Understanding the story

1. Where and when do you think this story could have taken place?

Give reasons for your opinion.

2. How old do you think Nick is, and why do you think his father has taken him to the Indian camp with him? Would you have done the same with your son or daughter?

3. How would you describe Nick's relationship towards his father? Where do you get your information from?

4. Why do you think the doctor has no anaesthetic with him?

5. Describe the doctor's mood after the operation. How does the way he talks to Uncle George differ from the way he talks to Nick?

6. In what way does the suicide of the father come as a surprise? Is it a climax or anticlimax?

7. Why hadn't the father gone out into the woods with the other Indians while his baby was being born?

8. Where do you think Uncle George has gone, and why?

9. Do you see any significance in the time of day at the beginning and the end of the story?

10. Nick's father regrets having taken his son with him, but what does his son feel about it?

11. Has Nick's attitutude towards his father changed at the end of the story?

Give reasons for your opinion.

12. Why – after such a recent close encounter with death – does Nick feel that he will never die?

Summarize the story briefly (in writing or orally) in your own words.

Style and language

1. Look at the type and length of sentence which Hemingway uses. How would you describe his style? Is it effective?

2. "Indian lady", "woman", "squaw bitch": who uses these descriptions of the mother-in-labour and in what contexts? How does the use of these words characterize the people who use them or the situations they use them in?

3. Does the language, in your opinion, match the "brutal realities of life, birth and death" with which Hemingway is so often concerned?

4. Hemingway may use short, newspaper-style sentences, but there would be a big difference between a newspaper article of this event and Heming-way's story. Hemingway leaves a lot out, but he also puts things in which no reporter would mention. What sort of things? It may help if you write, in your own words, a brief newspaper article about what happened in the story.

Further discussion

1. Many of Hemingway's novels and short stories are concerned with courage - or lack of it. Discuss the courage - or lack of it - shown by the Indian woman, her husband, Nick and Uncle George.

2. Does this story shock you? Say why or why not.

3. How do you think you would have reacted in Nick's place?

4. Do you agree with the doctor's statement that the woman's screams are not important? What does he really mean by "unimportant", and do you think that Nick understands what he means?

5. Find the longest sentence in the story. Why do you think it is so long?

6. To what extent does Hemingway express an opinion of his own about is happening in his story?

7. What cliches about American fathers are reflected in the story? Are American fathers different from fathers in your country?

8. Would the story have a different significance if the last paragraph were out?

9. Would you describe this as a story of initiation. Compare it with any other similar stories (such as Doris Lessing's Through the Tunnel in this collection) which you have read.

10. Can you find any hint of racism in the story? Compare the worlds in which the white men in the story and the Indians live. Do you see any big differences in the story?