Samantha Hartman 1

Samantha Hartman

Ms. Russell

Honors English 11 B

21 February 2019

Mood in “In Another Country”

How would you feel if you were in the middle of a war? “In Another Country” answers

that exact question, showing us the dark, depressing details of being at war for a few individuals.

Despite moments of hope, the overall mood of the story is depressing. Ernest Hemingway’s short

story, “In Another Country”, uses mood to convey a sad, realistic look at how war affects

individuals lives.

The story’s melancholy mood is introduced during the first paragraph. For example: “It

was cold in the fall in Milan and the dark came very early” (Hemingway 249). Starting the story

by describing the setting as cold and dark contributes to the story’s overall sad mood. Describing

somewhere as cold and or dark usually gives readers a negative outlook on that place, which I

believe was Hemingway’s intention. When thinking about a country with a war going on, do you

think of a warm, sunny environment? No, you would picture somewhere similar to what Ernest

Hemingway describes in the first paragraph of the story. Later on, Hemingway begins to touch

upon the horrors of war. “There were usually funerals starting from the courtyard” (Hemingway

250). This quotation almost normalizes mass amounts of death during wartime, something we

usually do not see. The story’s narrator seems unfazed by the amount of funerals he sees. This

also contributes to the story’s overall somber mood.

In addition to describe the setting in a dark way, Hemingway focuses on details of the

individuals’ lives within the war. “The people hated us because we were officers, and from a
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wine-shop someone would call out, “A basso gli ufficiali!” [down with the officers] as we

passed” (Hemingway 251). The officers were harassed when simply walking down the street,

making them feel like outsiders. This must lower the already low morale of the individuals in the

story. In addition to feeling like an outsider with the people of Milan, the narrator also feels like

an outcast amongst his other officers. “I was a friend, but I was never really one of them after

they had read the citations, because it had been different with them and they had done very

different things to get their medals” (Hemingway 252). The narrator explains that he only

received his medal because he was an American, whereas the other officers received their medals

for acts of bravery. The difference in how they earned their medals leaves the narrator feeling as

though he doesn’t belong. The narrator has an encounter with the major, who yells at him and

then has a breakdown while trying to explain why he had been mean to the narrator. ‘“I am

utterly unable to resign myself,” he [the major] said and choked. And then crying, his head up

looking at nothing, carrying himself straight and soldierly, with tears on both cheeks and biting

his lips, he walked past the machines and out the door” (Hemingway 254). The major’s wife had

just died, suddenly, and he is unable to compose himself in an environment filled with death and

war. This furthers the depressing mood of the story, and explains how war can worsen situations.

“In Another Country” focuses on how war affects the lives of a few individuals in

Italy. Some of these people struggle to be happy, and the narrator of the story feels like an

outcast. In addition, the main characters are hated by citizens of Milan. This story shows the

struggles of being a part of the war by using a mood that is depressing, realistic, and powerful.
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