In Another Country

Most of the way through the story, it seems that Nick is the main character. But with a twist at the end, Hemingway shows us that the older officer who has lost both his hand and his wife is the character whose life has been truly defined by the events of the story. Nick and the other soldiers have hope for the future, but the major is finished.

This character plays the traditional role of a mentor, an older and more experienced person teaching a younger one (Nick). He is first shown to be very friendly when he winks at Nick after hearing the doctor make overly optimistic promises of recovery. After Nick spends time with the other characters, who are all closer to his age, the second half of the story focuses on Nick with the major. The older man wants Nick to be serious about learning Italian, so they talk about grammar. He tells Nick sharply not to address him as “Signor Maggiore,” or “Mister Major” in English, which is an awkward combination of a civilian and military title. It should just be “Major.”

The real lesson he wants to teach Nick is about women and marriage. He chastises Nick bitterly for wanting to get married. As a master fencer before the war, the major has learned never to place himself “in a position to lose” (217). Marriage is like that, he says. His wife has just died unexpectedly. She might as well have stabbed him through the heart with a fencing sword. The major was seriously wounded in the war but survived; now it is the end of his marriage that kills him emotionally. He teaches a cold lesson indeed.

These supporting characters wear the same uniform as Nick, and some even have the same medals, but they are different. Three are from Milan and are almost the same age as Nick. They came into the army with plans to be a lawyer, a painter, and a career soldier, respectively. As Nick gets to know them chatting in the café, they ask him how he got his medals.

After Nick tells them, he realizes that he and they had very different experiences. Hemingway does not tell the reader any details, but he leaves clues. One of the soldiers won the same medal three times. He must have repeated his brave actions over and over. Hemingway also mentions this soldier was a lieutenant with the Arditi. This detail is like a key to a door for the reader. The Arditi (“daring ones”) were an elite branch of the Italian army. With a knife or pistol in one hand and a grenade in the other, they would run across enemy lines, jump in the trenches, toss the grenade, and then fight hand-to-hand to the death. This soldier had apparently done it at least three times.

Another soldier is slightly younger. Hemingway differentiates him further by saying he is not from Milan and belongs to an old Italian family. His war has been different because he came to the battlefield from a military academy and was shot within his first hour at the front. His wound is also more horrific since he is waiting to have his face rebuilt. He must wear a scarf over his face when in public or he will be frightening to other people. He studied to be a soldier but now has perhaps finished being one.