“At the lake shore there was another rowboat drawn up.”

            Ernest Hemingway is one of the most intriguing personalities in Modern English Literature. For quite some time I have been engrossed in not only Hemingway’s works, but in his life as well. My interest started in high school when I read The Old Man and the Sea, but has continued to this very day. I am currently reading A Farewell to Arms, and I have watched the HBO original film Hemingway and Gellhorn multiple times. When searching for short stories I was naturally attracted to some of Hemingway’s shorter works. Once my eyes set on his story Indian Camp I knew it would be a text to further discuss and examine.

            Indian Camp is truly a great short story to teach in the classroom mainly because of the importance of the themes found in the work. Initiation, death, and race are just a few of the themes found in Indian Camp. The story got me thinking about my feelings on those themes, and I could see the story sparking great discussions within a high school classroom.  Most high school students have experienced some sort of death by the time they would read this story, and students could easily relate to the questions Nick Adams has at the end. The short story is very clearly written and, Hemingway’s simplistic style makes it very easy to read and understand.

            After reading Indian Camp one activity quickly came to mind. I would link Hemingway’s biography, specifically his work as a journalist, to a unique writing assignment. I would have my students re-write Hemingway’s short story as a newspaper article. I would also ask the students to create a photograph or illustration to accompany their newspaper article. After the articles were turned in I would organize them onto an online newspaper blog for all students to read. From there we could vote as a class on which article should be the front-page article, or we could critique each others article as well. After the blog has been explored we could develop one issue of the Hemingway Times as a class featuring articles relating to Indian Camp or Ernest Hemingway.

            I believe this short story would be a great introduction to a Hemingway novel, specifically The Old Man and the Sea, because it presents the author’s true style as one students could handle. After reading Indian Camp I think students would feel confident about tackling The Old Man and the Sea and possibility other Hemingway novels. For this reason and the reasons stated above, I would recommend Ernest Hemingway’s Indian Camp to just about any English teacher.