On the Quai

On the Quai at Smyrna As a collection of stories that take the indorser through the confusing and disorienting journey of America soldiers in World war I, the introduction, On the Quai at Smyrna, is no exception. Hemmingway begins his introduction without any explanation of who is reminiscing and provides still dilate to create an image in the readers mind. Hemmingway creates no scene for which to frame the events, and by doing this, Hemmingway throws the reader into the bill, non unlike the soldiers who were thrown into a war.Throughout the introduction Hemmingway creates an image of suffering and despair, however the fibber is never introduced. development this confusing and disturbing prose as an introduction, Hemmingway tempereds the reader up for the perplexing and painful stories that the soldiers atomic number 18 give tongue to throughout In Our Time. On the Quai at Smyrna lines a world where gruesome stories are so commonplace that a fall aparting is received with little shock and awe and much indifference. Hemmingway sets up the base by explaining, he express (Hemmingway) as a frame.thither is no more background given no other details are ostentationed to ease the reader understand the situation. The reader has to work through what he said to find out the setting, the characters, and the entire situation. This use of framing is atypical and causes the reader pause when relating to the protagonist. By structuring the yarn this way, Hemmingway draws the readers attention to the fact that it is not a first person account of the war, however of someones retelling. The story is told by the incumbent, it seems, to someone who has had a similar experience with the war and would understand.The story includes obscure references and specific things of which a reader might not extradite sense. The anonymous teller is a British officer at Smyrna and is relaying his stories to possibly an old war friend saying, You remember the harbor, (Hemmingway) leading the reader to reckon these two exhaust shared similar experiences. Hemmingway uses this confusion to show have the soldiers in the war might have felt confused around a number of issues. At this point, the narrator is telling the story so matter-of-factly that he might have destroyed either emotions linked to the awful events of the war.Because this officer has seen such marvelous things, such as a generate safekeeping her bloodless babies, he has become immune to the emotions that the reader tangs from these situations. This set up the rest of the stories of In Our Time with a tone of detestation that becomes more developed throughout the rest of the novel. On the Quai at Smyrna starts with the narrator, an officer, talking nigh them, screaming at midnight. Although they are never identified, the officer makes a point to explain that he does not know why they are screaming.This is just the beginning of the numerous ways that the soldiers in World W ar I are confused about the happenings in the war. Not only is the reader disoriented, but the so is the narrator. The officer begins a conversation with Turkish officer on the pier. The narrator explains that a Turkish officer wants the narrator to discuss one of the narrators sailors who had been insulting to the Turkish officer. Hemmingway does not use quotations to explain this conversation between the Turkish officer and the narrator hoverer, a Hemmingway switches to dialogue as the narrator talks to his sailor.The reader is told merely what the sailor responds, as if what the Turkish officers dialogue was less important. By switching the style of storytelling, Hemmingway ensures that the reader will more so identify the narrator of the story. The talker unit is unavailing to find the words he needs to use to describe his environment. While telling the story, the narrator struggles with holding in his feelings about the situation and giving an accurate portrayal to his compa nion. There were plenty of nice things floating around in it. That was the only m in my life I got so I dreamed about things.Hemmingway has the reader speak with a limited vocabulary in dedicate to show his inability to find the appropriate words. The verbalizer unit doesnt describe what was floating in the harbor or about what he was dreaming. By creating the rhetoric of the speaker to be so barren, Hemmingway shows the emotional detachment the speaker had to the horrifying truths of war. The reader sees that the dreams had by the speaker were roughly likely nightmares of terrible things he had seen at the pier, and is using his lack of language to control his emotions.The officer then tells about the women who are unwilling to give up their suddenly babies bodies. The way the narrator tells this story, in short choppy phrases and sentences, is parallel to his emotions. Hemmingway writes in this way so that although the reader knows and is even disturbed by these stories, the speaker is unattached. The narrator has seen so many traumas in the war that he is un subject to present emotions that someone who is not privy to that world would display.By creating this cognitive stochasticity in the reader, Hemmingway emphasizes the harsh realities of a war-laden environment. The narrator seems to talk as if he as seen too much, and what he has seen was not easy to swallow with the mentality he previously had before coming to war. After seeing all of these terrible situations, he has become overly withdrawn and able to tell a story full of facts including the gory details. The denial of his emotions proves that he is impotent to discuss his feelings during this time.As the English officer begins to speak about the strange final stage of an old woman, the reader sees no change of emotion within him. He interrupts him self while explaining, We were clearing them off the pier, had to clean off the exanimate ones, and this old woman was lying on a sort of lit ter. (Hemmingway) The speaker is remembering himself as he tells the story, and nonchalantly adds that it was the dead bodies that he was cleaning. Explaining something that could already be assumed, the narrator is emphasizing what his job entailed.Although he links no emotional memory to this responsibility, the fact that he adds that his chore was to remove the dead bodies, shows that he was uncomfortable with it. By reminding himself of the terrible things he was asked to do, the speaker shifts in his emotional restraint for just a quick second. There is no reasoning behind the facts. The speaker talks about the way things were, but never explain why the babies were not given away, or why the animals were crippled before going into the water. As the reader, it is impossible to assume why these things happened.Hemmingway puts the reader in the same mindset as the narrator, as if the narrator also has no knowledge of the motives of these people. The confusing atmosphere during wa rtime is mimicked in the speakers retelling of the story. A terrible, horrible scene is created not by the speaker, or by Hemmingway, but by Hemmingway to allow the reader to think of the belabor possible things. But putting the control of the surroundings into the mind of the reader, Hemmingway is able to propel the reader to reach the outskirts of his or her own fears.The sarcastic satire the speaker uses, saying things like nice things, nice chaps, a most pleasant business. (Hemmingway) Shows that he is unable to come up with the words to display his feelings properly in the telling of his experiences. Whoever is listening to the story knows that the speaker was greatly affected by tragedies, but the speaker is not willing to lease it. By using irony, the narrator shields himself from having to relive memories that were already painful large the first time.The speaker knows that a large percentage of what he did was inhumane, and wrong, and by saying that it was nice or ple asant he creates a barrier for himself and his feelings of guilt. Because he had no power to control the happenings in the war, but does feel responsible for treating people without respect, he used ironic language to display those feelings, rather than look weak. Hemmingway creates a man that is devoid of his emotions, rather stereotypically, to tell the horrors of war in a factual way. Works Cited Hemingway, Ernest. In Our Time. newly York Scribner Paperback Fiction, 1996. AZW.