How Is Indian Camp A Failed Initiation Story?

by | Last updated on January 24, 2024

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“Indian Camp” is an initiation story.

Nick's father (Dr. Adams) exposes his young son to and, unintentionally, to violent death

—an experience that causes Nick to equate childbirth with death.

What were two main conflicts in the story Indian Camp?

Main Conflict: The main conflict occurs between

Nick and Himself

. This experience has forced him to swallow the hard pill of death from suicide. At the end of the story he made a resolution that he will never die but not in a literal sense.

What did Nick learn from the Indian Camp?

Nick a curious boy who idolizes his father as a paragon of strength and wisdom. The trip begins as an occasion for Nick to learn about

some of life's realities

, but things quickly go awry as it becomes clear that the Indian woman will need to be given an emergency cesarean.

What is the purpose of Indian Camp?

The Indian camp is generally recognized as one of Hemingway's best and most interesting short stories. It

primarily focuses on the relationship between father and son, and on its attendant rites of initiation into the world of adult experience: child birth, loss of innocence and suicide

.

Is Uncle George the father in Indian Camp?

Through Hemingway's careful and subtle clues, the reader comes to see Uncle George as the most important guide of all: a father. However,

it is the final scene of “Indian Camp”

which really sets everything in motion.

What does Nick's father apologize for?

On the way home, Nick's father apologizes for

bringing him, all his excitement gone

. Nick asks if women always have a hard time having babies. The answer from his father is no. Nick then asks why the man killed himself, to which his father replies that he must not have been able to stand things.

How does Hemingway depict birth and death in Indian Camp?

While Hemingway depicts birth and death as

similar experiences

, Nick and his father react to them differently. Nick's father treats the birth with nonchalance; he encourages Nick to watch each step and he dismisses the woman's screams as “not important.” However, the woman's painful birth clearly scares Nick.

What does water symbolize in Indian Camp?

Water appears throughout “Indian Camp” as

a medium that separates Nick's family from the native people who live in the shantytown

.

What is the tone of Indian Camp?

Tone/Mood of Indian Camp

The tone of this short story is ironic because the doctor or Nick's father is going about a painful procedure in a nonchalant way. The mood of this book is

dark, loud, and painful

.

How does Nick mature in Indian camp?

When Nick's father brings Nick along on a trip to deliver a baby, he intends to initiate his son into adult life by

teaching him explicit lessons about life and the value of work

. However, the trip takes an unexpectedly traumatic turn when the baby's mother requires an emergency surgery and her husband kills himself.

Why did Nick's father bring him to the Indian camp?

Nick's father is a doctor who travels to an “Indian camp”

to help deliver a baby

. He brings his son Nick along on the trip, hoping to teach him lessons about life and work. He's a decisively masculine figure, and reacts to his world with self-assurance, stoicism, and grit—and not a small amount of male chauvinism.

What was Nick's realization at the end?

At the end of The Great Gatsby, Nick realizes that

Tom and Daisy are very careless people

. Nick sees the hollowness of people like Tom, Daisy, and Jordan. While he might have been raised to refrain from judgment, Nick sees what Tom and Daisy do to the people who are cursed to care for them.

What is the plot of Indian Camp?

In “Indian Camp,”

Adams is a young boy, accompanying his doctor father on a mission to save the life of an Indian woman by conducting an emergency Caesarean section

. The events of the story, according to Hemingway, are not autobiographical, but he may have been inspired by the birth of his son.

Where does Indian Camp take place?

One night, Dr. Adams is summoned to help an American Indian woman who has been in painful labor for two days. The doctor takes his young son, Nick, and his brother, George, to the American Indian camp

on the other side of a northern Michigan lake

.

How old is Nick Indian Camp?

Nick is the main character and the one whose point of view we see things through. We never learn his exact age, but he is

probably no older than 12

since he calls his father “daddy” and seems a bit naive.

What was Hemingway's wealth when he died?

Hemingway Estate

$1.4 Million

; Widow is His Lone Beneficiary.

Who are the main characters in Indian Camp?

  • Nick Adams. Nick is the young protagonist of the story, brought along by his father and Uncle George on a trip to a nearby Native American encampment to care for an “Indian lady” who has… …
  • Nick's Father. …
  • The Indian Woman. …
  • The Indian Woman's Husband. …
  • Uncle George.

When was Indian Camp written?

Morbid? Well that's the turn that an attempted parental life-lesson takes in Ernest Hemingway's short story “Indian Camp.” “Indian Camp” was part of Hemingway's very first collection of stories, In Our Time, which was published in

1925

when he was only 26 years old.

Who was Nicks father?

Nick's father is

a doctor

who travels to an “Indian camp” to help deliver a baby. He brings his son Nick along on the trip, hoping to teach him lessons about life and work. He's a decisively masculine figure, and reacts to his world with self-assurance, stoicism, and grit—and not a small amount of male chauvinism.

Who is Nick's father?

Nick's father,

Miguel Torres

, makes a surprise appearance.

What is the relationship between Nick and his father in Indian camp?

In a lot of ways,

Nick's dad is a stock father figure

. Instead of playing catch, he just takes his son along for some, shall we say, less conventional father-son bonding instead. But as if his fatherly-ness didn't make him authoritative enough, he's also a doctor.

Where does Uncle George go?

Uncle George largely spends “

Indian Camp

” assisting Nick's father in his operation. He's an affable man who gets along with the Native American men and, like Nick, greatly admires Nick's father, flattering him with compliments and calling him a “great man” after he successfully performs the operation.

Who wrote Indian Camp?

Ernest Hemingway

What is the symbolism in Indian camp?

In “Indian Camp”

light subjugates dark

just as the light skinned men subjugate the darker skinned Indians. The metaphoric usage of light and dark heightens the clash of two opposing cultures. This symbolism also strengthens Nick's own personal growth in terms of imagery.

Maria LaPaige
Author
Maria LaPaige
Maria is a parenting expert and mother of three. She has written several books on parenting and child development, and has been featured in various parenting magazines. Maria's practical approach to family life has helped many parents navigate the ups and downs of raising children.