Oh Lord, Please Give Hemingway Peace With His Women

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Aug 22, 2001

One of Ernest Hemingway's very first books was In Our Time, the title itself taken from a sentence in The Book of Common Prayer. It states, "Give us, oh Lord, peace in our time."

Let's think either in terms of the unified whole or thematically linked short stories, each having the characteristically Hemingway wounded, stoic hero. This time it is Nick, and it seems Hemingway's only material was self. His vignettes between stories are meant to add perspective, thematically reflecting the Hemingway Ethic we all know so well: "Do it, do it well, and do it alone."

A quick run-down of each story:

ON THE QUAI AT SMYRNA

Written from the point-of-view of a British naval officer, this story sets the tone for the birth/death cycle of life amidst war. The year is 1922 (when the Turks and Greeks were at war) and Hemingway writes of the harbor at Smyrna: dying mules that surround him having had their forelegs blown out by the Greeks as they fled, left to die. War is dubbed "pleasant business. My word yes a most pleasant business."

INDIAN CAMP

An initiation for Nick, Hemingway's alter ego, as he witnesses his father delivering the infant of an Indian "squaw bitch" (according to Uncle George, after she bit him). Then, her husband slits his throat with a knife. Uncle George passes out cigars, and we can see he is really the father: the most appalling birth/death story ever written. Hemingway had a fascination with suicide, death, and violence.

THE DOCTOR AND THE DOCTOR'S WIFE

This is the logging story about Dick Boulton (who's Indian) and Doc having a confrontation, Doc losing face in front of his son (Nick), by not following through on a threat. Molly is sick in her bed (sleeping separately from hubby), reading Christian Scientist (a hint that she doesn't believe in Medicine). Doc cleans his gun and loads it (symbolic of his masculinity), while his medical journals go unread. The wife is naive and Doc is a frustrated human being, angry. When Doc goes outside again, he tells Nick to go in with his mother, but Nick chooses the masculine, frustrated world of his father, instead of being sheltered by Mommy.

THE END OF SOMETHING

The dialogue in this story carries such weight. We witness the end of romantic love between Nick and Marjorie. Marge is happy, enjoying the sunset with Nick, but he ends the relationship. When approached by Bill, who already knew the break was eminent and says "Have a scene?" Nick shoos him away to lick his own wounds in privacy, disillusioned with young love.

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