Themes and message

Struggling to adapt

One of the themes explored in “Soldier’s Home” by Ernest Hemingway is the theme of struggling to adapt to a new life situation.

After his return home from war, Krebs finds it almost impossible to adapt to his new life. He finds it hard to integrate his war experience into his life back home. As he arrives later than the other soldiers, he is not received with the same enthusiasm by the community. Consequently, his experiences are seen as irrelevant. Krebs does not know how to relate to his war experiences, so he either refuses to talk about them or lies to please people. Nevertheless, the amount of effort he puts into this leaves him feeling ill (p. 1, l. 30).

Krebs is also afraid of trying to build a relationship. Krebs returns home to a changed society. For example, the women in his home-to...