Characters

The most important characters in Hemingway’s “Now I Lay Me” are Nick Adams as a main character, and John, as a secondary character. Nick Adams is a recurring character in Hemingway’s works. Nick’s parents and grandfather, John’s wife and children, and other soldiers, as a collective character, are also mentioned in the story.

Nick Adams

The story features Nick Adams as a soldier in Italy, during World War I. He is a lieutenant, as suggested by John calling him “Signor Tenente”, which means “Sir Lieutenant”. The story suggests that, before the war, Nick lived in Chicago (p. 278, l. 45). After the war, Nick plans to “ ‘get a job on a paper’ ” (p. 280, l. 30), suggesting that he is or aspires to be a writer or journalist.

The story contains little reference to Nick’s outer characterisation. John characterises him as young and handsome, though he has been wounded in the war: “ ‘You’re young and you got good decorations and you look nice. You been wounded a couple of times’ ” (p. 281, ll. 15-17). Nick also recalls how he spent some time in hospital in Milan, which suggests that he was wounded again after the night described in the story (p. 282, l. 7). He is not explicit about what happens to him after the war, but we learn that he has not married (p. 282, ll. 9-10).

Nick’s inner characterisation is constructed through the narration and the dialogue he has with John.

Nick recounts the events of one summer (p. 276, l. 12) during the war, when he avoided sleeping at night (p. 276, ll. 4-6). The reason behind this seems to be an enemy at...