hemingway and his short story "a soldier's home"?

Question

i have to teach a junior level college lit course tomorrow...focusing on hemingway and his short story "a soldier's home". i would appreciate any input on where to begin. the theme of the story is alienation which could be tied to hemingway and the "lost generation". but what else should the reader have taken from that story? should i discuss the relationships kreb's has? or hemingways writing style? any thoughts would be appreciated...thank you in advance :)

Answer 1

I'm currently writing an essay on this short story for my lit class. I'll tell you what I have so far. My analysis and soon to be essay(exploring Krebs charactorial attributes and their relation to the overall theme) is similar to yours but I am honing in on a slightly different theme of "social dysfunction" only because it is a slightly broader overall theme that not only encompasses Krebs but other secondary characters like his mother(their conversation at the table as an example), his father(not socially functional with Krebs-his father speaks through his wife, Krebs' mother - as if to suggest that he might not have the time or patience that is required to maintain a social relationship with his son).
Using "Alienation" might require more detailed explanations of how it ties into certain parts of the story. Like the conversation between Krebs and his mother at the table, "social dysfunction" just works better. "Alienation" is boring and stale, everyone that I've talked to about this story used that term to discuss the theme. "social dysfunction" would be a fresh approach that would be appreciated by people who look up this story later and only see alienation or disillusionment as a theme. It is nearly self explanitory requiring little if any additional support for conversations' sake - though you could easily expand this into a classroom discussion, it easily relates to every part of the story. My rough draft notes...
Throughout the story, Krebs is at battle over the importance of adhering to social norms. It appears the his inability to function socially creates an inner turmoil that he would prefer to adapt to rather than having to change to suit society's standards. A preliminary evaluation of the story has lead me to believe that krebs, as a result of his military experiences, has developed a certain amount of social anxiety. Krebs argues that he doesn't really need a girl and that if he were "really ripe" for a girl then would just happen without having to put in any amount of effort. This is just one of many examples in Soldiers Home that show how Krebs' character and motives influence his actions and his justifications for those actions. To answer your questions...yes, dicuss the relationships that he has(as it relates to your theme whether it be alienation or social dysfunction, also the tone of the characters, check out some other literary techniques and see if you can pick out examples from the story to point out to others). What else should the reader have taken from the story? well, it's open ended, there is no right answer. I'll tell you what I get from it: "life changes, adapt and overcome". I've read a lot of online forums about this story but I haven't yet seen anyone talk about this story as it might relate to Homer's Iliad or Odyssey. Odysseus was trying to return home from the Trojan war and had trials and obstacles thrown in his way. Does Krebs not have his own obstacles? They are psychological, religious, psychosocial, even emotional maybe? Oddyseus even gets back to his home country, Ithica, but doesn't recognize it when he gets there(disorientation)! Krebs knows he's in his hometown but he doesn't feel the same way does he?Refer back to the title at this point, is this really his home now? Where is his heart? he longs to be back in France? Did he feel at home there. Did his comrades in arms take the place of his family? They must have been like family after going through these battles. Anyway- Things at home have definately changed, girls and their skirts, they are all grown up, etc. Oddyseus also tells lies (a pack of them about his life story), - to a pig farmer in the Oddysey(Eumaeus). Lies were a big part of Soldiers Home. If you intend to use Homer's stories to relate it to Krebs, brush up on them for about 2 minutes a piece. Both stories have to do with soldiers and their strife, problems, emotions, changing religious feelings (Homer's characters curse the gods - Krebs tells his mother that he can't pray anymore - did he feel betrayed by god? The places listed in Soldiers Home: Belleau Wood, Soissons, etc. were places where nasty, nasty battles took place. Point out that they were Trench Warfare, bloody battles World War One, Mustard Gas type stuff. Give your class a feeling of how nasty it was fighting over there in those conditions. Thousands upon thousands died in these battles. That carries a lot of psychological baggage with it. A few links below that give a lot more than what I have written here. Check out wikipedia.com info on these battles or type "Belleau Wood summary" in search engine to get a brief account of what happened there. Damn, I didn't plan to write this much - got carried away. Good luck with your class. Let me know if you want more about Homer's stories as it relates to Krebs. [e-mail]

Answer 2

Soldiers Home Short Story

Answer 3

Soldiers Home Summary