The soldier in Ernest Hemingway s Soldier s Home h Essays

The soldier in Ernest Hemingway s Soldier s Home has finally returned home afterstaying in Europe after the war. He looked at many things around the town differently since hisreturn, especially the girls. The American girls Harold Krebs observes from the porch symbolizeshow he sees American society since his return and the foreign girls symbolize the society of theEuropean countries he just returned from.Harold Krebs was sent to Europe during the war. On the whole he had liked Germanybetter. He did not want to leave Germany (Hemingway 72). This is demonstrated through hisadmiration from far and dislike from near of American girls. The girls the soldier knew before hejoined the army were grown up when he returned from Europe. The people from the Europeancountries accepted him and made him feel at home. He fit in with the girls in Germany andFrance. There was not all this talking. You couldn t talk much and you did not need to talk. Itwas simple and you were friends (Hemingway 72). Bei ng in the army he was accepted by thepeople in Europe even though there was a speech barrier. He thought the overall appearance ofAmerica was better than the European countries but he enjoyed his stay in those countries better. He liked the look of them (American girls) much better than the French girls or the German girls. But the world they were in was not the world he was in (Hemingway 72). He thinks theAmerican girls are good looking and he liked to look at them from the front porch as theywalked on the other side of the street (Hemingway 71). The one thing he admired about theirappearance repeatedly was their Dutch collars. He was probably familiar and comfortable withthese from his time in Europe. When he saw the girls in town he did not like them. They weretoo complicated (Hemingway 71). Similarly, he liked the way America appeared when he wasaway from it and he noticed and admired the European influences. He was proud to be fromAmerica. But, he did not like America when he r eturned home. Things were too complicated. He had to change himself to fit in and even lie to make his stories interesting to the people. Heclaims He would have liked to have a girl... ...He did not want to have to do any courting (Hemingway 71). In the same way, he wanted to fit in with the people in his hometown but aslong as he did not have to put effort into it. He did not want to tell anymore lies (Hemingway71). Hemingway demonstrates the soldiers complications interacting with American societythrough Harold s discussions with his mother and sister. Both women are ideal Americanwomen: the mother was at home and cooked the meals and the younger daughter looked up toher older brother. His mother is the one who pressures Harold to settle down and do somethingwith his life just as society encourages boys, when they come back from war, to forget whathappened and live a normal life. The other woman in his life, his sister, needs total reassurancethroughout their conversation: Couldn t your brother really be your beau just because he s yourbrother? ... Sure you know. Couldn t you be my beau, Hare, if I was old enough and if youwanted to? ... Am I really your girl? ... Do you love me? ... Will you love me always? (Hemingway 74). As with the American girls, everyone Harold has talked to after the war has askedquestions but each answer was not good enough. The Europeans did not ask questions. Insteadthey accepted Harold for who he was, not for the exciting stories he could tell them.