Robert Thomas 02/02/2015

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An Analysis of Bildungsroman as presented in Hemmingways In Our

Time.
Most readers agree that one of the most prominent concepts
presented in Earnest Hemmingways book In Our Time is that of the
Bildungsroman.1 The most apparent form of this, upon close reading, is how
the character of Nick is intermittently presented throughout the collection
of short stories. Nick is portrayed first in his youth, dealing with the
strained relationship between his parents in The Doctor and the Doctors
Wife, then throughout the rest of the stories dealing with relationships
between couples, friends, and his own interpretations of these
interpersonal relationships at various points in his life. Most readers agree
that Nicks story is that of a Bildungsroman because of the complex
relationships that he himself makes, and loses, while trying to form his own
moral values from his own experience and opinions while growing up. They
are all, for the most part, wrong.
Nicks true experience (that of a Bildungsroman) is one of maturation
by bouncing his potential values off of his friends; he uses his friends as a
sounding moral board so that he doesnt have to make difficult decisions
about what his personal values and morals will be himself. Nick rarely ever
finds himself alone when making big decisions in his life, or reflecting on
the events of his life, and even when he does he falls back on past
experience with his friends.2 A closer reading of the stories Nick is featured

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in reveal that the real reason this collection of stories is a Bildungsroman is
because of how Nick uses his friends and family as pivotal pieces while he
tries to form some kind of moral code for himself. He essentially creates a
thatch-work sense of self, and values, by stealing the ones that seem most
reasonable from his personal relationships. Without the guidance of his
friends, and ability to reflect his ideals off of them to see which shined
brightest, he would very likely have ended up forming a much different set
values. Furthermore, this cycle of emulation and adaption of the values of
others creates a self-sustaining system of creating a personal moral system
from pieces of your past, and better conforming to acceptable societal
mores and norms. Based on this, we can look primarily to two stories
featuring Nick from In Our Time: The Three-Day Blow, and Cross
Country Snow to illustrate just how heavily other people influenced Nicks
maturation. By looking at these stories, what stages in Nicks life they
represent, and how his relationships impacted his choices, we can better
see the full impact that these relationships had on his growth and
psychological development.
First looking at The Three-Day Blow we can examine the childhood
friendship, and the way it influences the interactions between Nick and Bill.
Throughout this story both Nick and Bills actions emulate how they
perceive adults.3 More importantly, their dialogue is being bounced back
and forth between each other. They use this discourse as a way to see how
someone would perceive, or react to their ideas (or how well they are

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emulating adult behaviors). A prime example of this type of experimental
discourse is shown between pages 40 and 49. Starting with their
conversation about the whiskey: Its got a swell, smokey taste, Nick said,
and looked at the fire through the glass. Thats the peat, Bill said. You
cant get peat into liquor, Nick said. That doesnt make any difference, Bill
said. You ever see any peat? Nick asked. No, said Bill. Neither have I,
Nick said. (40) In this conversation they are both attempting to act as they
assume adults would, without really being sure what they are doing is quite
correct. Bill claims the flavor in the liquor is from The Peat (40), while
Nick counters him with the fact that you cannot impart peat into a liquor,
despite not even having seen peat himself. Bill was likely repeating what he
had heard from his father, having seen how he acted in a similar situation,
and Nick corrected him so as to avoid the embarrassment of saying such a
thing at a later date when he might actually make more of a fool of himself.4
They then proceed to discuss both literary works, and sports, mixing
what they know with what they may have heard to try to fill the roles they
are emulating.5 During the events of this story they also try to emulate what
they think to be adult actions and mannerisms, such as the reasoning
behind Nick offering to grab a new log for the fire: Also he wished to show
he could hold his liquor and be practical. (44) And when he subsequently
knocks the pan of apricots off of the stove (and picked them back up): He
felt quite proud of himself. He had been thoroughly practical. (45). Both

