How we cite our quotes: (Part.Paragraph)
Quote #4
“I’ve got a right to eat this kind of stuff, if I’m willing to carry it,” Nick said. (I.30)
No one is arguing with you, Nick. No, literally, no one is there to argue with you. Nick isn’t being delusional here and talking to his woodland creature friends (unlike some people), so of all the things that Nick could say out loud, why does he justify his right to eat the food be brought? Now, Nick doesn’t seriously think that he needs to justify eating beans that he brought along; but phrases like “I’ve got a right” and “if I’m willing to carry it” point us back to this idea of a burden again. Stretching this interpretation a little more, Nick’s words even have a bit of an army ring to them, as though Nick were repeating some argument he had while on the front in WWI.
Quote #5
His mind was starting to work. He knew he could choke it because he was tired enough. (I.37)
Always ask the question: What is “it”? The glorious thing about the word “it” is that we can read it a lot of ways. It could refer to Nick’s mind, to the workings of his mind, to a thought, or to a feeling. They kind of all mean the same thing anyway. The point is, much in the same way that Nick doesn’t really specify what “all the old feeling” is, he doesn’t want to specify this either. It’s an unspeakable something that Nick really would like to suppress—as evinced by his desire to “choke” it.
Quote #6
He stepped into the stream. It was a shock. His trousers clung tight to his legs. His shoes felt the gravel. The water was a rising cold shock. (II.14)
Alright, that word “shock” is sticking out like two sore thumbs. Pay attention to repetitions! They aren’t accidents. Now, to get what Hemingway is getting at here, it really helps to have some historical context; namely, it helps to know some of the buzzwords from the WWI period. Ever heard of the term “shell shock”? Anyone reading Hemingway during this time period would have known about shell shock, which is what they used to call Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder or Combat Stress Reaction (basically, physical, behavioral, and psychological trauma as a direct result of war). It would be hard to not recognize Nick’s behavior as reflective of shell shock, but when Hemingway actually introduces the word, even though it is in a completely different context, it’s another way of telling us without telling us, if you catch our drift.