Our discussion focuses on his reliance on short, independent clauses, on his subject-verb syntax with few initial phrases at the beginning of sentences, and his preference for a diction which favors monosyllabic words of Anglo-Saxon origin rather those of Latinate origin. Because Hemingway is one of American literature’s most influential prose stylists, I find it necessary to explore his style. He will explore his psychic tensions, but not right now. The final sentence of the story is relieved of the tenseness in much of the prose as Nick makes a truce with himself. His day has been good, as he tells himself, not because he has had fun but because he kept his problems repressed: “He was settled. There is desperateness in Nick’s actions, a pressing need to keep those emotional forces below the surface. The strict ordering of his camping materials and journey also reflects a larger quest for order, understanding, and control that his life currently lacks. This concentration on mechanical process is a way for Nick to check his psyche from bringing his emotional wounds and complexities to the surface.
I find it very important to read several passages to note the ritualistic precision with which Nick goes about his business. Nature and the big-hearted river provide a moment of respite and, in a very real sense, compassion in its accommodation of Nick. Nick realizes he will have to confront some very complex emotional issues, represented in the story by the swamp, but first he needs to rest his psyche before exploring it. The story, therefore, is not so much about escape as it is preparation. In “Big Two-Hearted River,” Nick realizes he must come to terms with life’s complexities, but first he needs to give his confused psyche a rest by putting a little space and time between his wounds and the healing process. Perplexed about these incidents, he questions his father who responses are terse and unrevealing. In “Indian Camp,” Nick, as a boy, sees a suicide victim moments after his death and a woman in the process of giving birth.
Throughout the In Our Time collection, Nick is frequently confused. He has almost certainly been to the war and been wounded, like Hemingway, both physically and emotionally. If we consider the story in the context of In Our Time, we realize Nick has much to contemplate and sort out, including impending fatherhood, sexuality, war, and especially death. I explain that Nick’s camping trip is a form of therapy for him, a chance for a respite before he comes to terms with his emotional complexities. Students have told me they expected Nick to encounter crazed hunters or locals like those in James Dickey’s Deliverance, or a sudden storm or some other dramatic challenge of nature like what happens to the protagonist in “To Build A Fire.”
Some students will wonder about the lack of catastrophe and crisis. We meet him as he gets off the train in Seney, Michigan, and follow him as he hikes, camps, and fishes. Nick is the only character in the two-part story, which describes about twenty-four hours of his activity. Like Anderson’s Winesburg, Ohio, the collection has what Hemingway called a “pretty good unity.” Primarily, the unity is established through Nick Adams, who appears in many of the stories, but also in the brief interchapters which describe various scenes of contemporary violence. Hemingway’s 1925 collection of fifteen short stories is one of his major achievements. The following suggested topics might prove helpful in your discussion of “Big Two-Hearted River: Parts I and II”: