Analog Project

Heartbreak is defined as a crushing grief, anguish, or distress. The Nicks Adams Stories,

written by Ernest Hemingway reveals the different types of heartbreak that Nick experiences

throughout his life. Each story explains a different life event that led Nick to some sort of

heartbreak. However, the most significant heartbreak that Nick experiences is the heartbreak with

himself due to his mental health problems.

Throughout the story, Now I Lay Me, Nick is trying to live through his time in war. Nick

cannot sleep anymore due to the emotional trauma that his soul will leave his body if he falls

asleep. This happened because of his PTSD of getting blown up in the middle of the night. The

only way that he can keep himself up at night is by trying to relive all the earliest memories that

he can remember. He would relive the memories that made him happy, “I would think of a trout

stream I had fished along when I was a boy and fish its whole length very carefully in my mind”

(Hemmingway 363). This is significant because he creates an allusion in order to occupy his

mind and to keep him at peace with himself. He does all of this to cope with everything that has

happened to him while he is in the war. This is a very significant moment in Nick’s heartbreak

with himself because the only way that he can cope with everything is to remove himself

mentally from the war. He achieves this by reliving his life before the war, when the only thing

he did was fish all day. Once he begins to realize that he is running out of memories to relive, he

begins to reach out to another soldier. Nick tries to get the solider to talk about his own past

memories, “Tell me about life out in Chicago” (Hemmingway 368). This is important because

Nick is slowly running out of his own memories and in order to keep himself awake so he tries to

relive someone else’s past memories. Another good story example that explains Nick’s battle

with PTSD is, A Way You’ll Never Be. This story explains Nick’s internal battle with himself
while being exposed to all the war horrors. Throughout this story, we get a lot of dialogs with

Nick and the soldiers around him. While Nick is presenting himself to them, he begins to go on a

random tangent, “I don’t seem crazy to you, do I?” (Hemingway 6). This is a significant moment

in the story because this is when we really start to understand how bad Nick’s mental health

really is. Also, by Nick asking if he seems crazy is him projecting onto others, his internal fears

with himself. Another moment that explains how bad Nick’s mental health has gotten is when he

brings up the topic of grasshoppers. While talking about the topic, his mind begins to wonder

again, “He felt it coming on again…He was trying to hold it in…He knew he could not stop it

now” (Hemmingway 12). This is an important moment because he has been through this moment

before and he recognizes that it is happening again, and no matter what he does he cannot stop

the outcome. Both of these stories play an important role in identifying what Nick is going

through and how bad his mental health is, at this point in his life.

The effects that this heartbreak has on Nick’s outlook on life are important because he

slowly begins to question certain ideas. He does not believe in marriage, nor does he want to be

held down by the promise of marriage. He is constantly living in fear because of the PTSD that

he has and because of that he loses his ability to sleep. His relationship with others also begins to

suffer because he stops listening to the people around him because he is constantly in his head

and not mentally present. His understanding of himself also starts to suffer because of his lack of

care in life and his mental health problems. The most important heartbreak that Nick experiences

in his life is his heartbreak with himself mentally.

 Work cited

Hemmingway Ernest. The short stories of Ernest Hemmingway New York: Charles Scribruis

Sons, 1966