Jaymie Morgan

HUMN 2010

Section A

Nick Adam’s Biggest Heartbreak

While reading the Nick Adams’ stories, we are taken on a journey through heartbreak

after heartbreak throughout Nick’s life. A lot of these heartbreaks stay with him throughout these

stories and show up again at seemingly random moments. It’s a great way to show that

heartbreak is complicated, and healing is a process. Throughout these stories, the biggest

heartbreak Nick experiences that stuck with me was his time in the war and his struggles with

PTSD in the aftermath. This is shown many times by his words, thoughts, and behaviors in these

stories.

The first evidence that fighting in the war is Nick’s biggest heartbreak is how he behaves

in A Way You’ll Never Be. Over the course of this story, it seems like Nick is getting closer and

closer to a mental breakdown. In previous stories, Nick is always quiet and introverted, letting

other people take control of conversations. However, in this story, Nick can’t seem to stop

talking, even joking that he’s giving the people he’s talking to a lecture and asking them if they

have any questions (Hemingway, 412). This is a significant change from Nick’s previous

behavior of being more reserved. This major change shows the physical effects that Nick’s stress

and insomnia is having on him.

Another example of how fighting in the war is Nick’s biggest heartbreak comes from

Cross-Country Snow. Nick is talking to his friend George about Helen and their baby that is on

the way. When George says “it’s hell, isn’t it?” and Nick replies that it isn’t (187). After reading

about Nick’s experiences in the war and the horror he saw, it’s clear that he saw this time in his
life as an actual hell and nothing else would ever be as bad in comparison. After this, George

asks him why he thinks that and he replies that he doesn’t know. This response seems as though

Nick knows his answer but says he doesn’t know because the war was very traumatic and it’s too

painful for him to talk about.

The last example of how the war was Nick’s biggest heartbreak is the physical toll that

his PTSD takes on his body throughout these stories. The main way this PTSD manifests is

through insomnia. A great example of this is in Now I Lay Me, when Nick is laying awake at

night, unable to fall asleep. The story is told as though it’s a long stream of Nick’s thoughts as he

struggles to stay awake, fearful that if he fell asleep, he wouldn’t wake up. He distracts himself

by thinking about going fishing, which he describes in great detail (343). After this, Nick says

that on nights when he can’t think about fishing, he tries to remember everything that’s happened

to him, such as his mother burning his father’s things (365). I believe Nick does this as a way to

get away from the realities of war and distract himself from his exhaustion. I also understand

these effects from my own personal life. My father is a veteran who fought in Desert Storm. I

grew up watching him suffer from PTSD from the things he experienced. He would get very

jumpy at loud noises, such as slamming doors or fireworks, and suffered from insomnia just like

Nick, along with the physical pain and long-term health effects of going into combat. My father

also doesn’t like to talk about the things he experienced, either changing the subject or giving

vague answers when asked about it. Reading all of the stories where Nick talks about the war and

his struggle in the aftermath reminded me a lot of my father.

The Nick Adams’ stories show the real and harsh realities of heartbreak, and how those

events follow you throughout your life and make you into the person you will become. Nick has

dealt with all kinds of death, breakups, betrayal, and much more in these stories. However, based
on his thoughts and behaviors throughout this collection of stories, fighting in the war seemed to

have the biggest impact on him.

 Work Cited

Hemingway, Ernest. The Short Stories of Ernst Hemingway. New York: Charles Scribner’s Sons,

1996.