In Ten Indians by Ernest Hemingway, we have the theme of love, rejection, heartbreak, innocence, loss, hope, acceptance, and conformity. Taken from his “The Complete Short Stories” collection the story is narrated in the third person by an unnamed narrator and after reading the story the reader realizes that Hemingway may be exploring the theme of love and rejection. Nick can’t believe that Prudence could be with another boy (Frank Washburn).
For his title, Hemingway turned to the at the time well-known children’s song Ten Little Injuns, composed in 1864 by Septimus Winner. As inherently racist then as it is now, its rather violent verses seem particularly appropriate for a story in which Indians are portrayed as smelly drunks. The fourth verse, for example, goes: “Seven little Injuns, cutting up sticks, / One chopped himself in half, and then there were six”. In Hemingway’s story, nine of the Indians have passed out along the road, and the tenth, Prudence Mitchell, betrays Nick when he goes into town that day.
As ultimately published in Men Without Women (1927), the story opens with one of Hemingway’s characteristic first lines that puts us immediately into the center of the world being created: “After one Fourth of July, Nick, driving home late from town in the big wagon with Joe Garner and his family, passed nine drunken Indians along the road”. But in his first draft, there is an earlier paragraph, which he wisely cut, that details what the Indians do when they come into town: they make no noise, they walk along the streets, they sit in the park, and they go to the ballgame, all the while drinking but in such a way that no one sees them doing it. By the end of the day, however, they are drunk and lying along the road. Although this paragraph provides interesting information about the Indians, it suggests that the story will be about them rather than about Nick and as such provides a false lead.
As the story progresses, Nick feels somewhat embarrassed to admit that he is seeing Prudence when he is teased about it by Frank. It is possible that Nick knows that the Indians in the camp are not accepted by some in the community. So Nick may feel as though he does not want to step across the preconceived norms that have been set by the community. In order to conform Nick may be deliberately denying that he has a friendship or relationship with Prudence.
After they reach their destination, Nick thanks his hosts, turns down their offer of hot supper, because “Dad probably waited for me”, and walks home. At this point, it is hard to tell if Hemingway means for us to react positively to what might be a warm image of Dr. Adams sitting inside by the big lamp or to feel the doctor’s essential loneliness. As the scene develops, Dr. Adams attends to his son: “His father sat watching him eat and filled his glass from the milk-pitcher… His father reached over to the shelf for the pie. He cut Nick a big piece”. Here, Hemingway is setting up a pattern that he will use effectively to reveal aspects of Dr. Adams’s character.
After Nick asks his father what he did that day and Dr. Adams tells him that in the morning he went fishing and caught some perch, Hemingway repeats that opening clause again: “His father sat watching him eat the pie.” it seems likely that Hemingway is setting us up to recognize Dr. Adams’s sensitivity to his son’s pain. Nick wants to know more about what his father did in the afternoon and Dr. Adams tells him that he went walking by the Indian camp. Nick, then immediately asks if his father saw “anybody,” clearly talking about Prudence. Dr. Adams tried to answer evasively, but with Nick pressing him for more information he finally reveals the events that happened. Shortly after, Hemingway writes: “His father was not looking at him.” This glance away, which is a variation of the pattern already established, shows us Dr. Adams’ recognition of the pain he is causing his son; he does not want to see how the information he has just provided is affecting Nick.
It is as though Nick’s feelings for Prudence have been rejected by the fact that Prudence was in the woods with Frank. Any exclusivity that their relationship may have had is gone with Prudence not feeling the same about Nick as he does about her. If anything Nick feels heartbroken when his father tells him that he saw Prudence in the woods with Frank. Not only has Nick’s love affair with Prudence ended but most likely they will no longer be friends either. Such is the strong intensity of feelings that Nick has on the matter.
The purity and innocence that Nick had attached to the relationship are gone. For Nick exclusivity is important as too is conformity. Two people giving themselves to each other (Nick and Prudence) without the influence of outside sources (Frank). Now that Nick knows there is a third person in the relationship he is heartbroken. This is interesting as Nick has the opportunity to fight for Prudence’s love yet instead he internalizes all his negative feelings and the wind is knocked from his sail. This may lead some readers to suspect that Nick’s relationship with Prudence is in fact his first relationship with a girl. There is no fight in Nick. He just feels deflated and defeated.
The end of the story is also interesting as there is still hope for Nick. When he awakes he doesn’t immediately think about Prudence or the fact that his heart has been broken. Though there is no doubt that Nick is upset he still leaves the reader with the impression that things are not as bad as they may seem. If anything the pain that Nick feels is manageable. He is conscious of the world around him and is not internalizing his feelings as he has done the night before. Which leads the reader to suspect that Nick is going to be okay. Nick’s first thought when he woke up was not of his heartbreak which is a positive step. At the end of the story, there is a sense that Nick may have learned to accept that Prudence was with Frank and that Prudence may not be all that Nick thought she was. If anything Nick’s broken heart will mend quicker than he thinks.
“Ten Indians” reveals the young writer in full control of his art. Though at least once Hemingway himself claimed not to have liked it (Mellow 358), the story continues to fascinate because of what it demonstrates about the writer’s clearly remarkable craft. As he moved from initial draft to published story two years later, Hemingway made choices that document the growth of his first-class talent.
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