Relates To College example essay topic

War and College Many of the titles of Ernest Hemingway's stories are ironic, and can be read on a number of different levels; Soldiers Home is no exception. The story is told of a young man, Harold Krebs, who recently returned form World War I, and has moved back into his parent's house while he figures out what he to do with life. In reality he has no home, his parent's middle-class lifestyle used to feel like home, but no longer does. This is actually not an uncommon scenario among young people, especially college students returning to the womb of their childhood again. Krebs situation is more dramatic than those who have been released off to college. He has not only lived on his own, but been traumatized by life and death situations his parents couldn't even begin to understand.

Hemingway does not divulge why Krebs was the last person from his home town to return from war. Whenever he was in the intervening time, by the time, by the time he Watrous 2 gets home, the novelty of the returning soldiers have found a niche for themselves in the community, but Harold needs a bit longer to get his bearings. The problem has to do with Krebs definition of who he has become. He recognizes he has changed, and this change is played out dramatically against the backdrop of a town where nothing else has changed since high school. This short story is easy to relate to from the perspective of a college student. In relation to going back "home" is like dealing with all the drama that you endure through high school.

It's especially difficult for me, because my parents moved to another state, so part of my home is unnatural to me. Also the aspects of the same girls, his father still driving the same car and parking it in the same spot is all relative to my situation. There are many reasons for Krebs not being able to adjust to things back in Oklahoma. If you look at what he was doing before the war, you can distinguish the differences from going overseas. Prior to the war he was attending a Methodist school in Kansas and was not out of place then. Its almost symbolic that Hemingway chose Kansas of all places due to the famous saying from the Wizard of Oz "were not in Kansas anymore"; basically saying that war is like living in whole new world.

He then tells us about the picture of his fraternity brothers all wearing the same height and style collar. Its ironic that someone so concerned about their appearance, would be shipped over seas to one the most horrific wars of all time. This relates to college as well, in that Watrous 3 most students go for the "college look" which is a lot more relaxed and a whole lot less ironing. Another factor linked to this story about college is the component of religion. His mom was a very religious woman and expected her son to be the same way. My mother is a devout Christian women who prays for me everyday hoping for me to get involved in a local church.

War and college are closely associated in this aspect in that they are both distractions from the word. One deals with death and survival and the other is about alcohol and survival; in school. This is significant because neither one of these circumstances dwell in any aspect of the Lord. Lastly, something I'm sure that most students can relate to is the fact that relationships change over time. Going back "home" can be painful sometimes because of the realization that all those people that were so dear to you in the past are no longer around. This can turn into deep isolation like what happened to Krebs, which would lead to the inevitable; spending time with your family.

In some circumstances though this could be bad if you " ve spent a lot of time away from them, which could build up a lot of anger and frustration. The fact is, after being on your own; it's hard to go back to living under their rules and can be devastating to a relationship. Ernest Hemingway puts some interesting twists to this short story which helped to rearrange examples to relate to the text. Harold Krebs life after war with his parents was probably the worst thing for him because he was so emotionally scared that it just made their relationship worse. These scares can be the same for many college students when Watrous 4 they go home to all their wonderful high school memories to find out that all of their friends have changed and no longer seek their friendship.