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Big Two Hearted River

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“The Big Two-Hearted River: Part I”:
The Trek to Life
If only the past lit up as simply as a room illuminates at the flick of a switch. Yet the overwhelming darkness of a memory can never brighten; despairingly, a soldier’s worst nightmares overshadow his dreams and cloud his days. In Ernest Hemingway’s “Big Two-Hearted River: Part I,” a wounded soldier returns home, scouring the wreckage of his life for sanity and spiritual restoration. The short story presents a journey through symbolism, metaphor, and imagery, pessimistically depicting the battles that a soldier faces after war’s mortars shatter his livelihood. In this story, Nick embarks on a journey to cope with the horrific memories that haunt his every thought and action. As he passes through the burned-over town of Seney to his ideal camping ground, Nick tries to forget about his nightmarish past through the distractions that nature flourishes. Charles Oliver reveals in Hemingway A to Z the tension tugging Nick’s thoughts back from present to past: “Nick is on the camping trip in order to not think about whatever it is that has traumatized him. . . . Nick is working hard to forget it so he can get his life back together” (26). As Nick treks alone through the forest, he allows nature to soothe his mind and body and guide him back to his roots, abandoning his concerns. Though the war has ended, and Nick survived, he feels as though his soul has already died. Nick’s trip satisfies his disposition as an avid camper, but also it serves as a spiritual journey in which he heals his psychological wounds. In The Cambridge Companion to Hemingway, writer Thomas Strychacz asserts that Nick’s journey regenerates his spirits and uplifts him: “The story . . . suggests the slow, silent recuperation of the human mind from the psychic trauma . . . Nick’s refusal to think, his steadfast determination not to hurry, . . . all of this bespeaks a mind fragile with shock as it attempts to construct new grounds for sane existence” (81). Nick’s meticulous attention to detail becomes a psychological coping mechanism to desert his traumatism and accomplish newfound sanity.
Traversing the mountain, Nick figuratively and physically passes through different stages of his journey. Nick begins his journey in a blackened, eerie town where little life exists, and as he hikes, he stumbles upon endless greenery: tall pines, ferns, and grasses. Nick experiences a complete change of scenery, his mental state evolving. In Student Companion to Ernest Hemingway, writer Lisa Tyler explains that Seney relates to Nick’s psychological state: ”All of Seney’s buildings were evidently destroyed by the fire, and the burnt countryside functions as a metaphor for Nick’s scarred psyche” (40). Just as fire scorched Seney, the horrors of war torched and blackened Nick’s soul. As Nick encounters the liveliness of nature, the greenery symbolizes Nick’s mental growth and revitalization, nearing new life. Nick’s struggle to extricate his mind of images of death and destruction tangles a pessimistic tone into the story. War dehumanized Nick and he questions whether or not he will ever feel completely alive and whole again. As Nick sits against a singed tree stump he notices a black grasshopper and pessimistically contemplates its state as he subconsciously wonders about his own life: “He realized that the fire must have come the year before, but the grasshoppers were all black now. He wondered how long they would stay that way” (212). Glumly, Nick wishes the grasshopper would fly away to a better place, akin to his longing for a healthy state of mind. Though Nick doubts he will ever restore himself, in an article called “Hemingway’s Two-Hearted River,” Sheridan Baker optimistically claims that just as the grasshoppers did, Nick will recover: “Nick, too, can survive his devastation . . . he, too, can survive in a charred land” (143). Though Nick tries to fend off the image of death, it follows him throughout the story; Hemingway presents death through both metaphors and symbols. “The grasshopper was black. As he walked along the road, climbing, he had started many grasshoppers from the dust. They were all black” (211). Black soot covers the grasshoppers and everything in the town; the blackness symbolizes death and darkness, and the black grasshoppers metaphorically represent the dead bodies that Nick witnessed during the war; he cannot erase this devastating darkness from his mind’s eye. The dust also metaphorically represents the mud where the bodies laid, decaying and reeking, in the trenches.
Hemingway’s employment of symbols throughout the story convey Nick’s internal struggle and longing for rejuvenation. The mountain symbolizes the spiritual nature of all humans, and as Nick climbs, he gains the knowledge to feel human again. The further he trudges, the more at peace he becomes with nature and with his own spirit. In the Bible, a mountain symbolizes safety: “You were good to me, Lord; you protected me like a mountain fortress” (Psalm 30:7). Nick settles into his tent on high ground and he felt that “Nothing could touch him. It was a good place to camp” (215). The mountain symbolizes Nick’s need to rise up to the challenge and overcome his past. The mountain reassures Nick that he can feel sane and safe again. Also, the river that flows throughout the story symbolizes Nick’s journey. The water in the river symbolizes purification, and throughout the story, Nick walks along the river, but never crosses it; Nick nears the water that will purify his mind, though he does not touch it; however, just like the river rushes through to reach the the ocean, Nick will float along until he reaches regeneration. Hemingway also manipulates images in the story to depict Nick’s senses along his journey. “[Nick] adjusted the pack harness . . . Still, it was too heavy. It was much too heavy. . . . his muscles ached and the day was hot, but Nick felt happy” (210). The imagery of Nick slumped over from the weight of the pack and walking uphill in the heat, straps cutting into his shoulders, creates a feeling of exhaustion; however, Nick is happy to feel all these emotions, because, at least he feels something. According to an article, “Big Two-Hearted River,” from an online blog called English 278: American Literature, the writer claims that the backpack also carries figurative meaning: “the heavy backpack he carries is a metaphor for the emotional burden he carries. He carries it with him wherever he goes” (English 287: American Literature). Not only does the image of the backpack represent Nick’s physical struggle on his journey, but also the backpack represents all of the atrocious memories and devastation that weigh him down. The complexity of Nick’s thoughts and actions throughout “The Big Two-Hearted River: Part I” exemplify the hardship a soldier endures after physically surviving a war. The dark, black images reveal the despair and disillusionment that leave soldiers mentally scarred, along with their pessimistic outlooks on life that follow. However, in this short story, Nick overcomes the darkness of death and war by seeking revitalization in nature. Nick’s journey nearly satisfied his spirit and soon it will be born again.

Works Cited
Baker, Sheridan. “Hemingway’s Two-Hearted River.” Michigan Alumnus Quarterly Review LXV (1959): 142-149. Print.

"Big Two-Hearted River." English 278: American Literature. Blogspot.com. 15 Mar. 2012. Web. 04 May 2014.

Good News Bible. Ed. American Bible Society. New York: American Bible Society, 1992. Print.

Hemingway, Ernest. The Short Stories: Ernest Hemingway. New York: Scribner, 2003. Print.

Oliver, Charles M. “Big Two-Hearted River: Part I.” Ernest Hemingway A to Z: The Essential Reference to Life and Work. 1999. Print.

Strychacz, Thomas. “In Our Time, Out of Season.” The Cambridge Companion to Hemingway. Ed. Scott Donaldson. New York: Cambridge UP, 1996. 81-85.

Tyler, Lisa. Student Companion to Ernest Hemingway. Westport, CT: Greenwood Press, 2001. Print.

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