provide a "home" for soldier's that had been tested physically and emotionally during the war (Trout 5). The changes that Krebs experiences as a person from being at war can be blamed on the fact that some people cannot handle the gruesome nature of war and do not know how to deal with it later in life (Stinley 2). His views and thoughts are completely different then they were before he left for war.

Throughout the story Krebs continually uses the word "lies" to describe how society has forced him to act. Krebs speaks of the lies he needs to tell, in an effort for recognition because the town is bored by the horror of common war stories. This is a way for him to try to get some attention and acknowledgement for his war duties. If Krebs did not lie, I don't think anyone would have ever of listened to him or his stories. Along with his lies though, you can see how it affects Harold to feel forced to lie and how he lies to his mother and he gets nauseous at the end of the story (Old 1).

Women are one way which you can see how much Krebs has changed as a person from being at war. While at war, it is very noticeable that the girls were very easy and were most likely French or German speaking prostitutes. Krebs says, "You couldn't talk much and you did not need to talk. It was simple and you were friends." As Krebs explains communication was not needed with these women, everything revolved around sex and there was no need of talking to be with a woman intimately. When Krebs returns to America he can see the difference of how women in America require work and talking to get into bed with a man. For this reason Krebs did not really want to get involved with any women and he did not try to hide that. He even says that he likes looking at the women around him but they are, "not in the same world as he is" (Old 3).

Krebs shows how different he is and how he has grown up and grown apart from his life after he came home from the war. In the beginning of the story he tells you, "Nothing was changed in the town except that the young girls had grown up." This shows that he no longer fits into the world he previously was completely content with. Everything had stayed the same, but he came home a different person (Old 4). His mother says, "Charley Simmons, who is just your age, has a good job and is going to be married. The boys are all settling down...boys like Charley Simmons are on their way to being a real credit to the community." After his mother said that to him, Krebs sat there and said nothing until his mother asked if he loved her and he says that he doesn't love anybody.

In the beginning of the story while Krebs was in the bombardment he prays to god and says, "I'll do anything you say. I believe in you and I'll tell everyone in the world that you are the only one that matters. Please please dear jesus." In those lines he seems very religious but at the end of the paragraph after he got out and survived the attack