Journal 18

1. What is the significance of the story’s title?  

The title is significant because it describes how each of the characters feels in a territorial, mental, and physical sense.  The men are literally in another country because of World War I.  Physically, because the men are injured, they are in an unfamiliar state; they are unsure about whether they will ever return to the same physical being ever again.

2. Which character do you think best represents the “Hemingway hero”? Why?

I think the Major best represents the Hemingway Hero because he seems to experience the most pain emotionally as well as physically.  In Hemingway’s writing, he often depicted sadness and loss in many of his characters to reflect how many felt after the war.  The Major shows sadness because his wife had died and he lost his hand.  The loss of his hand is important because he was known to be the best fencer in all of Italy.

3. What can you infer about the photographs the doctor hangs up?  What is the significance of the major’s reaction? 

I can infer that the photographs the doctor hung up were simply intended to trick the patients by giving them a false sense of hope.  This false sense of hope is due to the fact that Hemingway and the other men knew that the pictures were not real because they had been previously informed that they would be the first patients to use the machines.  This causes the men to be doubtful of their possible recovery, and like in many of Hemingway’s works, they find that there is no hope.