Soldier's Home: Ernest Hemingway

Soldier's Home is a short story by Ernest Hemingway that depicts a man named Harold Krebs who returns from World War I and tries to come back to a normal life among his family and his friends. Unfortunately he struggles to assimilate into the easy life back in the states, encountering problem after problem. He feels like he does not belong anywhere, unable to relate to the people of his own community. He resorts to lying and creating stories to tell others, just to help connect with them, but his efforts produce no progress. Harold Krebs' story is a way through which Hemingway describes the sad existence that faces almost all soldiers that return home from war. Through the use of specific description, inner thoughts, and characterization, the story of a lonely veteran becomes a tale of deeper conflict, diving into the life of a man lost and alone, while being surrounded by people.

Harold's conflict within himself begins when he returns home. He has transformed dramatically from the war compared to the people in his home town, where nothing has changed. Except, as Krebs' notes, the little girls have become women. "He liked to look at them from the front porch as they walked on the other side of the street" (Hemingway 18). But yet Harold does not pursue any courtship, instead choosing to remain single claiming that, "It was not worth it" (Hemingway 19). His struggle separates Harold as an individual, putting up boundaries emotionally and mentally. Alienating himself, Krebs spends much of his time at home, reading, playing pool, sleeping in late, and taking part in any activity that distracts him from real life. His actions demonstrate his unwillingness to move on once he has returned home. In Marjorie Smelstor's analysis of Soldier's Home, she makes note that Harold, "makes no effort to relate seriously with anyone, including women, because he does not want the complications or consequences of relationships" (Smelstor 1). Harold's actions do not represent a dislike for woman, but instead a separation from them. His excuse with the woman at home is that they talk too much. He recalls how easy it was to be with the French and German girls when he was at war because, "There was not all this talking. You couldn't talk much and you did not need to talk. It was simple and you were friends" (Hemingway 19). Harold finds that relationships with them were uncomplicated and had little consequence due to the fact that there was not much talking between them.

The virtues of Harold's past, conflict with the complications of his present day life. The war has changed his viewpoint on living and the struggles that everyday folks have. "This dramatic difference between the returnee and those who stayed home sets up the basic conflict in the story: the dishonesty that is demanded for survival" (Smelstor 1). The clearest case is lying. Harold is forced by the society to lie about his time in the war just to have people to listen to him. The town has heard too many ridiculous tales that the truth cannot compete. "Later [after returning home] he felt the need to talk but no one wanted to hear about it. His town had heard too many atrocity stories to be thrilled by actualities." (Hemingway 17). This is symbolism towards the entire United States' viewpoint of the war. The town's folk, a metaphor for the people at home, have been bombarded with propaganda and exaggeration from veterans. Harold's true story, a metaphor for what really happened, is not good enough to stand out as anything amazing. The difference from actually being there, and hearing about the events is so great that it causes Krebs to feel disconnected from the people of the town who have an extravagant image of his deeds, and refuse to acknowledge the horrible accounts that Harold and many men like him had. "It is demonstrated most clearly in the retelling of war stories, for the townspeople do not want to hear the truth about the atrocities of battle, preferring, instead,