Journal #18 -“In Another Country”

1. What is the significance of the story’s title?

The title is significant because not only is the narrator American and is literally in another country, but even the Italian men feel out of place because of their injuries. Their injuries have put them in a different country, where they are outcasts, compared to the soldiers still fighting the war.


2. Which character do you think best represents the “Hemingway hero”? Why?

I believe that the major is the “Hemingway hero” of this short story because he has lost many things in his life, but realizes that he cannot get them back, so he accepts his fate. Even though, like most people, he sometimes lets his emotions get the best of him, but he is different than most people because he is able to come out of his grief to realize what he is doing and apologize for it.


3. What can you infer about the photographs the doctor hangs up? What is the significance of the major’s reaction?

The photographs that the doctor hangs up are of body parts that were cured by the machines, but the narrator thought that these men were the first ones to use them. None of the men buy into the machines because of this. Instead of looking at all of the pictures of healed limbs, the major looks out the window, because he is accepting of the fact that he will never be who he once was, just like he will never get to be with his wife again.