Soldiers Home
Critical Analysis of "Soldier's Home": Before, During, and After the
War (with bibliography)
Many of the titles of Ernest Hemingway's stories are ironic, and can be
read on a number of levels; Soldier's Home is no exception. Our first
impression, having read the title only, is that this story will be
about a old soldier living out the remainder of his life in an
institution where veterans go to die. We soon find out that the story
has nothing to do with the elderly, or institutions; rather, it tells
the story of a young man, Harold Krebs, only recently returned from
World War I, who has moved back into his parents' house while he
figures out what he wants to do with the rest of his life. And yet our
first impression lingers, and with good reason; despite the fact that
his parents' comfortable, middle-class lifestyle used to feel like home
to Harold Krebs, it no longer does. Harold is not home; he has no home
at all. This is actually not an uncommon scenario among young people
(such as college students) returning into the womb of their childhood
again. But with Harold, the situation is more dramatic because he has
not only lived on his own, but has dealt with -- and been traumatized
by -- life-and-death situations his parents could not possibly
understand. Hemingway does not divulge why Krebs was the last person
in his home town to return home from the war; according to the Kansas
City Star, Hemingway himself "left Kansas City in the spring of 1918
and did not return for 10 years, [becoming] 'the first of 132 former
Star employees to be wounded in World War I,' according to a Star
article at the time of his death" (Kansas City Star, hem6.htm).
Wherever he was in the intervening time, by the time Harold gets home,
the novelty of the returning soldier has long since worn off. All the
other former soldiers have found a niche for themselves in the
community, but Harold needs a while longer to get his bearings; he
plays pool, "practiced on his clarinet, strolled down town, read, and
went to bed" (Hemingway, 146). What he is doing, of course, is killing
time. The problem, of course, has to do with Harold's definition of
who he has become. He recognizes he has changed, and this change is
played out dramatically against the backdrop of a town where nothing
else has changed since he was in high school. His father parks his car
in the same place; it's still the same car; the girls walking down the
In the book, “Eleven Seconds” by Travis Roy, he talks about himself about what had happened to him during his hockey game and how he got injured in his hockey game. Roy becomes part of, and moves on from, many different “homes”. All the different homes remain significant throughout his life. Even though these different places are not permanent homes, he experiences a sense of home that remains important to him. Here are three examples of the “homes” Travis Roy becomes part of and how each of them had such an enduring influence on him. Those three “homes” Roy finds significant in his life are, Maine, Boston, and Shepherd Center.
...takes one for the team and learns not to be so selfish in the process of accomplishing his own dream.
his future life is finally result of what he is today, he grew up to become a dedicated veteran, a
...suburban home ownership, they were homeward bound. But, as the years went by, they also found themselves bound to the home." (May p.207)
Once a successful novel hits the market, producers are inclined to adapt the story into a movie. Since imagination, symbolism, and character psyches are explored in a novel, the movies tend to lack the luster of the original text. Using their imagination, readers are able to conjure up characters and scenes that are unique. This is the case with Tim O’Brien’s, “Sweetheart of the Song Tra Bong.” This is a story where love and war collide after a soldier brings his sweetheart to his Vietnamese post. On the whole, this chapter in The Things They Carried is far superior to the film, The Soldier’s Sweetheart, because it has thorough descriptions of characters’ feelings, including symbolism concerning objects and important events. When the audience is able to draw it's own story around an author's narrative, the experience is more satisfying than when every detail is presented through the cinematic medium - an active audience is happier than a passive one.
Then he might talk about how he wants to be different from the others and want a career that's not working at a gas station. Hopefully he would try to be someone he didn't even know was in him. He could probably be a star runner if he had time to work at it. It would be disappointing if he wanted to stay where he is and be like all of the others. He has lots of potential to do so many things. Maybe some day he will be able to use his abilities. If he does get out of his town he might even be a
The initial reaction I received from reading Soldier's Home, and my feelings about Soldier's Home now are not the same. Initially, I thought Harold Krebs is this soldier who fought for two years, returns home, and is disconnected from society because he is in a childlike state of mind, while everyone else has grown up. I felt that Krebs lost his immature years, late teens to early 20's, because he went from college to the military. I still see him as disconnected from society, because there isn't anyone or anything that can connect him to the simple life that his once before close friends and family are living. He has been through a traumatic experience for the past two years, and he does not have anyone genuinely interested in him enough to take the time to find out what's going on in his mind and heart. Krebs is in a battle after the battle.
