In In Our Time by Ernest Hemingway, Nick Adams struggles with the different modes of conduct of the people through his childhood. These different ways of acting confuse him and drive him toward a constant need for internal conduct. As he continues to grow, the pressure in his childhood lead him to try to live a life with a stronger internal conduct.
As a young child, Nick is constantly being up in situations beyond his comprehension level. In “Indian Camp” After the Indian woman’s baby is born, Dr. Adams finds that the Indian woman’s husband has slit his throat after lying on the top bunk unable to help because of his foot injury. Dr. Adam was unable to shield Nick from the terrible sight but it did not seem to faze Nick as much as the Indian woman’s screams did. Later on, as Nick and his father are on the lake, Nick asks his father …show more content…
Adams replies “... He just couldn’t stand things, I guess.”(Hemingway 19). As they sit in the boat, Nick puts his hands in the water and thinks that he is never going to die. This is showing that Nick feels that he is always be strong, that he always going to “stand” things and is never going to be weak. Nick is already seeing the modes of conduct of his parents. His father often dismisses Nick’s mother and goes to her when he wants to feel better about a situation. In “The Doctor and the Doctor’s Wife”, Dr. Adam goes to his wife and gets into a fight after being in conflict with Dick Boulton. After Nick’s mom tries to understand what happened between Dick Boulton and Dr. Adams, Nick’s father gets defensive and leaves the house. To feel better about himself, Dr. Adams goes to the woods where Nick guides him towards the squirrels. Those modes of conduct appear in Nick when he breaks up with his girlfriend in
As a young child, Nick is constantly being up in situations beyond his comprehension level. In “Indian Camp” After the Indian woman’s baby is born, Dr. Adams finds that the Indian woman’s husband has slit his throat after lying on the top bunk unable to help because of his foot injury. Dr. Adam was unable to shield Nick from the terrible sight but it did not seem to faze Nick as much as the Indian woman’s screams did. Later on, as Nick and his father are on the lake, Nick asks his father …show more content…
Adams replies “... He just couldn’t stand things, I guess.”(Hemingway 19). As they sit in the boat, Nick puts his hands in the water and thinks that he is never going to die. This is showing that Nick feels that he is always be strong, that he always going to “stand” things and is never going to be weak. Nick is already seeing the modes of conduct of his parents. His father often dismisses Nick’s mother and goes to her when he wants to feel better about a situation. In “The Doctor and the Doctor’s Wife”, Dr. Adam goes to his wife and gets into a fight after being in conflict with Dick Boulton. After Nick’s mom tries to understand what happened between Dick Boulton and Dr. Adams, Nick’s father gets defensive and leaves the house. To feel better about himself, Dr. Adams goes to the woods where Nick guides him towards the squirrels. Those modes of conduct appear in Nick when he breaks up with his girlfriend in