IN ANOTHER COUNTRY Plot Summary “In the fall the war was always there, but we did not go to it anymore.” So begins Ernest Hemingway’s short story, “In Another Country.” The war he refers to is orld ar I! the setting is "ilan, away from the s#ene of the fighting. The narrator des#ribes the #ity he $asses on his way to the hos$ital to re#ei%e $hysi#al rehabilitation for the leg wounds he re#ei%ed while at the front. At the hos$ital, hos$ital, the narrator, a young man, sits at a ma#hine designed to aid his damaged &nee. 'e(t to him is an Italian ma)or, a #ham$ion fen#er before the war, war, whose hand hand has been wounded. wounded. The do#tor shows the ma)or a $hotogra$h of a hand that has been restored by the ma#hine the ma)or is using. The $hoto, howe%er, does not in#rease the ma)or’s #onfiden#e in the ma#hine. Three "ilanese soldiers, the same age as the narrator, are then introdu#ed. The four boys hang out together at a $la#e #alled Cafe Co%a following their thera$y. As they wal& through the #ity’s Communist *uarter, they are #riti#i+ed for being offi#ers with medals. A fifth boy, who lost his nose nose an hour after his first first battle, sometimes sometimes )oins them. them. He wears a bla#& hand&er#hief strategi#ally strategi#ally $la#ed a#ross his fa#e and has no medals. ne of the boys who has three medals has li%ed a %ery long time with death and was a little deta#hed. e e were all a little deta#hed, and there was nothing that held us together e(#e$t that we met e%ery afternoon at the hos$ital. Although, Although, we wal&ed to the Co%a through the tough $art of town, wal&ing in the dar&, with the light singing #oming out of winesho$s, and sometimes ha%ing to wal& into the street where the men and women would #rowd together on the sidewal& so that we would ha%e to )ostle them to get by, we we felt held together by there being something that had ha$$ened that they, the the $eo$le who disli&ed us, did not understand. Ha%ing all fa#ed death and sur%i%ed, the boys are lin&ed in a way that the outsiders #annot understand. This s$e#ial bond e(ists between them e%en though the narrator as an Ameri#an, is otherwise more of an outsider to the soldiers than the unwounded Italians on the street who des$ise them. They feel $arti#ularly #onne#ted at the Co%a, where they drin& and #arouse with lo#al girls. The Italian soldiers #hange their manner toward the narrator when they reali+e he re#ei%ed some of his medals for being an Ameri#an, Ameri#an, and not for bra%ery, as they had. Though the narrator li&es to imagine he would ha%e been as bra%e as they had, he &nows this is not true be#ause he is indeed afraid to die. -es$ite their initial #ommon bond, the Italian soldiers drift from the narrator due to this differen#e. nly the unde#orated boy, without the nose, remains his #lose friend. This boy will not return to the war, so will ne%er get the #han#e to find out if he also is afraid of death. The ma)or, the great fen#er, is #yni#al about bra%ery, and so the narrator then feels a bond with him. As they sit at their res$e#ti%e $hysi#al thera$y ma#hines, the ma)or hel$s the narrator im$ro%e his Italian.
ne day when the narrator feels as ho$eless about his ma#hine as the ma)or does about his, the ma)or, usually $oised and soldier/li&e, suddenly #alls the narrator “a stu$id im$ossible disgra#e,” who he had been “a fool to ha%e bothered with.” Standing u$right to #alm himself, the ma)or as&s the narrator if he is married. He answers, “'o, but I ho$e to be.” The ma)or bitterly tells him, him, “A man must not marry,” marry,” e($laining e($laining that a man “should “should not $la#e himself himself in a $osition to lose 0e%erything1 0e%erything1 . . . He should find things he #annot lose.” hen the the narrator #ounters this statement, the ma)or angrily e(#laims, “He’ll lose it. -on’t argue with me2,” then demands his ma#hine be turned off. The ma)or goes into another room for a massage, then as&s for a $hone, shutting the door for $ri%a#y. A short time later later the ma)or returns, returns, #om$osed. He a$ologi+es a$ologi+es to the narrator, narrator, then announ#es his wife has )ust died. The narrator feels si#& for him, but the ma)or remains #ontrolled, saying, “It is diffi#ult. I #annot resign myself.” He then begins to #ry. 3ui#&ly, 3ui#&ly, howe%er, the ma)or stands ere#t, li&e a soldier, and fighting ba#& his tears, e(its. The do#tor says that the ma)or’s wife, a young, healthy woman, had died une($e#tedly of $neumonia. The ma)or ma)or returns three days later, wearing a bla#& band band on his slee%e to signify mourning, a symbol whi#h further se$arates him from the narrator. 4arge framed $hotogra$hs of healed hands ha%e been hung to offer the ma)or ho$e. Howe%er, the ma)or ignores them! instead, he )ust stares out the window, &nowing &nowing the ma#hines #annot #ure him of this different &ind of in)ury.
