"where did Uncle George go?"

Author:

Murdoch, Christina A

Area of Honors:

English (University College)

Degree:

Bachelor of Arts

Document Type:

Thesis

Thesis Supervisors:

Linda Patterson Miller, Thesis Supervisor
Dr. Xiaoye You, Thesis Honors Advisor

Keywords:

Hemingway
Cubism
George
Guide
In Our Time

Abstract:

Hemingway’s “In Our Time” can be seen as a sort of modern and cubistic take on the traditional Bildungsroman. Most of the short stories follow Nick Adams in his growth towards adulthood and manhood, while other stories and vignettes in this collection relate the need of other characters for a guide through life’s challenges. Given the “coming-of-age” nature of this collection, it is essential to focus on the guides of each story, particularly the character who fills such a role and where the guide is ultimately leading. The first short story of the collection, “Indian Camp,” sets the stage for the rest of the collection. In this story, Nick Adams and his father, the Doctor, accompany Uncle George and two Indians to a nearby camp so that the doctor may facilitate the delivery of an Indian woman’s baby. Through Hemingway’s careful and subtle clues, the reader comes to see Uncle George as the most important guide of all: a father. However, it is the final scene of “Indian Camp” which really sets everything in motion. In this scene Nick Adams asks his father “Where did Uncle George go?” to which his father responds “Oh, he’ll be back alright.” This scene establishes Uncle George as a strong guiding force, one which will inevitably return over and over again throughout “In Our Time.” The purpose of this paper is to analyze Hemingway’s language and to untangle Hemingway’s cubistic style in order to discover the guides of these stories in the hopes of answering Nick’s question “Where did Uncle George go?”