The adjustment from years on the frontlines of World War I to the mundane everyday life of a small Oklahoma town can be difficult. Ernest Hemingway’s character Harold Krebs, has a harder time adjusting to home life than most soldiers that had returned home. Krebs returned years after the war was over and was expected to conform back into societies expectations with little time to adapt back to a life not surrounded by war. Women take a prominent role in Krebs’s life and have strong influences on him. In the short story “Soldier’s Home” Hemingway uses the women Krebs interacts with to show Krebs internal struggle of attraction and repulsion to conformity.
I believe that surrogacy is morally suspicious and that surrogacy contracts should not be enforceable. I am persuaded by the arguments of Lisa S. Cahill and her stance on surrogacy. Cahill follows the doctrine of the Roman Catholic Natural Law. According to RCNL, sex is a conjugal act with purpose of unity and procreation, and procreation is collaborative. Also, treating a person as a means to an end is always morally wrong. The unity of marriage is intended for reproduction, conceived between two people within the marriage. Surrogacy should not involve a third party to avoid dualism. These main points will be elaborated on in the context of an argument on surrogacy.
Dog Soldiers is a story laced with despair, paranoia, and several other not so fuzzy moods, and this quote from the main character elegantly demonstrates this mood. The tone of the book was a point of interest and displeasure for me, since this was one of my first experiences with total negativity, it was a fun struggle for me to understand the point or the necessity of such an angry mood. At the same time it made me very uncomfortable, sometimes to the point where I would have to stop reading for the day.
Commercial surrogacy commodifies children because by paying the surrogate mother to give up her child, they treat the child as an object of exchange or commodity that can be bought and sold. As any business transaction, the parents give money for the exchange of an object, the child. The parents get their desired child and the mother gets the money, but what about what thee child think about this event? The parents and surrogate mother’s action were done with self-interest. It could be argued that they wanted the best for the child. However, the first priority in the intentional procreation of the child was not the welfare of the child but rather to give it up to the parents in exchange of money. Additionally, women’s labor is commodified because the surrogate mother treats her parental rights as it was a property right not as a trust. In other words, the decisions taken concerning the child are not done primarily for the benefit of the child. The act of the mother relenting her parental rights is done for a monetary price. She disposes of her parental rights, which are to be managed for the welfare of the owner, as if they were property right, which are to be handled for personal
“Sometimes when making something so precious, beautiful and unique, it takes an extra helping heart” (Author Unknown). To me, surrogate motherhood is giving the gift of a child to an individual who cannot carry a child themselves. I chose this topic because it interests me to see what kind of problems are linked with the journey of surrogacy. I have seen plenty of fictional movies about surrogate mothers, and I wanted to learn if any of these issues happened in real life situations. Before I began my research I thought about the ethical, legal, and social problems that could arise during the process of surrogacy. Legally, I thought you could be a surrogate
..., who otherwise may not be able to have children on their own, it is morally wrong. It uses a woman’s body as a machine and as a means, and women are bound to agree to surrogacy for the wrong reasons. Surrogacy is morally wrong because of the emotional trauma it can bring to the surrogate after the birth of the child. With all of these negative aspects, it is clear that other options should be considered, options such as adoptions, which have more benefits than losses.
A surrogacy is the carrying of a pregnancy for intended parents. There are two kinds of surrogacy: “Gestational”, in which the egg and sperm belong to the intended parents and is carried by the surrogate, and “traditional”, where the surrogate is inseminated with the intended father’s sperm. Regardless of the method, I believe that surrogacy cannot be morally justified. Surrogacy literally means “substitute”, or “replacement”. A surrogate is a replacement for a mother for that 9-month period of pregnancy, and therefore is reducing the role of the surrogate mother to an oversimplified and dehumanizing labor. The pregnancy process for the gestational mother can be very physically and mentally demanding, and is unique because after birthing the
“Home is where love resides, memories are created, friends always belong, and laughter never ends (Robot check).” A place becomes a home for me when I am around all the things that I enjoy and love. For example, when I am around everyone that I love, I enjoy a peaceful environment and the beautiful landscapes around me. The interpretation of home for me is not a physical thing that I see or that I can remember or even certain thoughts that I can relate, but it is a sensation that overcomes me when I envision being in the comfort of my own home. However, I know that this is a feeling that is calming to my soul and it quietly reassures me that I genuinely belong in a place where I can be free from people constantly judging me.