Harold Krebs In Soldiers Home

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Pages: 3

In Ernest Hemingway’s short story “Soldier’s Home,” depicts the common and tragic affect of war on soldiers who have been involved with it. The protagonist in the story, Harold Krebs, face what many other soldiers have experienced after being at war many soldiers perhaps have come home from war physically, but mentally they are elsewhere. This is the concept in this story that Hemingway has presented.
Harold Krebs comes back to a seemingly solid home in which he does not feel comfortable and content in living with after war times. Krebs returns home very late after World war I and discovers that he has missed his home town’s warm welcome back. Returning from the war to an empty desolate train station, Hemingway makes it
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There had been a great deal of hysteria. Now the reaction had set in. People seemed to think it was rather ridiculous for Krebs to be getting back so late, years after the war was over.” (Hemingway 153)
Obviously, this cold situation with a significant influence on Harold’s feeling of being out of place in the community where he once felt at home. In any case, it is made apparent through the story that Krebs returned home a different man from when he had left. Perhaps one reason Krebs feel distant and out of place is because he has gone at war for much longer than any other soldier in his town. When he returned, every soldier who came back before him has started their own lives. Harold is the last one to be doing nothing to contribute to society. He feels that society is just too complicated and he just wants to be left alone so that he could escape the complications of it. Harold feels that society in general offers too many consequence than he was willing to deal with. The story continues with Krebs’ moving into his parents middle-class home to take some time to figure out what will he do with the rest of his life. This action is a