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Essay: Indian camp

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  • Subject area(s): Literature essays
  • Reading time: 3 minutes
  • Price: Free download
  • Published: 9 August 2018*
  • File format: Text
  • Words: 767 (approx)
  • Number of pages: 4 (approx)

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Growing up can be very tough, and it is not always easy. You have to go your own way sometimes, and establish your own personality. Because one day you when you grow up, you would not be the person, you are if it was not for your past. Growing up and finding your identity is some of the themes that we meet in the text Indian Camp. Indian camp is a short story, written by Ernest Hemingway in 1921. Ernest Hemingway is a well-known author. In addition, he is especially known for his short stories. He was an author that has created a unique style of writing called the iceberg technique. One of his known short stories is Indian Camp. In Indian Camp, we meet the young boy Nick. He is being introduced to life and death, quickly.
 
There is a few different settings in the text. It takes place in an Indian Camp (page 13 line 11-12 “Ahead were the lights of the shanties where the Indians bark peelers lived”) here it is explained that they are on their way to the Indian camp. On a lake (page 12 line 1 “At the lake shore there was another rowboat drawn up”) we know that they are on a lake. At last on a meadow (page 13 line 4 “they walked up from a beach trough a meadow”). In the text on page 15 line 15-18, it tells us that it is in St. Ignace. St. Ignace is a town in the northern Michigan. Where the Lake Michigan and the Lake Huron collide. The atmosphere is very depressed and dark. Ernest uses many words to describe that such as, “the meadow soaked with dew”, “the mist on the lake”, and on page 15 line 32-34, “his throat had been cut from ear to ear. The blood had flowed down into a pool where his body sagged the bunk” Again he describes very carefully to get every detail.

A third person narrator tells the short story Indian camp. It is an omniscient narrator, but the story is getting told from a point of view, where we don’t get a lot of information. We do not really hear how the characters are feeling, so the narrator do not have a lot of inside knowledge. Ernest have done it this way to make is read between the lines, and imagine things ourselves. the point of view is Nick’s perspective, instead of just George, he is called Uncle George (page 15 line 24” Uncle George was standing against the wall”. All the different characters are mostly described by the actions they do. Therefore, the narrator is very objective.

There are two main characters in this text. Nick and his father. Nick is a young boy, we don’t know how old he is but on page 12 line 9-10” Nick lay back with his father’s arm around him” in addition of what we get told Nick’s age is around 10-12. Nick is a very calm boy, and he makes his own decisions. Under the operation of the woman, he decides not to look. He also ask questions about suicide, and death and after having watched and learned about life and death he feels even more secure. Because on page

The father is a doctor, as well as with Nick we do not know a lot about his background. Nevertheless, we can see in the text that he is also a very calm man, and he is very careful and passionate about his job. He tells and teaches Nick many things when they are in the shanty as seen on page 14 line 4-6 where he is describing where she is screaming “ All her muscles are trying to get the baby born. That is why she is screaming”.

There are a few themes in the text. The main theme is growing up. Because Nick is trying to grow up in a way where he sees how the world really is. He is trying to find out what his limits are. Also identity. Nick is trying to find out whom he is. He sees things that kids in his age would never see. So he is getting more mature, he is growing up.

The language and style is very simple, not a lot of things is being described. He do not use many metaphors and of the environment. None of the persons got described. Ernest Hemingway wants us to very few descriptions read in between the lines and use our imagination. There is no slang in text except for one line where Uncle George on page 3, line 35 says “damn squaw bitch”.

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