Ernest Hemingway Soldier's Home Essay

Hemingway believed that “a writer’s job is to tell the truth…” (Baker 1). He strived to achieve this goal in all of his writing and did so through the application of various writing techniques to employ the “iceberg principle”. The most significant way Hemingway utilizes the iceberg principle is through the use of literary devices. In order to begin to deconstruct his writing and understand Hemingway’s purpose and meaning, one must have a vast knowledge of how he manipulates his words to shield the meaning amidst symbols, language, dialogue, rhetoric and many other devices. In In Our Time, Hemingway crafts the text to reveal purpose and meaning in each individual story by using countless literary elements, including diction, syntax,

The way in which he crafts the structure of his writing --which varies with each story-- helps to illustrate meaning in the subtlest way possible. Variation of sentence structure helps to enhance his style. In “Soldier’s Home”, Hemingway’s sentences are longer; composed of more clauses, and are all very similar to emphasize the repetitiveness and dullness of Krebs’ live after the war. In “The Doctor and the Doctor’s Wife”, however, he uses many declarative sentences in order to reveal the tension and unhappiness rife within the relationship. Another way Hemingway uses syntax to his advantage is through juxtaposition. Levin writes that what Hemingway “…lacks in structure he makes up in sequence and carefully ordering visual impressions as he sets them down and ironically juxtaposing the various items on his list and inventories” (Levin 12). By positioning two situations, characters, or settings side by side in a sentence, it highlights their differences and brings to light the hidden meaning in Hemingway’s works. He also frequently employs “sequence of motion and fact”, which is “…where the expletive takes the place of the observer and his observations are registered one by one. Hence, for the reader…’you…feel that all that happened to you” (Levin 11). This method is important in how Hemingway crafts the text because it helps the reader to be able to relate to the story and sympathize with

Specifically in In Our Time, Hemingway uses imagery to reveal meaning, such as in “The End of Something”, when Hemingway writes “The one-story bunk houses, the eating house, the company store, the mill offices, and the big mill itself stood deserted in the acres of sawdust that covered the swampy meadow by the shore of the bay. Ten years later there was nothing of the mill left except the broken white limestone of its foundation…” (Hemingway 31), and this deserted town he describes serves as a symbol of Nick and Marjorie’s relationship, which was once full of life and happiness, but now there is nothing left. This comparison reveals Hemingway’s purpose in illustrating his belief that human relationships are complicated and often do not work out. This theme of failing human relationships is prevalent across many stories in In Our Time, including “The Doctor and the Doctor’s Wife”, in which Hemingway illustrates their rocky relationship through his description of the wife’s belongings that includes an excessive number of pronouns, for example, “She was a Christian Scientist. Her Bible, her copy of Science and Health and her Quarterly were on a table beside her bed in the darkened room” (Hemingway 26). This distinction between his and her belongings reveals the lack of intimacy and connection between the couple. Hemingway also wrote about strained relationships in