Ernest Hemingway, Indian Camp and The Doctor and the Doctors Wife - Essay Example

The Doctor and the Doctor’s Wife In the short story, Nick Adams is a young man who lives in Michigan. He accompanies Dr.Adams who is his father with his uncle to the American Indian Camp. The story seems more of an autobiographical as Hemingway’s father was also a doctor. Thus, the author is initiated into the concepts which remained important to him in his career. This includes death versus life, endurance versus suicide and pain versus suffering. As depicted, Dr. Adams is not a trained doctor.

First, he performs the operation in the camp. He also asks Nick to assist in holding the basin of hot water. He is also helped by four strong American Indian men who hold the woman down. He violates the nursing ethics as he uses a fishing jackknife instead of a scalpel. Despite this, he carries out a cesarean on this woman who successfully delivers a baby boy. He recklessly sews the woman by gut leader line acquired from a fishing tackle. He carries the surgery in an impromptu manner with all the risky operations improvised.

He cannot realize the danger of carrying out an operation while the injured husband is looking on. This makes the young American husband to lose his life due to the pains that her wife experienced. The death of the Indian was also fostered by the doctor who asserts that the man ‘Could not stand things’. Dr. Adams has a negative attitude towards women. He strongly suggests that the screaming made by the woman is not important. This is because he fears to confront events. He is also a racist as illustrated by the American Indian had who asserts that he had no hopes in the racists, who were the whites.

Therefore, the attitude in the story is fostered by ambiguous attitude towards primitivism. Work CitedHemingway, Ernest. The Snows of Kilimanjaro: Up in Michigan; On the Quai at Smyrna; Indian Camp; The Doctor and the Doctors Wife; The End of Something; The Three Day Blow; The Battler; A Very Short Story; Soldiers Home; Revolutionist; Mr. and Mrs. Elliot; Cat in the Rain. New York: Penguin Books, 1963. Print.