Leo Lee

HUMN 2010-A

Prof. Adam Diehl

February 5, 2024

What breaks Nick Adams’ heart

Throughout the Nick Adams story, there are multiple heart breaks readers can pick.

However, the most critical heart-breaking moment would be him experiencing PTSD from the

war and chaos within himself. The author himself was an American volunteer during World War

I as an ambulance driver in Italy. Even though he was not a soldier fighting in the frontline, he

was exposed to war and surely experienced so many deaths of soldiers and their screaming in

pain was more than enough to give one a trauma that would last their lifetime. In 1918, he got a

severe injury to both legs and had to be at the hospital. I can see how he shared his experiences

in all his novels I have read in Professor Diehl’s class. In “The Sun Also Rises,’ he shared

traumas and his fears through Jake, and in “The Nick Adams Stories,” he shared in the eyes of

Nick. “Now I Lay Me” and “A Way You’ll Never Be” focuses on the story of Nick when he was

in the Italian frontline, which would directly reflect Hemmingway’s experience in war. In fact,

“The Nick Adams Stories” shares about whole life of Ernest Hemmingway, so through Nick’s

story, the author puts his sorrow, regrets, and other feelings in the main character to express his

darkness inside him that readers may pick up and feel compassion for Nick which would be

Hemmingway. So, Nick's heartbreak within himself is not only within the book, but it might also

be the regret the author had in his life to share it to the rest of the world. Hemmingway’s dad was

a hunter and outdoors person, and his mother was a former musician who had bad relationships
with Hemmingway. That relationship with the parents also melted in “The Nick Adams Story”

about how Nick was a daddy’s little boy and was nice to him, but he did not really seem to have

a connection with a mother. In real life, Hemmingway did not even care his mother passed away

and just sent money to cousins to take care of the funeral process while he focuses on his other

work. The iceberg behind this novel reflecting Hemmingway’s life is interesting since he really

uses Nick to tell the story but most of the feelings are coming from real life experiences of

Hemming instead of a fictional character but if you really do not know the author’s life, you will

never guess how Hemmingway could have come up with this story. Hemmingway shoots

himself with a shotgun to end his life just like how his dad killed himself as well. That tells me

he was going through lots of things in his life. Even after authoring numerous novels, he still

could not escape the nightmares and pains he has gotten through and choose to end his own.

“The Nick Adams Stories” ends with an open ending but not much of a brighter side. Perhaps,

that is a foreshadow for the Hemmingway’s life before taking his own away. So, my conclusion

is that Nick’s major heartbreak is within himself that reflects Hemmingway’s real life in some

perspective to share his darkness with the readers to build a connection between the author and

the readers.