Krebs In A Soldier's Home

In Ernest Hemingway’s “Soldier's Home” U.S. Marie Howard Krebs returns home from World War One to find out that he no longer know where he truly belongs. He has trouble relating to people and eventually leaves his home. Krebs becomes frustrated with his inability to connect with people and lashes out at his mother. Krebs becomes fed up with the town he lives in in Oklahoma and decides to move to Kansas City to work and get away from the people he once could connect with. Hemingway chooses to put Krebs in a situation where he unable to interact as he did before the war, causing Krebs to become short tempered and frustrated. While Krebs may have returned from the war, he finds himself unable to connect with the people around him and seems to

War can put a great deal of stress on an individual and change them from how they once acted before the war. War had this effect on Krebs ability to socially interact with the people of his town and it is not hard to notice throughout “Soldier's Home”. Krebs seems to have a reclusive personality after the war and there are parts to the story that lead to this character trait. Krebs did not get a hero's welcome once he returned back to the United States after the war. Instead, people believed that it was absurd that he returned so late. “By the time Krebs returned to his hometown in Oklahoma the greeting of heroes was over. He came back much too late. The men from the town who had been drafted had all been welcomed elaborately on

Krebs inability to interact socially leads to him to develop a short temper and finds himself lacking feelings at times. Krebs mother, who genuinely cares about him and his future, ask Krebs if he knows what he wants to do in his life. "Have you decided what you are going to do yet, Harold?" his mother said, taking off her glasses. "No," said Krebs. "Don't you think it's about time?" His mother did not say this in a mean way. She seemed worried.” (Hemingway 6). Krebs grows weary of his mother's concerns and asks “Is that all?” once she relays to him how perturbed she is about his future. When his mother asks him if he loves her Krebs replies with a blunt “no”. Although Krebs instantly feels regret, this moment shows how the war has changed Krebs into becoming more emotionless.

While Krebs may have returned from the war, he finds himself unable to connect with the people around him and seems to lack a place in society. Throughout the story it is apparent that Krebs developed the traits of reclusiveness, introversion, and short temperedness as a result of the war. Although Krebs might still be a genuinely good person, the war took an obvious toll on his