Characters

In what follows, we will help you with Nick’s characterization and we will also briefly address the characters of the father and the uncle from “Three Shots” by Ernest Hemingway.…

...

Nick

Nick is the main character in the story, who undergoes a coming of age experience as he learns about fear, death, and human mortality. His outer characterization only reveals that he is probably very young and that he is camping in the woods with his father and uncle.

Inner characterization

Nick’s inner characterization reveals from the very beginning that the boy is fearful: “Walking back through the woods Nick began to be frightened. He was always a little frightened of the woods at night” (ll. 13-14).

As he tries to sleep, the boy becomes even more scared because he cannot hear a sound in the woods:

Nick lay still and tried to go to sleep. There was no noise anywhere. Nick felt if he could only hear a fox bark or an owl or anything he would be all right. He was not afraid of anything definite as yet. (ll. 16-18)

As he focuses on the silence that surrounds him, Nick begins to think about death and becomes afraid of dying. Possi…

...

Nick’s father and Nick’s uncle

Nick’s father and uncle are important characters in the story because they represent the ideal that Nick strives to achieve. In the boy’s eyes, the two men are symbols of courage and manliness, things that Nick lacks. At the same time, Nick sees his …