Literary Devices in Indian Camp
Symbolism, Imagery, Allegory
Setting
This one's easy, right? Maybe it's too easy. How are you supposed to interpret the fact that a story called "Indian Camp" takes place in an Indian camp?Well, think about why the story didn't just t...
Narrator Point of View
Nick is like our set of eyes—and, in a slightly weirder way, like our brain. Even though the story is told from a third-person perspective, it's a third person that describes Nick's view of thing...
Genre
Coming-Of-AgeHey, coming of age doesn't just happen all at once. It's more of a growing process. Eh? Anybody? Anybody? "Indian Camp" screams coming-of-age story because we see young Nick coming one...
Tone
Oh yeah, things are definitely tense in "Indian Camp." Parental demands, harrowing births, previously-unknown communities—and that's just the first half of the story. We get the sense that Nick c...
Writing Style
FamiliarLet's think about the first line of the story:At the lake shore there was another rowboat drawn up. The two Indians stood waiting. (1)Wait, what do you mean another rowboat? So there was al...
What's Up With the Title?
Let's think of some of the other titles Hemingway might have come up with: "Nick and His Father Go on an Awkward Boat Ride"; "Parenting Gone Awry"; "How I Learned About Childbirth and Suicide"; "Th...
What's Up With the Ending?
This story's ending packs an emotional punch:In the early morning on the lake sitting in the stern of the boat with his father rowing, he felt quite sure that he would never die. (65)How did we go...
Tough-o-Meter
Trust us: this story does not earn a 3 because of its language, its length, or the complexity of its storyline. "Well, what else is there?" you're probably be asking. Though it may appear simple on...
Plot Analysis
"Where Are We Going, Dad?"The story begins with Nick travelling to a place that he presumably has never been to before, about to witness something that he presumably has never witnessed before. New...
Trivia
Nick Adams appears in about twenty-four Hemingway stories. Considering that Hemingway published around seventy short stories, that's about one-third of all Hemingway stories! So he's clearly an imp...
Steaminess Rating
There might not be any sex in this story, but it is not for the easily-squeamish. We may not get graphic depictions of the Indian woman's labor and the operation (Nick censors it for us by looking...
Allusions
Whoa, where are all the shout-outs in this story? There just aren't any, dear reader. But that doesn't mean we can't still talk about them, by golly. By not situating the story in any real recogniz...