Analysis of ”Indian Camp” by Ernest Hemingway, Oktober 24, 2011

Analysis of “Indian Camp” by Ernest Hemingway
”Indian camp” is a short story by Ernest Hemingway written in 1921. It’s about the young boy Nick who accompanies his father, who is a doctor, to an Indian camp where an Indian woman has been in labour for a few days. His uncle George is also going with them to the camp but in another boat. They arrive at the camp where Nick’s father is going help the woman have her baby. The woman is lying on a bunk inside one of the shanties. Her husband, who has hurt his foot, is lying in the upper bunk. Nick’s father has to do a caesarean and Nick watches while his father is preforming the operation. When the baby is born Nick’s father turns to the Indian woman’s husband to see how he’s doing but it turns out that the husband has committed suicide by cutting his throat whit a razor. Then Nick and his father sails back, while Nick is asking a lot of questions.

Setting
The story takes place in an Indian camp - and on a lake, a meadow and in a wood on the way to and from the camp in northern Michigan (I assume it’s in Michigan, because a nurse will come from St.
Ignace (page 15, line 17), witch is a city in northern Michigan). It probably takes place around 1910 based on the fact that Hemingway himself was a child at that time and his own father also was a doctor, who also paid doctor’s calls among Indians in Michigan. Also what is going on in the short story corresponds with the factual historical time, e.g. that a doctor goes to help out in an Indian camp on a primitive basis.
The atmosphere is a bit sinister: the darkness, the mist on the lake, the meadow soaked with dew, the smelling room.

Characters
The main characters are Nick and his father. Then there is also Uncle George, the Indian woman, her husband, the old Indian woman and some other Indian men.

Nick
Nick is a young boy, the son of a doctor. Nick follows his father to the operation, where he is helping out (holding the basin) and is being educated by his father. He is a safe and calm boy, resting in his father’s arm on the way and calmly turning his head aside, when he doesn’t what to watch the operation any further. He shows consideration for the Indian woman, who is in pain. And the hard time of a woman giving birth is his greatest concern, it is the first thing he is asking his father about even after having seen the dead man. He also ask questions about suicide, and death and after having watched and learned about life and death he feels even more secure, “quite sure that he would never die”. The father
The father is a doctor. We do not learn anything about his background as such. But from the way he acts in the story we can see that he is a confident and masterful man. He knows what to do and is giving orders to the others. He is also very educational to his son, telling and explaining about what his is doing even though it’s a tough operation. But the level of toughness he wants to expose his son to is surpassed by the suicide and he regrets that he brought him.
He is very professional, almost cynical at work. He can overhear the screams of the Indian woman, because “they are not important” (page 14, line 11-12). After the successful operation he’s very proud and exalted.
The father refers to the Indian woman as “this lady”, which indicates that he is a well-educated and mannered man.

Uncle George
We don’t hear much about Uncle George. He smokes cigars, and he has a familiar relation to the
Indians. When the Indian woman bites him, he calls her a “squaw bitch” – very different from the well-mannered father, who refers to his screaming patient as “a lady”.
There is something mysterious about Uncle George. His leaving in a separate boat before Nick and his father, and he does not come back with them. It has been suggested from some analysts that Uncle
George might be the father of the child, but that is not in any way confirmed in the short story.

Composition
The short story starts in medias res when Nick and his father get into the boat. The story is told in chronological with no flashbacks.
I have divided the story in four parts and given them a title as follows:
1. “Arrival”, page 12, line 1 to page 13, line 24. This is the description of their way to and arrival at the shanty.
2. “Life”, page 13, line 25 to page 15, line 28. The description of how the Indian woman is giving birth and how Nick’s father, the doctor is working.
3. “Death”, page 15, line 29 to page 15, line 39. This is where the doctor discovers that the woman’s husband has committed suicide.
4. “Departure”, page 15, line 40 to page 16, line 26. This part is about Nick and his father’s departure and journey back home.
The events in the story are somewhat predictable until the discovery of the husband’s suicide, which is a totally unexpected event.

