Harold Krebs As A Hero In Soldier's Home By Ernest Hemingway

After bravely enlisting into the marines in the latter end of World War I, Krebs comes back home as a late lost hero called “Harold” by his family, but as the war would have it he is just another soldier whose mind stayed in the war. The Methodist Oklahoman, Harold Krebs, in the Ernest Hemingway short story, “Soldier’s Home” is survived by a poolhall, the growing young women, his mother’s prayers, and his family ties. The marine Krebs, who served for two years in various locations in France and Germany, is trapped in the man who returns too tardy for a heroic praise. He is equipped with a uniform too small to fit his ever-growing mental deterioration of falling out of his ambition, God, and his family. From Kansan fraternity brothers with

She then asks if he would like her to pray for him, and Harold says yes. It was in this final moment that the reader can understand the two identities of Harold Krebs. As a man who attended a Methodist college in the early 1900s, it can be conferred that he was religious. His family also holds religion quite high as his Mother reflected on her consistent worries and prayers for her son, she also mentions Harold’s idle hands and the work God has waiting for him. Yet, for Krebs the most important idea to him was making a difference. He would make a difference as a good soldier. He would not make a difference by sharing his stories and admitting to his fright in Belleau Wood, Soissons, the Champagne, St. Mihiel, and in the Argonne. He would also not make a difference by praying, defending, or living in God’s word – these were the pillars of Krebs’ identity. In this conversation with his mother, the idea of God is not as heavily weighed as the idea of purpose or strength, but he is within it. Harold can sense that which is why he allows his mother to pray for him. It is a defining moment for the character that can no longer be found when Hemingway comments on the honesty in his new belief and the sickness it continues to fill him with. When Harold kneels down to pray with his mother, to show her his hidden truth – Krebs prevents it. Krebs knows that he can no

“No.” The only word Krebs can definitely state when his mother asks him if he loves her. Before anyone else can ask him if they love him, he states “I don’t love anybody.” Of course, his sister and his mother interpreted their responses differently. Helen figures out Krebs doesn’t love her once he says that might go to her indoor baseball game instead of announcing a definitive yes. Helen also asks Krebs if she can be his girl even though he is her brother with a brotherly shrug, Krebs says “Sure.” In his conversation with his sister, Krebs provides quick one words on interest. He states easy answers to easy questions and does not feel sickly afterward. Unfortunately, with his Mother, Krebs’ conversation does not end as simply as Helen’s does. Instead of answering quite direct questions with contrived happy answers, Krebs responds honestly. At one point, Harold returns to cushion his mother from the Krebs loveless blow by begging for forgiveness and then leaving the home after a quick pray. He spends his days and his nights in a militaristic routine without a daily repitoire to account for with his family. Yet, the morning he woke up a month after returning home to be met with his praying mother and his hopeful sister, Harold was found. Harold was found in the pleas to keep his family by attending Helen’s baseball game, but Harold was gone once more as he left for Kansas City