Change in Nick's Character
When I read Big Two-Hearted River Part I the first thing I noticed was that Hemingway had turned back to the character of Nick. The only thing was that Nick's character didn't seem to be the same person as he was in the earlier stories. In The Three Days Blow Nick was a frustrated young man, and life seemed to be overwhelming him. It seemed as though he desired to get away from conventional society and everything that was around him. In the Big Two-Hearted River, Nick seems to have found happiness and his character is no longer the angry young man he was before.
Nick slipped off his pack and lay down in the shade. He lay on his back and looked up into the pine trees. His neck and back and the small of his back rested as he stretched. The earth felt good against his back. (Hemingway, 137)
Passages like this abound in this story and portray Nick as a man at peace with himself and his environment. So, what has caused this change in Nick's character? Was it simply the passage of time, the new environment he's in, or was it something that has happened to Nick that caused him to change? I believe that the new pristine environment and the absence of others has caused this change. What do you think?
10 comments:
I think that Nick has come back from the war. During the war he changed from a scared timid young man to a man that has seen great horrors and has grown and learned. He seems to have a confidence about him that suggest he has found himself and is happy controling his life.
I believe the change in Nick's character has come from a traumatic experience, possibly in the war, that was not revealed to the reader. This shows that Hemingway believes the importance was not in what caused the change but how it affected Nick's personality and views on life. Whatever happened to him caused him to desire a break from society and to rediscover himself.
Nick is definitely not the same person anymore. He seems to be returning home after the war and is now enjoying himself. It seems as though he's just happy to be alive and near a place where he can feel at rest and comfortable.
Throughout "Big Two-Hearted River", I think that Nick is the device through which Hemingway represents the universal struggle that nearly all young people endure. Questions such as "What do I want out of life?" and "Am I good enough?" are commonplace with young people like Nick.
I feel that Hemingway is trying to tell us that the answer to these questions lie in the world around us, and in nature. Simplicity and beauty are abundant in our natural world, and can help us figure out who we are.
Since Nick has come back from the war, he has experienced happiness because he is not placed in a hostile and potentially unsafe environment. He may have endured hardships while fighting in the war that the reader may not know. The change in Nick's character is mainly due to the war, and he may be realizing how privileged he is to now be living a peaceful and calm life outside of the war.
Nature can be a very soothing place for some people regardless of whether they’ve been through a traumatic experience or not. Since we know that he has been through the war, perhaps this is a way for him to go back to a time of his own innocence. If he had been familiar with the outdoors as a young man before the war, returning to the eternally peaceful wilderness is a way to return to his former life of relative peace.
After returning from the war, I think Nick realizes how lucky he is to be alive and that he doesn't have to worry about all the small things anymore. He made something of himself and can be proud of that. He grew up in a sense while he was at war and probably experienced something that was horrifying. He struggled with seeing the woman in labor when he was younger so it must have been a challenge to experience what he did. After seeing what he did, he probably just needs tranquility
I think Change of Nick's character was cause my traumatic experience (war). I think he learned important thing from war which teach him to be happy in the environment, and not to be reamined as frutsted young man. He now can controll his life.
There has been a significant event that caused this change in mood. Whatever the event, it was so significant that it was life changing and fled Nick to become more independent. Nick shows strength in controlling his feelings and not letting this event get the best of him.
I think that coming back from the war, much like Krebs, Nick has had to adjust to his home life. Though Nick is not in a middle class suburban home like Krebs, I think that Nick still feels the need to "get away" and be with something true and honest, like nature.
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