Commentary On Indian Camp Essay

Commentary on Hemingway's Indian Camp

This story is a good example of the initiation story, a short story that centers around the protagonist who comes into contact with an idea, experience, ritual, or knowledge that he did not previously know.

In this story, Nick Adams is a very young boy in the Michigan north woods, accompanying his father, Dr. Adams, and his uncle George to an American Indian camp on the other side of a lake. Here, a very young Nick is initiated into concepts such as life and death; suffering, pain, and endurance; and suicide.

Nicks father goes to the American Indian camp to help a young American Indian woman who has been screaming because of severe labor pains for about two days now, still unable to deliver her baby. When Dr. Adams arrives, she is lying in a bottom bunk; and her husband, who cut his foot badly with an axe three days before, is lying in the bunk bed above her. Doctor Adams asks Nick to help him, holding a basin of hot water while four American Indian men hold down the woman. By using his fishing jackknife as a scalpel, Dr. Adams performs a cesarean on the woman, delivers the baby boy, then sews up the womans cut with some gut leader line from his fishing tackle. Exhilarated by the success of his unprepared, improvised surgery, Doctor Adams looks into the top bunk and discovers that the young American Indian husband, who listened to his wife screaming during her labor pains and during the cesarean, has cut his throat.

Although this short story deals with violence and suffering, with birth and death, sexism and racism, Hemingways weight is not on the shocking events themselves; instead, Hemingway shows the effect of birth and death on young Nick. Nicks progression in this short story is clearly shown in polarities. For example, on the way to the camp in the boat, Nick is sitting in his dads arms; on the way back, Nick sits on the opposite end of the boat. Also, while his dad wants Nick to witness the birth, Nick turns his head away; when the American Indian husband is discovered dead in his bed, Nick sees it, even though his dad wants to protect him from it. The fact that Nick sits across from his dad in the boat on the way back after this experience can show a pulling out from underneath his fathers influence.

The young boy asks his father why the young Indian man cut his throat and is told, I dont know. . . He couldnt stand things, I guess. Though, there are more reasons for the American Indian husbands suicide as well. The treatment and attitude of Dr. Adams toward the woman, who is an American Indian, are important also. When Dr. Adams tells Nick that the womens screaming is not important, its at this point that the American Indian husband rolls over in his bunk toward the wall, as he is found later, after slitting his own throat. While this failure to confront the events at hand shows fear, it can also shows the American Indian husbands resignation to the uncaring racism of the White men who have come to help her.

I suggest that Uncle George is possibly the father of the child, as he seems to have a friendly relationship with the American Indians from the beginning of the story and hands out cigars to everyone after the childs birth. His handing out cigars to the men present could possibly be understood as fatherliness (if that even is a word), although one could also guess that he is simply sharing his way of celebrating the of birth with the American Indians. Also, he stays behind in the camp after Dr. Adams and Nick leave. Following the understanding of Uncle George being the babys father, the husbands suicide could be seen as an inability to deal with his own shame.

Here, Dr. Adams tells Nick that even though this young American Indian man committed suicide, women hardly ever do. The fear conquered the young American Indian man; he did not have the strength and courage to cope with it. During the boat trip back across the lake, while Nick and his father are talking, we learn that Nick feels quite safethat he would never die. Even at this young age, Nick swears never to give in to fear. His choose never to bow to fear is so great that hes ready to challenge even the idea of natural, mortal life.