Indian Camp - Grade: B+ PDF

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U.S. Literature of Medicine Themes Hidden Within the Indian Camp

In the short story, “Indian Camp” by Ernest Hemingway, themes of toxic masculinity, racism, and mortality are explored. In short, it describes the journey of three men: Dr. Adams, his son Nick Adams, and Uncle George, traveling to an American Indian camp located on the other side of a northern Michigan lake to help one of the American Indians deliver a baby . The woman had been in labor for two days but failed in giving birth which called for Dr. Adams assistance. She needed an emergency cesarean but there was no equipment, forcing him to improvise while Nick witnessed the entire painful ordeal. After successfully delivering the baby, they discover that the father of the baby had taken his own life during the surgery. They proceed to leave the next morning, excluding Uncle George. Superiority was showcased in “Indian Camp” as there were many moments where Dr. Adams had made it clear that he believed to be superior when compared to the American Indians solely because he was providing them with his aid. Hemmingway was able to subtly show the strong ideology of imperialism that Dr. Adams possessed, through his actions. When first encountering the screams of the pregnant woman, he tells Nick that, “…her screams are not important. I don’t hear them because they are not important.” There was no sense of urgency in his tone. He simply wanted to deliver the baby as he was expected to do. After completing the cesarean surgery without proper equipment and anesthesia, instead of checking up on the mother, he congratulates himself on successfully completing his task and saying, “That’s one for the medical journal.” He seems to be completely emotionally detached regarding the state of the new 1

mother. The only character that showed any remorse for the mother was Nick. This lack of empathy shows that the doctor had only cared for himself. He treated the mother as a new accomplishment rather than an important patient. The mother went through this painful ordeal without the support of others and still received no recognition. It also seemed that the doctor had been unprepared for the delivery. It may have been caused by the suddenness of the situation, but it also may have been because of the authority that he believes he has over them. He did not see a reason to relieve any stress or pain from someone who is not his equal. When Uncle George had been holding her down during the surgery, she bit him. She bit him in order to cope with the pain of doing the surgery without any intention of hurting the other. Instead of understanding this point of view, Uncle George called her a racial slur while all the other American Indians laughed . The only reason that the others laughed was in order to appease the doctor and his brother. If the American Indians did not laugh, there could’ve been a risk of them being offended which would result in them leaving without giving the Indians the help they need. Overall, the story is told in the third person, limited omniscient which gives more emphasis on the white males’ point of view that is present in the story rather than the Indians’ point of view . It is evident that the story has more of an emphasis on the effect of life and death on the protagonist, Nick Adams, innocence rather than the actual events that occurred within it. His character develops throughout the short story. Nick was rather innocent at the beginning of this short story. He had not been exposed to how the world works and was surprised by many events that had occurred at the Indian Camp. He starts off being under his father’s shadow. While they were on the boat, on their way to see the woman in need, Nick sat with his dad with his dad’s 2

arm around his shoulders. When they first arrived at the camp, the screams of the pregnant woman and the smell of cigars threw him off as he took in his new surroundings. The doctor kept trying to explain new things to Nick as the story progressed including the fact that the baby was a breach. Nick’s innocence involved not knowing common knowledge since he had never been exposed to a similar situation beforehand. When Dr. Adams got to work, he instructed Nick to observe beside him since he was an intern that needed to be exposed to these types of things. However, every time that he was instructed to look at what was happening, he turned away as his, “…curiosity had been gone for a long time.” This part of the story is Nick slowly becoming less reliant on what his father says and beginning to understand the pain that came with a new life being introduced to the world. This was when he realized just how messy childbirth is. That was the effect of life that Nick first encountered. After the surgery was completed, the doctor went to go check on the new father only to find out that he had committed suicide with a razor. When Nick witnessed it, he did not look away despite the wishes of his father. Nick had to alter his understanding of the world previous to the events that he had witnessed. He goes on to ask Dr. Adams questions about death such as, “Why did he kill himself…? …Do many men kill themselves?” With these questions, considering the fact that he had just witnessed an Indian man die and an Indian woman close to death, Nick seems to believe that he would never die because it had only happened to people that weren’t “like him.” This ties back to the theme about white superiority as he doesn’t believe he’ll die since he is a young white male while the one that died was an older Indian male.

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This also ties itself to the theme of toxic masculinity with the father. Dr. Adams answered Nick’s questions about death but in such a way that he made it seem that suicide is not something that a “real man” would go through with because they are supposed to be tough. There could’ve been many reasons as to why the new father would’ve killed himself. First of all, he could’ve done it because Uncle George may have been the father. Uncle George seemed to be extremely familiar with the traditions of the Indian Camp like as if he’s been there prior to the surgery. A possible reason the new father could’ve committed suicide is because of the shame that it would bring when others would find out that his wife had a baby from someone other than himself. It is drastic but would let the husband avoid the situation altogether. Another reason why he would’ve committed suicide could’ve been because he felt useless as a husband since he couldn’t help with his injured foot. Their culture probably had made the husband the main caretaker of the family, but without the ability to walk around, he couldn’t do anything to help his wife or others. Returning to the theme of toxic masculinity, Dr. Adams does not give the upper hand to anyone but himself. After completing the surgery, he goes to check on the father as the husbands are usually, “…the worst sufferers in these little affairs.” The doctor just assumes that the wife did not have much work to do because she had just laid down during the surgery even though she was the only one that had to suffer through all the pain alone. Taking everything into account, this short story has many hidden themes that can be found after closely analyzing it. The themes that were most evident in the story were toxic masculinity, racism, and mortality.

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