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Nick and Bill were trying to show the actions that they thought proved
maturity (mainly being able to hold liquor in this specific case), but are also
both respectful of each others mistakes so as not to embarrass one
another6. The importance of these early exchanges is that they are creating
a mutual safe haven where they can practice emulating older figures 7 in
their lives, and receive feedback before adopting these behaviors, actions,
and ideals into their personal value systems. This shows from an early age
how it is not just his personal choices that makes Nick mature, but in large
part he matures by incorporating ideals from others into his personal
values.
Next looking at Cross-Country Snow we can examine how nick still
leans toward his friend Bill to further confirm his personal ideals and
values. Here he generally has much more complex feelings, as his life has
become much more complex, but he still is using his friend Bill as a
sounding board, still filling similar roles as they emulated as children;
sitting for a drink (after skiing), and having general conversations, like they
had done while emulating Bills8 dad during their childhood. They
essentially have now fully incorporated this as a ritual of friendship, and
how they still perceive that mature adults act in the world.9 They are still
however creating a safe area to further refine how they act, as evident after

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receiving the wine on page 109: The girl brought the wine in and they had
trouble with the cork. and Those specs of cork in it dont matter, said
Nick. Once again they both nonverbally agree to ignore each others
shortcomings, the fact that neither of them can properly open a wine bottle
without destroying the cork, for the sake of keeping this safe space in their
friendship to refine their morals, behaviors, and ideals. A contrast between
how differently everyone matures based on those around them that they can
adopt values from is also present in this story: The door came open and a
gang of woodcutters from up the road came in, stamping their boots and
steaming in the room. The waitress brought in three liters of new wine for
the gang and they sat at the two tables, smoking and quite (110) While
they may share similarities to Nick and Bill in that they were here to unwind
and have a drink, in contrast to Nick and Bill they were sitting quietly
smoking. The woodcutters had likely picked up smoking from those they
saw as role models in their lives, and had adopted quiet contemplation (or
just not talking) as their manner of bonding within their circle of immediate
relationships.
This brings us to the Coup de grce10 against the argument that the
Bildungsroman style of development presented in In Our Time results
solely from Nicks personal choices and experience. Instead we have seen
that Nick, from an early age (as we saw in The Three-Day Blow) is
incorporating values and mannerisms of those around him into his own
moral standards as he matures, and molding himself to fit his perception of

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the role of maturity, from what he has seen. He does this largely through his
interpersonal relationships, his friendship with Bill being the one featured
prominently in the stories (the others mostly implied), by creating a safe
environment where both he and his friend can refine their ideals of what it
means to be a mature adult (and get small bits of feedback that are later
incorporated into his mannerisms and values). This continues later into his
life (as we saw in Cross-Country Snow) as well, as he and Bill both are
still working to refine what they perceive as a mature adult and fit into that
role. They have built upon how they used to drink and try to act as they
thought adults should act while conversing, into adults that are still trying
to fit that ideal role (who still cannot properly uncork a wine bottle). In
contrast to the wood cutters who site quietly while drinking and smoke to
fill the roles that they perceive as that of an adult. We are all the products of
what we are exposed to. Our personal values are a patchwork of what is
present around us. Consider if Nick had spent his life without knowing Bill.
He may have instead emulated his own father who never drank, and become
a completely different person. Unless raised in a complete vacuum,
everyone will pull values, mannerisms, and ideals from those around them,
and use them to form their own moral values and perceptions; this is how
people create the ideal role that they strive to fill over their lifetime, even as
they make adjustments and refinements to their core beliefs along the way.
Furthermore, this is how we all come to fit into our roles in society, not only
as predefined by others but also as we perceive them to be defined.

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Works Cited
"Bildungsroman." Merriam-Webster. Merriam-Webster, n.d. Web. 29 Jan.
2015.
"Coup De Grce." Merriam-Webster. Merriam-Webster, n.d. Web. 01 Feb.
2015.
"EasyBib: The Free Automatic Bibliography Composer." EasyBib. N.p., n.d.
Web. 29 Jan. 2015.
Hemingway, Ernest. In Our Time. New York: Scribner Paperback Fiction,
1996. Print.
"MLA Works Cited Guidelines." Purdue OWL (Online Writing Lab). Purdue
University, n.d. Web. 01 Feb. 2015.

-Written using MLA guidelines (from Purdue Owl)

-Word Count: 1,937