Review of Ernest Hemingway's " Soldier's Home "

[ " Krebs went to the war in 1917 from a Methodist college in Kansas. There is a picture of him with his fraternity brothers all in the same collar. He came back from the war in 1919, after he had been in the Rhine. There, a picture was taken of him, a fellow corporal, and two German ladies. When Krebs returns, no one celebrates. He comes back after most everyone else, so he misses the hysteria. He also cannot get anyone to listen to his stories. Everyone has heard too many gruesome stories to care. To get people to listen, he has lied twice. But he is disgusted by that so he has stopped talking about the war. Even his lies bore people, anyway. During this time, Krebs is sleeping late and hanging around all day. He is a hero to his younger sisters and to his mother. She sometimes asks about the war, but she gets bored. The town has not changed in his absence except that some of the girls have become women. Krebs likes to watch them, but he does not want to be a part of their lives. He does not want to get involved in the politics or the lying involved in a courtship. Krebs does not want any consequences. The army had taught him that he did not need a girl, even though many men claimed that they could not live without one. Krebs likes the looks of the girls, but does not want to have to talk. That was one nice thing about the French and German girls: not so much talking. "]