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Essay / The “man-on-man” rivalry of Ernest Hemingway’s “Indian Camp”
|“No. I don't have anesthesia. But his screams don't matter. I don't hear them because they aren't important. »Say no to plagiarism. Get a tailor-made essay on “Why Violent Video Games Should Not Be Banned”? Get the original essay – Ernest Hemingway, Indian Camp, 1924 One of the most important lessons a young man should learn is that learned from his father. In “Indian Camp,” Nick goes on his first excursion to the slums to witness a cesarean birth and his father demonstrates how to look adversity in the face with stoicism. Beneath Hemingway's simple prose and plot of a father-son relationship reveals intense racial differences between the white man and the Indian, focusing on the hierarchy of authority. Hemingway explores the Indian man's bitter response to the "rivalry between savage and civilized" that prevailed during early colonization through his careful use of imagery and symbolism. The story begins with Nick Adams, his father and two other Indians traveling in the dark across the lake. in an Indian camp. Hemingway sets the framework for Nick Adam's entry from his physical world into a metaphorical world. As soon as the Indian boat docks at the beach, Uncle George hands the two Indians cigars. The gesture does not seem to come from a debt of Uncle George towards the doctor since the doctor is content to help the sick woman. This act was to be an expression of gratitude, like a gift. From the outset, the relationship between Uncle George and the Indians reveals the implications of dominant and subordinate dynamics. Through this exchange, Dr. Adam likely gained a sense of superiority with this gesture. This scene can be compared to Columbus's log, in which he generally authorized the appropriation of the native land through gifts. Later, the Indians' journey across the beach to the prairies, beyond the woods and hills closely resembles the way early Spanish colonizers explored unknown waters to their native lands. These four places the Indians travel to allude to the four voyages Columbus made before finally reaching the New World. The images artfully depict the symbolic departure from the world Nick knew and toward an empty realm of modernity. The author emphasizes the primitive aspects of the Indian camp by detailing the cabins in which the Indians live and suggesting the lack of electricity when he notes: "An old woman stood in the doorway, holding a lamp" (67). He also highlights the foul smell in the room: “The room smelled very bad” to further emphasize the poorly evolved lifestyle of people living in the slums. From the beginning, racial differences are made explicit by the recurring juxtaposition of civilization/savage, light/dark, and clean/dirty. When the Indians arrive at the woman's slum, Nick's father makes a great effort to teach Nick an important lesson about what the woman is going through. Nick is clearly traumatized and struggling to cope with the woman's screams, leading him to ask his father, "Oh, Dad, can't you give her something to make her stop screaming?" (68) This scene is rich in hidden meanings, particularly Dr. Adam's attitude toward the whole procedure. Dr. Adams tells Nick, “But his screaming isn't important. I don't hear them because they aren't important. Dr. Adams teaches Nick to maintain an apathetic view of the mother's distress. There is no sign that other Indians feel this way about the mother's cries. The emotional distance demonstrated by Dr. Adams is made explicitwhen he says: "When they are not born (head first), they cause a lot of problems for everyone" because he describes the birthing process simply as a physical act and does not take into account the state of agony. of pain in which the woman finds herself. The reader discovers that there is no anesthesia and that he must operate on the mother by cesarean section. Uncle George and the three men hold the mother down, undoubtedly one of the worst cases of obstetric violence. Generally, in cases of obstetric malpractice, there is a power struggle between the practitioner and the patient. In truth, Hemingway is examining the racial conflict between the early settlers and the Native Americans when they had their homes and lives maliciously taken away from them. Dr. Adams as a “conqueror” must exercise control over the mother’s body, this uninhabited territory for him. Native Americans have always had great respect for their land and have maintained a deep connection with their “Mother Earth”. Indigenous peoples' rights to self-government have a spiritual basis and this power has been exercised for years to uphold a particular role on their planet. As a result of severe marginalization, Indian territory and sovereignty are taken away from them, just as their mother's baby was aggressively cut away from them. Stripped of her humanity, the mother bit Uncle George in her best attempt to fight back against his conquerors. Uncle George responded to her wild behavior with obscenities, calling her a "fucking squaw bitch" (68). He acts in a very barbaric manner and just as barbaric as the mother. Just after Dr. Adams finished the procedure, he thought he glanced at the father and said, "It's usually the (fathers) who suffer the most in these little matters," which reiterates the way Dr. Adams undermines a mother's struggles and does so beautifully. vulnerable period of his life (69). Similar to a post-game high, Dr. Adams felt proud of his work and proudly said, "That's one for the George Medical Journal" (69). The immediate desire to publish this operation in a medical journal draws parallels with the way Columbus sent glowing reports to the king and queens about the colonizers' interactions with the natives. Colonizers typically appropriated territory through written proclamations and were the ultimate form of enshrined rule over Native Americans. The way he recounts the operation, such as how "football players are chatty in the locker room after the game," illustrates to the reader how much Dr. Adams is reveling in his team-like victory. winning football. The dominant-subordinate dynamic is reestablished when Uncle George sarcastically says, "Oh, you're a great man, all right," which also reinforces the self-aggrandizement Dr. Adams wallows in and his apathy toward the efforts of the mother. Shortly after, Dr. Adams removes the Indian's blanket to reveal that the Indian silently slit his throat during the ordeal. This Indian represents the Indians suffering from the cruel hand of the Spanish administration. These Indians quickly succumbed to the harsh treatment and deadly European diseases they brought. It was indeed the doctor who pushed the Indian to suicide. Dr. Adams imposed on the mother. Nick witnessed his first suicide and is left with many questions such as: "Why did he kill himself, Dad?" (69) His father responds with such placidity: “I don’t know, Nick. He couldn’t stand those things, I suppose” (69). Dr. Adams' passivity echoes similar attitudes dating back to early periods of Western acquisition. In the.