Journal #18

“In Another Country”

1. What is the significance of the story’s title?
The narrator is an American in Italy so therefore it makes him in another country literally. The other characters are Italian but are secluded and distant from the other Italians because they are officers and therefore in another country. Other people would yell at them for being in the military because they did not believe in it. The bond that they all had was that they all had suffered some injury which is what brought them together. That separated them from others in the town or army but the narrator was even more separated. His injuries were not due to being brave in the war like the officers injuries were.


2. Which character do you think best represents the “Hemingway hero”? Why?
The major best represents the Hemingway hero because he is suffering loss on more than one level, a personal loss as well as his hand injury. He had both physical and emotional pain. He was a top fencer and his hand had been ruined to a point where he will never regain that around the same time his wife just died. He is the one that suffers the most. He tells the others not to get married because he thinks you will always lose in the end anyway. He accepts the inevitable just like a hero does.


3. What can you infer about the photographs the doctor hangs up? What is the significance of the major’s reaction?
The photographs hung up were inferred to be fake most likely put there as a motivational ploy for the soldiers and not real results from the machines. The major senses it and rejects it so in response he walks out and stares out the window.