Soldier's Home

“Soldier’s Home” explores the psychological effects of war. Hemingway, who enlisted in World War I and was severely wounded, draws on his experiences to tell the story of Harold, a young man who lacks direction after the war. Harold represents the members of the Lost Generation. He returns to his hometown in Oklahoma to live with his parents and feels stuck.

War took a toll on Harold. After returning home, he is unable to assume responsibility for his life. He sleeps late, wanders around town aimlessly, spends his afternoons playing pool in a bar, sits on the porch and reads a book, and watches girls walk by him without speaking to them.

Hemingway directly addresses this theme through the conversation between Harold and his mother, in which she expresses concern for his well-being since returning home. Hemingway writes:

‘Have you decided what you are going to do yet, Harold?’ his mother said, taking off her glasses.

‘No,’ said Krebs.

‘Don’t you think it’s about time?’ His mother did not say this in a mean way. She seemed worried.

‘I hadn’t thought about it,’ Krebs said.

‘God has some work for every one to do,’ his mother said. ‘There can be no idle hands in His Kingdom.’ ‘I’m not in his Kingdom,’ Krebs said (115).

The war so impacted Harold that he can’t fathom starting the next chapter in his life. A task as simple as getting a job is too complex, so he avoids the subject.

Instead, Harold prefers to escape into history books, especially those with maps. These passages capture Harold’s sense of displacement after returning home. He is so stuck in the past that he prefers to spend his days reading about history, effectively reliving the past and trying to make sense of it. This is a clever way for Hemingway to show that Harold is unable to move on from the war. Second, the passage conveys how lost Harold is. He looks forward to reading more history books with maps, which suggests that Harold needs guidance and direction, not just for his future, but to better understand his past.

Harold still needs to make sense of the war, but Hemingway suggests that he will never do so. The story ends with Harold further alienated from his surroundings. After speaking with his mother, he knows that he must get a job, but he doesn’t want to, and the reader may be meant to infer that he will live an inauthentic life. Hemingway writes, “He wanted his life to go smoothly. It had just gotten going that way. Well, that was all over now, anyway” (116).

What’s over is the safe existence Harold created for himself in which he was shielded from responsibility and the pressure of the outside world. Now he must be an active participant, and the story is all the sadder because he doesn’t want that life but also doesn’t know how to avoid it.