In Our Time

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Change Of Nick In In Our Time
In Ernest Hemingway’s 1925 short story collection In Our Time, the main character, Nick, changes from a naïve boy to an educated man. Through the stories, his view, on relationships, sanity, and death develop and intensify. His dynamic characteristics become apparent through his actions, dialogue, and inner monologue.

Through the short stories, Nick’s perspective on relationships was changed by his family and friends. In the short story, “The Doctor and the Doctor’s Wife”, Nick is shown how to “treat” a woman by his father. Nick’s mother is just ignored and in a way is looked down upon in their household. When his mother says to Nick’s father, “If you see Nick, dear, will you tell him his mother wants to see him?”, he just “forgets” about telling Nick and allows his son to go hunting with him. Nick learns from this his experiences with his father that women aren’t important. Hemingway also uses clues to show that women don’t have a significant role by using a phrase such as “Then he heard his wife’s voice from the darkened room.” These words show that women in this time where never in the “light”, always hidden from view and never listened to and always ignored.
In “The Three-Day Blow”, Nick’s view of women is again corrupted by Bill, Nick’s childhood best friend. Bill says to Nick, “Once a man’s married he’s absolutely bitched,” and “You’ve seen the guys that get married”. Bill is trying to demonstrate to Nick that women would only hinder his lifestyle, something with which he would not like to be involved. Nick’s ideas of women are finally changed in “Cross-Country Snow”. He has impregnated a woman and is now taking responsibility and by marring her. He has become a mature young man and has to learn for him-self how to treat women instead of doing what he has been told. His decision no longer allows him to ski across Europe as he ...