Commentary on The Battler Essay

The world contains many different groups of people, obviously. These groups divide the world into class, race, gender, age, and so on. But even with all these different physical descriptions of people, people can form into three main groups. This concept did not come clear until I read Ernest Hemingways The Battler in his collection of short stories In Our Time. In this story, Hemingway uses three main characters to explain who exactly those three main groups of people are. According to Hemingway, people occur as either crazy, sensible, or out of place with each role played by Adolph Francis, Bugs, and Nick Adams, respectively. With his subtle use of simple words and phrasing, Hemingway allows for each character to make the reader realize that each represents one of the main groups of people.

Hemingway uses the character Adolph Francis to portray the crazy people in the world. Now, when Hemingway introduces Ad into the story, he is seen as a normal person. His only noticeable flaw thus far is his physical deformity. Hemingway goes on about Ads deformities showing that he has a sunken nose, slit eyes, queer shaped lips, and only one ear. All in all, this Ad character shows how he immediately does not exactly give a normal first impression. What I find most interesting comes straight from Ads voice he tells Nick, Im crazy (56). These two words intrigued me, left me wondering what Hemingway was going to get at with Ad proclaiming himself crazy. Why did Hemingway choose to have Ad give himself a tag, rather than let the reader find this out for him or herself as the story goes on? As the story continues the reader does find that he actually becomes crazy, confirming Ads self-tag. With this one character, the reader realizes that Hemingway could be describing one of the three main types of people in this world: crazy. The crazy people in the world compare very similarly to Ad. Now when I mean crazy, I do not just mean the mentally insane. Liars, alcoholics, and drug addicts can be included into this category. These people create themselves into who they become, someone that is not socially acceptable. They become generally avoided and pitied by the other two groups of people. Another aspect of Ads craziness shows up after the reader learns he was married and in love with his sister. This incest just adds fuel to the fire showing how Ad turned from a normal person into a loony. Yet we are still wondering how he got to be crazy in the first place. Being a boxer in the first place explains how he will not come across as the smartest guy, but this explains how he turns crazy. All the blows to the head make him less intelligent than the rest of society. It comes across as humorous that Hemingway uses this white, middle-aged boxer to portray the crazy population of the world; because in recent years the public finds boxers as the not-so-smart members of society, Mike Tyson depicts a perfect modern example of this. Yet, the reader sees why Hemingway portrayed Ad as such as the other characters become developed.

Hemingway follows his main groups of people and uses Bugs to represent the sensible ones. Hemingway introduces Bugs on the platform that he could be crazy as well. Yet the more the reader reads thru the story the more he or she finds out the sensibility of Bugs. Again, the selection of the ex-criminal and African-American Bugs comes across as humorous. It comes across humorous because of Bugs history. He was put into jail for cuttin a man (61). Bugs shows the reader why Hemingway creates him as the sensible character as the story progresses. The reader has already figured out that Ad is nuts, and then turns to see how Bugs counters his insanity with a calm, collective demeanor. According to Hemingway, Bugs accounts for all the normal people like this in the world. Bugs represents those who know who they are and know how to handle themselves as well as others. These people are your everyday man and woman, those who are looked at as the normal people in society. The most definitive way Hemingway portrays Bugs as such occurs through Bugs speech. Reading thru Bugs dialogue, the reader gets a sense of reason and rationale. Ad uses very aggressive and demeaning language, while Bug uses a cool and astute tone. When Ad goes crazy and tries to hit Nick, Bugs simply knocks out Ad first so Nick can get away. In a sense, Bugs acts as a watchman over the insane Ad. Similarly, the sensible people in the real world watch over and keep track of the crazies. After seeing Hemingway show the relationship between Ad and Bugs, it became apparent that he used these characters to express his understanding of what kinds of people inhabit the earth. His main character of the story, Nick Adams, adds the third and final ingredient to the types of people in the world.

Hemingway introduces Nick Adams as an out of place and confused character, and keeps him in the same role throughout The Battler. From the very first scene the reader finds Nick getting sucker punched by the train brakeman. Hemingway immediately puts Nick in a setting where he does not know his whereabouts and starts to wander towards the nearest town. After he wanders around the tracks, Nick finds himself at Ads and Bugs camp. As this takes place in the middle of the group of stories from In Our Time, the reader already knows of Nicks past. So when Hemingway mixes Nick in with Ad and Bugs, he places him yet again into an unfamiliar situation where he converses with complete strangers. Nick does not really understand his situation, especially with Ads temper flare. Hemingway humorously shows Nicks confusion by changing the temperament of the scene within a matter of minutes. Nick comfortably engages with Bugs and Ad, when out of nowhere Ad flips out on Nick. Hemingway uses this attitude to further progress Nicks confusion in the story and thus completes his outlook on the three types of people in the world. This confused and out of place Nick represents those who are unsure of themselves. These people find themselves often in situations much like Nick, maybe not as violent, but most definitely as puzzling. Nick is a wanderer, much like people who still look for their purpose. Nicks entire walk thru this story is filled with confusion and a sense being out of place, a feeling shared by those who definitely cannot be placed in the categories of crazy or sensible.

The portrayals of Ad, Bugs, and Nick perfectly represent the crazy, sensible, and out of place people in the world. Hemingway always uses subtle and simple word use to get across his point. In The Battler, the sense of simplicity comes across almost too simple for the reader to connect with the three groups of people idea. It would take at least more than once to realize this idea actually makes sense. The inclusion of only three characters, the tremendous difference personalities, and the exclusion of depth in any other character in the story all lead to the three group notion. While many other types of people in the world exist, Hemingway makes it a point of this story to show that in his opinion there are three. Three exists as an important number in so many different aspects of society - three branches of government, the trinity, the three stooges, etc. So it only appears appropriate for Hemingway to include his idea of groups of people with only three categories. If people were to look at their friends and relatives, they would easily put each one into one of these three groups, no matter what they look like, what they believe, or what their age. The difference between the three groups may appear harsh and maybe even a little extreme, but Hemingways readers know him as a writer and man who does not sugarcoat things.