A Soldiers Home by Ernest Hemingway
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“A Soldiers Home” by Ernest Hemingway takes place during the late summer of 1919, during the post-war era of WWI. Krebs, the main character in the story, returns to his small hometown in Oklahoma much later than when the rest of the soldiers had returned. “The men from the town who had been drafted had all been welcomed elaborately on their return”(Hemingway, 145). The “people seemed to think it was rather ridiculous for Krebs to be getting back so late, years after the war was over”(Hemingway, 145). Krebs returns from war to live in the same dysfunctional home and environment with his mom, dad, and two younger sisters. “Krebs’ noncommittal father is obviously dominated by his wife; she makes the decisions”(bridgewater, 1). She has determined that Krebs “should live in God’s “Kingdom,” find a job, and get married like a normal local boy”(bridgewater, 1). Krebs has not yet recovered from his various psychological post-war wounds, and is trapped by the sick marriage of his parents.“By the time Krebs returned to his hometown in Oklahoma, the greeting for heroes was over”(Hemingway, 145). At first, he did not want to talk about the war at all. As time went on, “he felt the need to talk, but no one wanted to hear about it“(Hemingway,145). This was due to the great deal of hysteria which the town had endured years ago when the other soldiers returned from the war. This was all old news, and they were tired of hearing about the war(Hemingway, 145). The town’s atmosphere was not helping his state of post-war mental anguish because they “had heard too many atrocity stories to be thrilled by actualities“(Hemingway, 145). “Krebs found that to be listened to at all he had to lie“(Hemingway, 145).
Krebs lived in a “Mayberry” kind of town. It was small and everybody seemed to know each other. The pool hall, the library, the schoolyard and the First National Bank, where his dad works, is all within walking distance from his house. Krebs would sometimes walk to the schoolyard to watch his sister play baseball. Krebs day consisted of little more than sleeping late in bed, walking downtown to the library to get a book, or reading on the front porch until he became bored. Krebs would walk down “through the town to spend the hottest hours of the day in the cool dark of the pool room”(Hemingway, 146). This small, very familiar town setting was far from what Krebs wanted in his life at this time. Krebs had gone to war and experienced battle and suffering, therefore he felt isolated within this town that could not identify with him. “He did not want to come home. Still, he came home. He sat on the front porch”(Hemingway, 148) watching life as it passed him by.