Initiation Story of Nick in the Indian Camp
Introduction
Ernest Hemingway short story of the “Indian Camp” acknowledges the full range of existence from the time of delivery to demise that eventually can take place in a day (Meyers, 2012). The short story shows Nick’s rite of passage from a boy to a man. At the beginning of the story, Nick has portrayed a naive child to being a grown-up with the very direct information of the human being transience and the absurdity of demise that takes place simultaneously. Nick's accompanied his father to an Indian camp where nick observes his father performing an emergency operation on a woman giving birth. During this time they also experience a shocking turn of events of an Indian husband who committed suicide as a result of the unbearable pain from his leg.
A post-colonialist approach has been used by Ernest Hemingway as he tried to explain the interaction of the natives and the white Americans. This approach creates a deeper and a clear understanding of the colonization and how the Native Americans were treated by the white Americans. Hemingway uses a symbolic story that puts out the injustices that were inflicted by the white people who were oppressors by the use of his character (Meyers, 213). For example, George who was Nick’s uncle is a symbol of prejudice of the American society that is against the Indian culture. This is evident when the pregnant woman bites Uncle George and goes further to call him a damn squaw which is an assault on him and can be regarded as a primitive and instinctive reaction to the pain she was going through but in his own response George considered it as a cultural condition that had being displayed in racial biases (Meyers, 212). . Nick’s character has been personified with innocence, George represents oppression while the doctor who was Nick's father represents denial or dismissal (Meyers, 219). The characteristics of the white have highlighted traits such as the inability of adapting with the colonizers, loss of identity and the fear they had about death (Meyers, 218). This is because the whites were considered to be superior to the Indians who were colonized by the white people. The American Indian husband resigned to take away his own life due to the thoughtless racism of the white men who had come to offer help.
Hemingway grew up in a vocational home in the northern part of Michigan where there was an extensive integration of the Native American people and the whites. The short story has expressed the very actual events that happened in his daily life. Doctor Adams took his son to fishing similarly to what his father who was a physician used to do.
The image of suffering has been well but out as well as some culture issues. Women assist pregnant women to give birth but men are not supposed to do so according to the culture as they are seen to move away so that they cannot hear her screaming. It is their ritual that only women are allowed to see other women labor. Indian men are not interested in childbirth (Meyers, 215). The metaphor of dark is brought in by Hemingway. This shows that there are secrets, it is all hard and they are not allowed to see (Meyers, 216). That is the reason men are seen to distance themselves with the pregnant women who make loud noises as they prefer silence. According to Nick’s father the noise is not important most probably he hears it very day during his work and its nothing new compared to the reason why the Indian men prefer not to hear about it. It is the opposite to Nick as he finds the noise a bit scary as he can relate the pain the young woman is going through as he is seen asking his father if there is something he can do about it in order to reduce it but the father rubbish it off by telling Nick to try and ignore it basing it on the fact that Nick is a young boy and it is so well understandable (Hemingway, 30).
The fishing knife is also used as a metaphor whereby the knife is used as a surgical tool to perform the operation as it is the only operation (Meyers, 211). The operation took place without the administration of any anesthesia to the Indian woman that shows it as the most primitive way of an operation but despite all that the Indian woman is grateful the big assistance she got. The metaphor of the blanket and the bunk has helped in building images which give a sense of truth in the story.
The theme of masculinity has been initiated from the beginning of the story as Nick is exposed to childbirth and the unintentional violent death of the Indian man. Hemingway story of sexuality culminates butchery kind of style birth and the bloody death that resulted in Nick’s anxiety as he is seen to turn away from the caesarean but his father involved him in it (Meyers, 213). The events that Nick witnessed badly scared him as they made him nervous. The trauma of childbirth and the suicide have been painted by Hemingway in a leitmotif manner that has unified the framework of the story. Nick was overwhelmed by the thought of death as there were three shots the previous night when Nick was left in the forest alone (Hemingway, 30).
Thematic issues have been well articulated as there has been the use of symbols and symbolism (Hemingway, 30). There has been a thematic usage of both light and darkness which is a symbol of racial prejudice together with the personal growth of the central character. The narrative has showcased to the whole world the oppression of the Indian people and the chauvinism that has degraded the role of the ignorant stereotypes. The narrative also describes the white men as a self-made utopia of understanding and light. There is the symbol of supremacy when a white skinned man is seen to take over the dark skinned man in the entire narrative. The theme of light and darkness symbolizes the two different cultures that are seen to crush but they can be considered as a symbol of un enlightenment and understanding that affects both the cultures as well as the story of Nick who is considered to be the protagonist (Meyers, 214).
Plot issues have been expressed well in a fairly simple manner (Hemingway, 31). Nick is not the same compared to the way the story ended as he started experiencing certain thing that is bound to happen to anyone during their life. The events have changed how he viewed life and at least had the knowledge of the other culture of the Indians who seems not to be so friendly with them (Meyers, 215). There has been a description of Nick’s inner feelings as he felt that he will never die which is contrary to the normal expectation of humans. Nick’s character has been contributed by his life encounters compared to that of the other characters (Hemingway, 30). The plot is in a literal manner as it has involved the causes and the effect that do change over time and as a result of the casual scenes the Indian camp plot as been well constituted. “Do ladies always have such a hard time having babies?” Nick asked. “Why did he kill himself?” (Hemingway, 30). The conversation between Nick and his father shows how greatly Nick has been affected by the traumatic events of a woman delivering and a man taking his life away as they both experience a lot of pain that he did not understand well. The plot of Nick confrontation of the life and death has been clearly shown that Nick will not be the same again as he has been exposed to mood-altering and mind-altering experiences that should not be witnessed by a young growing man (Hemingway, 30).
Conclusion
The narrative has expressed its issues in a third person perspective but it has been able to achieve its objective. It is true to say that Ernest Hemingway is a significant writer as he has been able to portray the plot in an orderly manner. Despite all the credit there is bound to be some criticism due to the idea of feminism in the plot. The writing styles have been well incorporated making the achievement of the Indian camp remarkable as it can be described to be best known, violent and dramatic as well that adds power to his fiction of saving of a life.
Work Cited
Cohassey, John. “Hemingway’s ‘Last Good Country”. Detroit Metro Times, 7 July 2010.
Hemingway, Ernest. “Indian Camp.” Reading and Writing about Literature, 2nd ed. Ed. Phillip Sipiora. Boston, MA: Person, 2002: 28-31 Print.
Hemingway: Life in Michigan. Mt. Pleasant, Michigan. WCMU. PBS. 2007. DVD.
Meyers, Jeffrey. "Hemingway's 'Primitivism' and 'Indian Camp.'" Twentieth Century Literature. 34.2 (1988): 211-222. Print.
Sipiora, Phillip. "Analyzing 'Indian Camp.'" Reading and Writing about Literature, 2nd ed. Ed. Phillip Sipiora. Boston, MA: Pearson, 2002: 31-35. Print
