#7-1. Reflective Essay: Big Two-Hearted River

Big Two-Hearted River

In Big Two-Hearted River (1925), Hemingway is describing about chronological background after World War I. After World War I, soldiers who returned to their motherland were “lost”: they suffered from shell shock, saw illusions and heard hallucinations of war, and could not go back to the naïve school life they relished previously. To “cure” themselves and “overcome” from the swamp of war, men approached to the nature alone – just as Nick in this story did.

Throughout the story, there appears a very little “conversational sentence”. That is, there is no dialogue: from the start to the end, Nick is completely alone, with no human companion to dialogue with. Such “lack of conversation” is one way of trying to forget about the War. Once they start to talk, and a single word that triggers an episode at the War comes out, all the memories, details, devastations of war come into their head. This is why Nick is staying away from conversation: to prevent any situation that might lead him to reminisce about the War.

The fact that there is no mention about Nick’s family, friends, school life, or any other social aspects is another proof that Nick is avoiding society. When confronting the family, who is worried and curious about things that happened to their son/brother at the War, Nick must recall all those memories. When looking at the friends, Nick will be surprised that only few are remaining, and facts and memories regarding the rest (who had been studying together before the very month), will appear in mind so that the survivors suffer and feel sorry. Staying at the society, human communication will be necessary, which is what Nick does not want to do.

** Other Factors Indicating the End of the War **

-       Objective description: not “Nick was strained” (his emotions), but “Nick’s hands were shaky” (his behaviors) à because War drowns human emotion (mourning over friend’s death in the War only reduces own survival possibility)

-       Last sentence: “There were plenty of days coming when he could fish the swamp.” Swamp is a hard region for fishing – procrastinate, because still afraid of challenge

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