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Who Is The Antagonist In Soldier's Home

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In Ernest Hemingway’s short story “Soldier’s Home” depicts the common and tragic affect of war on soldiers. 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. Krebs comes back home after wartime to a seemingly solid home in which he no longer feels comfortable. Krebs returns home very late after World war I and discovers that he has missed his deserved warm welcome back at his own home town. Returning from the war to an empty, desolate train station, Hemingway makes it very clear that his arrival is uncelebrated. This idea is …show more content…

Before the war, there was a time when he was not different than any other boy in his town. This idea is made apparent by the picture of Krebs with his buddies at the Methodist College to which he once attended. Hemingway explains for the reader the details of this picture: “There is a picture which shows him among his fraternity brothers, all of them wearing exactly the same height and style collar” (Hemingway 152). Before the war, Krebs was working toward his future by going to college and hopefully become a contributor to society one day, once he went to war his future goals and plans drastically changed. Throughout the story, Krebs is depicted as a war-hardened and dedicated soldier. Hemingway never indicates to the reader the extent of his actions in the war, so the details of the war are left up to the individual to piece together. For one reason or another, when being asked about the war, Hemingway narrates that Krebs often lies. The significance is how he does not like to lie since lying makes him feel horrible about himself, but he continues to do so. Krebs hates to lie about the war, however, he does it because he feels obligated: “As he lies to meet expectations of society, his own self esteem drains away, leaving him blank and barren” (Brouder 67). He feels he is forgotten as the town moves on from the war. The other soldiers have also moved on with their lives, but Krebs cannot break himself from the grasp of

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