Analysis and Evaluation of "Soldiers Home".
Ernest Hemingway's "Soldier's Home" presents the inner conflicts of morals and views of life one man faces after enlisting in the Marines and going to war:.
Krebs went to war from a Methodist college in Kansas. There is a picture which shows him among his fraternity brothers, all of them wearing exactly the same height and style collar. He enlisted in the Marines in 1917 and did not return to the United States until the second division returned from the Rine in the Summer of 1919 (579).
Hemingway reveals throughout the story that the main character, Harold Krebs, leaves his hometown as one man, and comes back another. The changes a man goes through while at war makes for the central theme of the story.
Hemingway presents Harold Krebs as a man changed socially, religiously, and emotionally while fighting in a war for two years. Prior to leaving for war, Krebs lived a normal socialite life in college as a brother in a fraternity. As seen when he returns from the war, Krebs is somewhat of an outcast and carries on his lonely way. He hardly interacts with anyone and falls into a pit of loneliness. Hemingway gives a synopsis of Krebs' day to show his self-inflicted isolation:.
during this time, it was late summer, he was sleeping late in bed, getting up to walk down town to the library to get a book, eating lunch at home, reading on the front porch until he became bored, and then walking down through the town to spend the hottest hours of the day in the cool dark of the pool room. He loved to play pool (580).
Krebs is seen to have no friends and partakes in no social events.
Krebs attended a Methodist college before going to war, which confirms he has interest in religion. After he returns, there are several instances that suggest the war made him have no interest in religion at all. Krebs has a conversation with his mother that proves he has no faith in God:.