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.
