Engelsk B eksamensopgave - Soldier's Home

"Soldier's Home" is a short story by Ernest Hemingway written in 1925 from his short story collection "In Our Time". We are introduced to a soldier called Krebs who returns from the Rhine to his hometown in Oklahoma in the summer of 1919. He tells people of his experiences during the war but most of them are uninterested so he begins to tell them lies. As a result of this he begins to feel disgusted by his actions in the war. He lives with his parents and two younger sisters. His spare time consists of trivial things like reading books, looking at young girls and contemplating about life. As the story progresses his mother confronts him about his unemployment which leads to Krebs hurting his mother's feelings. At the end he apologizes to his mother and promises to get a job.

2) Characterization:

At the beginning of the story when Krebs talks about his experiences with people in town you sense that he is lonely. Because at first he does not want to talk about it but later feels the need to do it. Furthermore he wants attention because when people are not interested to hear him he begins to speak of events that he has not been a part of. As a consequence he realises that he has done horrendous things and feels sick about it: "All of the times that had been able to make him feel cool and clear inside quality and then were lost themselves." (page 1, lines 35-38) Which is why he tells other extraordinary stories without the morbid details because most people will just be appalled and stop listening. Additionally when he states: "But the world they were in was not the world he was in. He would like to have one of them. But it was not worth it.", (page 3, lines 100-101) he feels misplaced in the society and finds it difficult to live under the norms in which most people consider normal. That is because the war has broken him and he has no confidence in himself so he is scared of what will happen if he tries to live the normal life. Also later on we find out that his real name is Harold so we must assume that Krebs is the name he uses during the war among his brothers in arms. This shows that he feels more at home as a soldier.