“Soldier’s Home” by Hemingway

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Recommended: Effects of war on soldiers essay

This is an essay on the short story “Soldier’s Home” by Hemingway. Will the life of a soldier ever be the same after returning from war? Many generations of young adults have gone from their homes with tranquil settings to experience war and come home to a different world. Many have witnessed the devastations and atrocities that occur with war. Harold Krebs, a young man from a small town with a loving family is no different from those before him and those to follow. The anguish of what war is however cannot dispel the thoughts and memories of what many young men come home to face in the real world. Many have trouble coping in the new world known as home.

The setting in this story is a small town in rural Oklahoma in the late hot summer. Harold Krebs is part of a loving family with a good moral up bringing and high standards. The family is middle class. Krebs, at the time of his enlistment is a student at a Methodist college in Kansas and goes off to war. Krebs, as most young men in the twenties did not volunteer for military service. He Left for Germany and his part of the war, as was the expectations of the time for all men coming of age.

Upon returning home, Krebs felt different and distant from the town folk. No welcome home given by the town. Krebs was not welcomed home, “He came back much too late” (Hemingway 185). The war was over and had been for a couple of years and the town felt he should have been home earlier. Hemingway does not give an explanation why Harold is the last to return home after the war. The others drafted with him have all returned and received a hero’s welcome back from the town. Krebs returning to his hometown parallels that of Hemingway himself: “When Hemingway returned home early...

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...who is the same age, has a job, and getting married. She is also concerned her son will not be a credit to society. Krebs only withdraws more because of his mother. The father in the story is distant and a stock character. He is there but not an influence on his son’s life and only spoken of though the mother and her comments. Krebs has a sister named Helen in the story, she likes baseball, and he is very fond of her. She is a stock character and there as support to the family environment and setting of the story.

Krebs has all the memories and thoughts of war: “When you go to war as a boy, you have a great illusion of immortality” (Putnam 20). The realization of war and its after effects and persistent memories, Krebs decides to move. He begins a new life to sort out his emotional heartaches. He realizes the only way to move forward in life is to move on.

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