Analyse af Ernest Hemingways novelle 'Indian Camp'

Indian Camp is a short story of Ernest Hemingway, written in 1921. It’s about a boy called Nick, who observes childbirth for the first time, and his father is a doctor, who performs the Caesarian. The woman in labor is a Native American – “squaw bitch” as Nick’s Uncle George calls her when she bites him at one time – just like everyone else in this Indian Camp, where the plot proceed. When the birth is successfully finished, they discover that the husband of the new mother has committed suicide, and Nick’s father deeply regrets to have brought Nick.

Physical setting

Nick, his father and Uncle George stays next to a lake close to the town of St. Ignace in Michigan, Canada. Because this town is placed right where Lake Huron and Lake Michigan meet, the aforementioned lake would most likely be one of these lakes, which confirms that the short story takes place in a real world. The Indian Camp is the home of a group of Native Americans, who’s settled down there, and placed on the other side of the lake. They live in shanties in a forest. Having crossed the bay and wandered through the meadow, Nick, his father and Uncle George sees bark peelers in the forest.