In Another Country – Hemingway page 731-734

1. We reveal who we are by our interactions with our environment and with people around us. The narrator of this story, a soldier, reveals that he is quite sensitive by the way he observes his surroundings. What are some of his surroundings that demonstrate his sensitivity?

2. What is the wound that the narrator has?

3. The three wounded Italians the narrator hangs out with are described as “hunting hawks,” while the narrator does not feel he is like that at all. Why are they different from the narrator, what is the difference?

4. The major is also wounded, and has three times the medals the others have. Why do you suppose the major never talks about his medals?

5. The major is quite disciplined with himself, even though he is sarcastic with the doctors, and skeptical about the machines. Although surrounded by war and death, what is the breaking point for the major and sets him off into an emotional explosion?

6. Although the machines are brand new and never been tested, the doctors have “before and after” pictures of injuries that the machines have rehabilitated. Can this be explained?

7. The story is written in the past tense. “But this was a long time ago, and then we did not any of us know how it was going to be afterward.” How do you think it turns out for the narrator? Does he go on to live a long, happy life?

8. The narrator says, “…we felt held together by there being something that had happened that they, the people who disliked us, did not understand.” What was it that the people did not understand about these soldiers?

9. Hemingway hints at the idea that if you don’t like someone, there is probably something you don’t understand about that person. Has this ever happened to you?