The Tragic Hero In Nick Adams The Battler

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The Battler has been yet another tale of the life of Nick Adams. An odd tale at that. We are introduced to Nick as he is tossed out of a train, falling on his hands and knees. His clothes are torn and his knees are scraped. He goes to the nearest body of water and begins to wash his hands carefully. Nick Adams is traveling alone, possibly from something in his past (47). He is washing his hands to rid of the dirt, but this may symbolize him washing his hands clean of what he had been through or what he had done in his past. Nick then watches the lights going out of sight, watching what he used to know completely disappear. Nick sees his past disappear as his hands become clean and the last of the train is out of sight. He is starting anew. The train. The train is the idea of having certain accomplishments in life that you have to follow to be seen as successful in society. When Nick gets off the train he is thrown off, almost as his life is derailed, he is taking a detour from the set expectations but on him by society. In all of the stories about Nick, he seems to have some sort of love-hate relationship with the train. Almost as if he want to reach success and be content with his life but he never seems to be able to stay on the train. There are almost always his demons …show more content…

Ad continues, in a string of confusing accusations becoming angrier by the minute. Add seems to accuse Nick of things that never happened as if he was projecting past experiences onto the current situation at hand. As he stands to beat Nick, Bugs hits him with a cloth-wrapped blackjack (54). This interaction gives us a deeper look into the dynamic of Bugs and Ad. When Ads temper gets out of hand Bugs has to take care of it - Bugs has to take care of him. Ad feels like he is strong, manly and in charge, but Bugs is the real mastermind behind their actions. Bugs keeps Ad on a

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