Big Two-Hearted River

Ye Ji Park

June 3 2012

Reflective Essay: Big Two-Hearted River

          AP European History is one of the most demanding subjects among all APs. I heard a lot of complaint and plea from my roommate who took the test last May. One of the major discontents she told me was that World War I and II took so many part of whole history. Despite the short period – a little more than three decades – World War occupied more than one fifth of total contents. As this short anecdote implies, the importance that World War holds in the history is considerable. It is not surprising, thus, to find numbers of literature works discussing what happened in the War, how the War influenced the age, etc. Big Two-Hearted River (Ernest Hemingway, 1925) is one of those works, talking about soldiers’ healing process without direct mention about the War.

          Regardless of below-the-surface-mention about the War, it is obvious that the protagonist, Nick, is suffering from post-traumatic disorder after participating in the War. This is revealed from mainly three “lacking” elements in this short story; dialogue, social aspects, and emotive description.

First, lack of dialogue. Throughout the story, dialogue appears only three times – even they are very short (“Go on Hopper.” “Jesus Christ.”) The reason Nick is so unforthcoming is to forget about the War. Once he starts to talk, and a single word pops out that triggers small memory from the War, all the dreadful experiences would crawl out from the suppressed memories and torture him again. This is why Nick stays away from conversation; to prevent any situation that might lead him to recall about the War.

Second, lack of social aspects. What “social aspects” refers to is Nick’s family, friends, school life, or any other social relationships. Nick is completely alone, from the start to the end of the story; it is evident that Nick is unrelated to the society. When confronting the parent, who feels curious about things that happened to their son in the War; when confronting the school, where most of the friends that he has studied together only few years ago are dead from the War, Nick is obliged to recollect dreadful War memories. This definitely is the least thing he wants to do, which explains why he does not hang out or even mention about his social life.

Finally, lack of emotive description. Hemingway’s writing style in this story is very descriptive, but not “emotively” descriptive, rather “objectively”. That is, most of the depictions deals with Nick’s actions, not emotions. To illustrate, Hemingway wrote “Nick’s hands were shaky”, not “Nick was strained”. Hemingway intentionally excluded Nick’s mode throughout the novel, to express the insensibility that the War participants experienced. During the War, emotions are unnecessary. In All Quiet on the Western Front (Erich Maria Remarque, 1929), another masterpiece discussing devastating episodes during the War, Paul the narrator commits that “[Soldiers] have lost all sense of other considerations, because they are artificial. Only the facts are real and important for [soldiers].” To Paul and all the other soldiers, mourning over comrade’s death is just a dangerous act that enhances the risk of being shot to the gun. Considering that Nick has just returned from such emotion-less War, Hemingway’s “objectively descriptive” sentence style makes sense.

          What Nick does to tear off trace of the War is to walk into the nature. The story’s title, Two Big-Hearted River, is the place that helps Nick “cure” himself and “overcome” the swamp of the War by confronting two kinds of heart – Heart of the Past and the Future.

Heart of the Past signifies the fixation of the River. After returning from the War, Nick feels everything has changed; parents unable to sympathize and share his pain from the War, classroom vacant here-and-there. But the River does not change; it stays in the place where it has been, as clear as ever. The River makes Nick able to connect himself before the War and after the War – it assures Nick that youthfulness and pureness he possessed before the War may be still remaining inside him, and might bloom again. That is, the River’s Heart of the Past gives him hope that he will be cured, and freed from scars of the War someday.

Heart of the Future refers to the ceaseless flowing characteristic of the River. On its way to Nick’s town, the River might have suffered numerous crises; cataract, rapids, etc. Still the River’s future is to keep flowing with past wounds, not to stop. Looking the River that shares the same pain with him, Nick is comforted, and is motivated to keep living even with unforgettable scars, just as the River does.

          Hemingway wrote that “Nick did not want to go down the stream any further [that day]”, where “fishing was a tragic adventure”. This shows that Nick is not completely cured; he is not yet ready to face the challenge, the danger that he has so frequently confronted during the War. Still he says that “There were plenty of days coming when he could fish the swamp”, indicating that he will keep on curing himself in the nature, consoled by the River.

Paul, in All Quiet in the Western Front, said that “we [the soldiers] were eighteen and had begun to love the life and the world; and we had to shoot it to pieces”. The War made Nick also to shoot the years he had lived. But the River helped Nick to arrange the pieces back, connect this re-attached past to his present, thereby be courageous about continuing life. It seems indisputable that one day, Nick would be able to discharge from the hospital of Nature.

Writer's Comments

Reading pieces about World War, I feel grateful to God that I wasn't born in that age. The shock that I felt after reading All Quiet on the Western Front for the first time -- it was just so destructive and, thus, tragic. That was, maybe, the reason that I read Big Two-Hearted River while continuously murmuring "Thank heavens." I felt relished as reading the nature curing Nick. Maybe this was the same way that people in Hemingway's age felt, maybe this is why this piece grabbed so many people's attention in that age.

Right now I'm starting Hemingway's another work about World War; A Farewell to Arms. Ever since hearing the summary of this story when I was thirteen or something -- this book has always been on my wish-to-read list. Hope A Farewell to Arms also brings me great inspirations, just as Big Two-Hearted River did :)