haw 14). In "Indian Camp," nick stays in his father's arms for a sense of security and this reinforces their close father-son relationship. When Nick sees the terror of death, in the form of suicide, his father is right there to comfort him. From this we are able to see how Nick has his father to, physically and mentally, "lean" on, much like Hemingway did (Shaw 11). Hemingway's love for his father was not always so positive though, and he often expressed his feelings about his situation though his literature. When Hemmingway was young, his father persuaded him to have his tonsils removed by a friend, Dr. Wesley Peck. Even though it was Dr. Peck who performed the painful operation, Hemingway "always held it against his father for taking out his tonsils without an anaesthetic" (Meyers 48). Hemingway saw the opportunity to portray his father in "Indian Camp" as the cold-hearted man who had his tonsils yanked out without anaesthetic. In a reply to Nick's question about giving the Indian woman something to stop screaming, his father states, "No. I haven't any anaesthetic…But her screams are not important. I don't hear them because they are not important." (Tessitore 18) Hemingway lashed out at his father one more time before the story ends. In "Indian Camp," Hemingway uses the conversation between Nick and his father, concerning the suicide of the Indian, to show his distaste for his own father's suicide: 'Why did he kill himself, Daddy?' 'I don't know Nick.' 'He couldn't stand things, I guess.' 'Do many men kill themselves, Daddy?' 'Not very many, Nick…' 'Is dying hard, Daddy?' 'No, I think its pretty easy, Nick. It all depends.' (Hemingway 19) Hemingway saw his father as a weak working man who served his wife, Grace, unconditionally. Ed worked a full day to come home to clean house, prepare food, and tend to the children. He had promised Grace that if she would marry him, she would not have to do housework for as long as he li...