The ending of the story comes at a very natural time. Their mission is accomplished and they’re returning home. It doesn’t leave you with a lot of questions (although the suicide is still a mystery. But you know, that you wouldn’t get the answer anyway, if the story had continued), but it is still an open ending. Narrator
The narrator of the short story is a third person narrator. It is an omniscient narrator, but the story is told from a rather limited point of view. Only a few times we hear what the characters think or feel, and the story is mostly presented directly without a narrator’s inside knowledge. Some parts of the story is seen from Nick’s point of view, e.g. George being called Uncle George and not just George.
The narrator seems to have an objective attitude towards the events and characters, and they are mostly described indirectly through what they say or do.
The short story is a description of what is going on, and a little about how things look and smell.
Everything being said by the characters is reproduced literally as direct speech, and the narrator does not comment on the events.

Atmosphere
The atmosphere of the text follows the actions taking place. In the first part we follow the characters on their cold, misty, wet and dark way to the Indian camp and into the small, smelly shanty.
In the second part a child is born, a new life starts. The action and its description, however, is not that of a romantic new motherhood, but rather a very masculine description of a caesarean performed by the father under primitive circumstances, while educating his son. The mother is being held by a group of men, there is no sentimental caring of her and her pain.
We think that we have now reached the climax of the story, but no. Now that we have witnessed somewhat brutal, but successful birth, we are unexpectedly introduced to an even more brutal death:
The husband with his long cut throat, a pool of blood and the open edge up razor.
Only in the final part of the story, the atmosphere is softened by the father’s concern and regrets, sweetly naming his son Nickie. The darkness is replaced with daylight, and Nick is enlightened by his father’s answers to his questions. A bash is jumping, and the water feels warm.

Themes
The text deals with several themes. This short story is placed under the subject “Growing up” in our book, and that is one theme. Nick is a young innocent boy, who in a very brutal way is exposed to very extreme examples of life and death. But he is not deeply frightened by the incident, they mature him, he is seeking answers, he is growing up.
Another theme could just be the brutal sides of life and death, and the (need for) masculine action when needed.
There is also the father and son theme. The father wishes to educate his son, his son is coping very well and at the end asking the questions himself instead of just receiving his father’s information.
The social and cultural difference between the educated doctor and his son and on the other side the poor and primitive society of the Indians could also be considered a theme. Why doesn’t the father bring any anaesthetic? And why do these awful events happen in the Indian camp, when they so rare, as the father explains. There is also the question about Uncle George’s part in the story. Has he been playing around and maybe taken advantage of the young Indian woman?

Language/style
The language of the story is very simple – it’s almost minimalistic, mainly consisting of main clauses.
There are very few metaphors (e.g. the football player), very few descriptions of the surroundings and almost none of the persons. It means that the reader has to use his imagination while reading.

Message
I think that what Hemingway shows us in the story is a child meeting the world with empathy and naivety. He is exposed to some cruel sides of life and death in the Indian shanty, but also to an attitude towards the world - very different from his own, namely the rational and masculine acting of his father, when dealing with the cruelty. On the boy’s request his father tells him that such cruel events rarely happen. As they take place in the Indian camp it might prove to the boy that the Indians are more exposed to cruelty and are more vulnerable than Nick and his equals. The boy then has learned two things: 1.) That he belongs to a stronger group than the Indians, and 2.) how to act very rationally masculine in emergency situations. And that is why he feels that he is never going to die, he has - if not become a man- then at least felt the power of his future manhood.
So I don’t think, that Hemingway has an exact message in this story, he is just describing to make us think about the difference between a child and grownups or to think about the inequalities between social groups.

Perspective
If I should relate this short story to another text we have read it would be “Just like that” by Michael
Richards, because this also deals with the issue: of growing up. It is also about a boy, who is exposed to violent and cruel events, as a part of his upbringing although they have different endings.