World War I and Hemingway

ERNEST HEMINGWAY

In this unit, we will be reading two short stories by Ernest Hemingway, who is an American literary giant. Check out a biography of Hemingway here.

In Another Country

World War I was the largest, international conflict people had ever seen, and it caused people to change their view of the world. People became full of despair, delusional, horrified that everything would fall apart, and it made them lose faith. In Hemingway’s "In Another Country," there is one character in the story who is known as Major. He is a smaller part of the story, but a  perfect example of the kind of “loss of faith” that people were beginning to experience because of the war.

Here are some questions for this story.

Soldier's Home

This story is very ironic in its title and storyline. Hemingway doesn’t bother to tell people why Krebs is the last to return home or what happened in the meantime, but Harold simply comes back late and cannot find his place when everyone else is already settled. It is a great tale that speaks to “fitting in” as well as being “left behind.”

Here are some questions for this story.

"Ernest Hemingway in uniform 1918;" Photo Researchers/Universal Images Group and

"Hemingway;" Central Press/Hulton Archive/Getty Images/Universal Images Group