BOOK REVIEW: In Our Time by Ernest Hemingway

In Our Time

by Ernest Hemingway

Reviewed by Aaron DeWeese  

This was my first experience with Hemingway.  I remember reading of how Hemingway and Faulkner fought over writing styles.  I sided with Faulkner, due to word extinction.  I was yet shocked at the simplicity of Hemingway's prose; and yet, I could not deny there was something there, some dark force just under the surface that led you along.

I think people have fun reading Hemingway and adding their own conclusions about that darkness just under the surface.  For instance, in "On the Quai At Smyrna" was it the most humane thing for the Greeks to break the forelegs of all the animals they couldn't take with them and let them drown in shallow water?  Was it a pleasant business?  It was a way of coping with experience.

In "Indian Camp" I found two things of interest:  (1. Nick's father, the doctor, said he doesn't hear screams because the aren't important.  This is not a doctor I'm not sure I would like to be under the care of.  Does empathy play a part in being a good physician?  On the other hand, I rather have a cold but sure hand rather than an empathetic one.  Both would be nice.  Something is lacking in the former.  (2.  Why did the Indian father kill himself when it was that the doctor was there to deliver his baby?  Perhaps his foot-wound was something he felt would not heal properly.  Can we be sure it was suicide?  How many people kill themselves by cutting their own throats?

"The Doctor And The Doctor's Wife" reveals that the doctor isn't keen on fighting, is a thief in denial, and that his wife is a Christian Scientist.  The latter reveals the likely catalyst of much of Nick's problems.

"The End of Something" was the end of Nick's childhood and the beginning of the years of confusion.

"The Three Day Blow" shows us that Nick turns to alcohol for answers.

"The Battler" is Nick's initiation into manhood.

"Cross Country Snow" could be said to be a tale of freedom verses entrapment, which results in resignation.

"My Old Man" is another man not unlike the doctor—a good man, but dishonest—a paradoxical disappointment.

"Big Two Hearted River" was Nick, at home, in his own environment.  It was, I believe, an attempt to disassociate, withdraw, and become self-sufficient.  The swamps will be the undoing of Nick.  It will be his greatest time of learning.