Characters Italian Major The Italian ma)or, a former fen#ing #ham$ion, is in the "ilan hos$ital be#ause his hand has been mangled in battle. A #ontrolled #ontrolled military man, he is #yni#al about the ma#hines that are used to rehabilitate his wounded e(tremity, and about the tales of bra%ery and heroism he hears from the young Italian offi#ers. He befriends the narrator, who is also in)ured, and tutors him in Italian. The Italian ma)or has re#ently married a young woman, something he would not do until he was in)ured 5 and therefore would not be sent into battle again. Howe%er, when his wife dies une($e#tedly from $neumonia, the ma)or loses his soldier/li&e #om$osure, #om$osure, and wee$s, not )ust for her death, but also, a##ording to Earl 6o%itt in his essay, essay, “f Human -ignity7 8In Another Country,’” Country,’” for his understanding that he must now #onfront the meaninglessness of life, one that has shown him that his stri#t military #ode #ould not $rote#t him from life’s %ulnerabilities. %ulnerabilities. Major’s i!e Though the ma)or’s wife ne%er a$$ears in the story 9she is mentioned only in the se#ond/to/last $aragra$h of the story:, story:, she $lays a ma)or ma)or role. A young, healthy woman, her her sudden death from $neumonia leads the Italian ma)or, ma)or, her husband, to learn learn he #annot #ontrol life, a lesson whi#h whi#h is also obser%ed by the story’s young narrator. Narrator The narrator is a young Ameri#an in Italy during orld ar I. Though unnamed, the narrator’s identity is assumed to be 'i#& Adams, an alter/ego for many of Hemingway’s semi/ autobiogra$hi#al short stories. The narrator is in an Italian hos$ital re#ei%ing thera$y for his ;
in)ured leg. He befriends se%eral other offi#ers with whom he shares the e($erien#e of fa#ing death and sur%i%ing, and of getting de#orated for their efforts. hen the other soldiers learn that the narrator’s other medals are merely for his being an Ameri#an, and not for a#ts of heroism or bra%ery, he be#omes an outsider outsider to their #ir#le. #ir#le. 6eali+ing that his fear of death would would ma&e him an unli&ely member of their grou$ in the future, the narrator befriends an Italian ma)or whose hand is wounded, a man whose #yni#ism toward bra%ery does not alienate the narrator from him. The narrator senses their #onne#tion is lost, howe%er, when the ma)or une($e#tedly loses his young wife to $neumonia. A##ording to 4auren#e . "a++eo in his “Criti#al Sur%ey of Short
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Coura#e an$ Co%ar$ice 'ot un#onne#ted is the theme of #ourage and #owardi#e. hile many heroes, heroes, $arti#ularly $arti#ularly in Ameri#an fi#tion, es$e#ially Ameri#an Ameri#an films, are $ortrayed as stoi# and unafraid, “In Another Country” de$i#ts a more #om$le( and humanisti# ty$e of #ourage.
willingness to fa#e life with this new and $ainful understanding #an be seen as a definition of genuine #ourage, the &ind of #ourage befitting a real hero. This truer, more human heroism e%en re*uires the initial shedding of tears, an a#t that is seen in some #ir#umstan#es as a sign of #owardi#e. This definition of heroism #ontrasts with the more traditional &ind of heroi#s, the &ind that wins medals, dis$layed by the brash young Italian offi#ers. These men are seemingly $roud of their nai%e bra%ado! howe%er, be#ause they ha%e not dealt with the emotional #onse*uen#es of the %iolen#e they ha%e fa#ed, they ha%e be#ome “a little deta#hed” and withdrawn. Alienation an$ &oneliness This theme is e($ressed initially in the story’s title, “In Another Country,” whi#h refers to being or feeling alienated from the #omfort of the familiar, familiar, a #ir#umstan#e whi#h often leads to loneliness. In this story, the narrator is literally in another #ountry, Italy, an o#ean a$art from his home, the ?nited States! howe%er, he is also a$art in other ways. hen he wal&s in the streets of "ilan alongside the young Italian offi#ers he is first a##e$ted by, he &nows the #i%ilians who %erbally abuse them do not understand what they, the offi#ers, ha%e fa#ed. Though the offi#ers and these nati%e "ilanese share the same streets, they are in “another #ountry” from ea#h other, se$arated by their differing life e($erien#es. n#e inside the warmth of the #afe, the narrator feels the loneliness this alienation #auses disa$$ear. 4ater, these same offi#ers drift from him be#ause they dis#o%er dis#o%er that some of his medals are are for being an Ameri#an, Ameri#an, while theirs theirs are for feats of bra%ery, a#ts a#ts the narrator &nows his own fear of death would $robably not $ermit him to $erform. This leads leads to his being se$arate, se$arate, in “another “another #ountry,” #ountry,” from his former friends. friends. ut of loneliness, the narrator maintains a friendshi$ with the only member of the grou$ who has not re#ei%ed a medal and, sin#e he is too in)ured to return to battle, ne%er will. The narrator li&es to $retend this friend would would be li&e him in battle, battle, #autious and a little afraid. afraid. The narrator insists insists on imagining he and this young man are #onne#ted in this way to alle%iate the loneliness loneliness he feels now that he has be#ome alienated from the others. At the end of the story, the narrator be#omes alienated from his new friend, the ma)or, after the ma)or e($erien#es a loss that the narrator has not, the death of a wife to $neumonia. The ma)or’s resulting understanding of life’s #ruel la#& of meaning $uts him in “another #ountry” from the younger, still somewhat idealisti# narrator. narrator. The mind set of the ma)or is both alien to him and lonely, yet it is ine%itable to all human beings. After all, the story suggests, attem$ts to a%oid loss are only tem$orary. tem$orary.
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