Krebs in A Soldiers Home - Observing Life Rather than Living It - Essay Example

?Krebs in “A Soldier’s Home Observing Life Rather Than living It During the World War I there were many who wrote stories on the life of soldiers and how there life transformed once they returned home. Hemmingway is one such prolific writers of the 20th century, who in his story “A Soldier’s Home” portrays the character of Krebs, a soldier of the First World War, and discusses how his life underwent a complete transformation after he returned from the war. In this story Harold Krebs play the lead protagonist, and is referred to as Harold in the first part of the chapter, where he goes to the war to fight for his motherland. In the first part of the story he is portrayed to be a normal young guy with regular emotions, who is patriotic and goes to the war for his motherland. But in the later part of the story he is referred to as Krebs, to elucidate the transformation in his character. The Krebs is a German word which in English means cancer. The author very interestingly refers to Harold’s character as Krebs in the later part of the story because he wants to describe the transformation that the character went through, which completely left him disdained from all earthly emotions. He wants to be part of a simple life than involve in complexities. He has transformed into a person who just observes life rather than living it. In the story “A Soldier’s Home”, Hemmingway describes three very important situations which mark Harold’s transformation into Krebs. It was the time of the First World War, when most of the young lads joined the army to fight for their motherland. Harold Krebs was one such young man who joined the army after college. It was only after his return from the war that the first instance of his transformation was marked. Krebs was a little late to return home and was not part of the celebration that the other soldiers received on their return. By the time he came back all the hysteria regarding the war has settled down, people were no longer interested in war stories but Krebs wanted to experience the thrill and in couple of occasions he even lied about the stories. People were interested in lies not the realities of war. This gave birth to a raging conflict within Krebs, against the entire community. People were not interested in his stories and that left him in a state of shock. There were many criticisms regarding this point. As Hemingway’s "Soldier’s Home" opens, Harold Krebs, the protagonist, has just come back from World War I. All the other young men his age have settled back into small-town life and found a niche for themselves as contributing members of the community. But Harold, for some reason, cannot do this; instead, he plays pool, "practice[s] on his clarinet, stroll[s] down town, read[s], and [goes] to bed."(Bernardo, K., n. d.) "Nothing was changed in the town except that the young girls had grown up". “It appears as if the town was never affected by the war, not as Krebs had been. The town radiates conformity, such as the girls all wearing the same clothes. Harold's mother and father wish for him to conform too, as he once did in college where he too wore the same clothes as his fraternity brothers”(Comtois, Jean P., n.d.).  The second instance in the story which depicts Krebs character slowly turning into an observer of life rather than living it is when he starts appreciating the beauty of the girls of his hometown, but does not want to involve into any relationship with them. In war he had learnt that, one did not need girls to survive, though few of his soldier friends thought differently, he did not believe that the complexities of relationship were worth it. When all of his other contemporaries had returned from the war and settled down into the culture of the town, it was he who could not relate to any emotion and did not even feel it to be worth it. He only felt comfortable eyeing things from a distant. Even this phase of Krebs life was up for many criticisms some of which are, “Harold’s experiences in Europe have changed him irrevocably, and this change is dramatically played out against the backdrop of a town where nothing has changed for years. His father parks his same car in the same place he did before the war; the girls walking down the street look like the same girls with whom Harold went to school. People want Harold to justify his existence by talking about the glories of the war, but the experience wasn’t glorious for him; he is acutely aware that he was "badly, sickeningly frightened all the time." (Bernardo, K., n. d.). “She tells him that she prays for him and the temptations that he must have faced. But, she says, he must find a job…She asks him to kneel with her and pray. She prays, but he cannot. He leaves, thinking that he will get a job in Kansas City and get out of the house without too many more confrontations”(web, n.d.). The last phase in which the character Krebs confront his mother is the last situation which describes how Krebs has completely turned into an observer of life rather than one who experiences it. Krebs returned home from war as completely different man. He had seen a lot of death at warfront, but when he returned such settled situations made him frustrated. There was turmoil of emotions in his heart which he could let go of. He was completely surprised by how the people of his hometown remained completely unaffected by war, how the girls dressed the same way as they use to do earlier. His mother also wanted a same kind of life for him, she wanted him to get a job a get settled just like his counterparts, but he just couldn’t. he could even pray to God when his mother asked him to pray with him. Though he later looked for a job half heartedly since he had no interest, but these instances made the idea all the more strong in him that he has come far away form the earthly emotions. This condition of Krebs was criticized differently by different scholars some of which are, It is not until his mother confronts him about his future that he realizes that he cannot continue to live this lie. Over breakfast, his mother pressures him to get a job by arguing that "There are no idle hands in [God’s] Kingdom." Harold replies, "I’m not in His Kingdom" -- and he’s not. The world he discovered during World War I had no hand of God in it. His mother, in despair, asks whether he loves her, and Harold responds quite truthfully that he doesn’t. We know that this is because his entire worldview has been turned upside down by his traumatic experiences in the war, and the ability to genuinely love requires an emotional balance he does not have right now. But his mother does not understand this, because she cannot identify with his experiences” (Bernardo, K., n. d.). References 1. Bernardo, K., n. d., Ernest Hemingway's "Soldier's Home" Commentary by Karen Bernardo, retrived on June 10, 2011 from http://www.storybites.com/hemingwaysoldier2.htm 2. Comtois, Jean P., n.d., A LITERARY ANALYSIS of "SOLDIER'S HOME", retrived on June 10, 2011 from http://www.kareyperkins.com/classes/420/420pauly.html 3. Web, n.d., Soldier's Home, retrived on June 10, 2011 from http://www.sparknotes.com/lit/inourtime/section27.rhtml Read More