Ernest Hemingway pulled from his past present experiences to develop his own .
thoughts concerning death, relationships, and lies. He then mixed these ideas, .
along with a familiar setting, to create a masterpiece. One such masterpiece .
written early in Hemingway's career is the short story, "Indian Camp." .
"Indian Camp" was originally published in the collection of "in .
Our Time" in 1925. A brief summary reveals that the main character, a .
teenager by the name of Nick, travels across a lake to an Indian village. While .
at the village Nick observes his father, who is a doctor, deliver a baby to an .
Indian by caesarian section. As the story continues, Nick's father discovers .
that the newborn's father has committed suicide. Soon afterward Nick and his .
father engage in a discussion about death, which brings the story to an end. .
With thought and perception a reader can tell the meaning of the story. The .
charters of Nick and his father resemble the relationship of Hemingway and his .
father. Hemingway grew up in Oak Park, a middle class suburb, under the watchful .
eye of his parents, Ed and Grace Hemingway. Ed Hemingway was a doctor who .
"occasionally took his son along on professional visits across Walloon Lake .
to the Ojibway Indians" during summer vacations (Waldhorn 7). These medical .
trips taken by Ernest and Ed would provide the background information needed to .
introduce nick and his father while on their medical trip in "Indian .
Camp." These trips were not the center point of affection between Ed and .
Ernest, but they were part of the whole. The two always shared a close .
father-son bond that Hemingway often portrayed in his works: Nick's close .
attachment to his father parallels Hemingway's relationship with Ed. The growing .
boy finds in the father, in both fiction and life, not only a teacher-guide but .
also a fixed refuge against the terrors of the emotional and spiritual unknown .
as they are encountered.