Summary

In Ernest Hemingway’s short story “Indian Camp” we follow Nick, his father, and Nick’s Uncle George as they visit a Native American camp in the woods. Nick’s father is a doctor, and he is going to help a young woman struggling to give birth.

Two Native American men row the three of them across a lake to the camp, and Uncle George gives the men cigars. Once they enter the shanty, they discover the young woman screaming with labor pains in the lower bunk bed. Her husband, who has hurt his foot in an accident three days before, is lying in the upper bunk, unable to remove himself from the situation.

While Nick’s father prepares carefully for the examination, he explains the details of childbirth to his son. The woman has been struggling to give birth for the past two days. Her screams don’t...