Before And After: The Effects of Warfare

Mordis Eksteins Rites of Spring: The Great War and Birth of the Modern Age and Ernest Hemmingway’s The Complete Short Stories of Ernest Hemmingway both have similarities and differences. Ekstein’s mostly pertains to the living conditions and events occurring during warfare, whilst Hemmingway’s focuses on what happens to soldiers after the war, particularly with family members and those who did not participate/stayed behind during wartime. . In some way, the two map out the harshness of before and after war, putting the psychological and physical effects into account as well. The two main characters in both stories also observed anything happening around them, and kept detailed accounts of it in their mind. One way to tie these two sources together is that Eksteins piece started and ended with such extreme psychological and physical conditions throughout the war, that when in Hemmingway’s story Krebs returned, his mentality was deeply affected. To how he viewed woman differently, to how he did not love anyone at all, it effected family members around him such as his mother, who cried due to Kreb’s harsh words. Both characters questioned the ongoing events occurring around them, such as in Ekstein’s, that when would help come, and that the hell that everyone was going through would finally cease? In Hemmingway’s, Krebs Morley questions his own actions and his own beliefs. One other thing is that in Ekstein’s, soldiers had more freedom, of course to an extent. In fact is was pretty much every man for himself. In Hemmingway’s, Kreb’s parents tried to restrict him when he returned from the war. They “did not want to hamper [his] freedom. [His father] thinks [he] should be allowed to drive a car.” As seen in both stories, both characters develop differently under extreme circumstances when it comes to extreme warfare. Depending on the person, effects can highly differ, from the experiences a person faced, to how one deals with it.