In Our Time (short story collection) we are in hell." Hemingway conjures a world where "the weak are pitilessly exploited by the strong, and ... all functions of life ... promise only pain." Hemingway's semi-autobiographical character Nick Adams is "vital to Hemingway's career", writes Mellow, and generally his character reflects Hemingway's experiences. Nick, who features in eight of the stories, is an alter ego, a means for Hemingway to express his own experiences, from the first story '"Indian Camp" which features Nick as a child. According to critic Howard Hannum, the trauma of birth and suicide Hemingway paints in "Indian Camp" rendered a leitmotif that gave
The Short Happy Life of Francis Macomber time does Wilson take responsibility for his part in the adultery. He even provides a double cot in his tent in order to provide better service. He is merely satisfying men and women's glorification of him as "the white hunter." The gun-bearers report that the first buffalo has not died and has gone into the tall grass. Wilson dismisses the sexual trifle and quickly refocuses on Macomber and helps him track the wounded buffalo, paralleling the circumstances of the previous day's lion hunt. Macomber, however, is confident this time, courageous. Wilson is, again, proud. When they find the buffalo, it