Hemingway's Portrayal Of Nick's Consolation

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to second guess
Dr. Adams.
Instead of backing her husband up or sympathizing with him, Mrs.
Adams scolds her husband and expresses the suspicion that it was Dr. Adams
who caused all the trouble. Her tone effectively reduces the doctors
status to that of a little boy. Her further refusal to believe her husband
after patronizingly urging him not to "try to keep anything from me"
belittles him into a posture not only of a naughty little boy, but a sulky
and not even a very trustworthy one (8).
Hemingway shows Mrs. Adams almost as an evil empress who wants
control over her family. The setting around Mrs. Adams gives the reader an
impression of power. Benson describes the setting as:

Like a queen bee or despotic invalid, Mrs. Adams sends forth her
pronouncements from a darkened room. With the blinds drawn against the
harsh light of reality (a familiar image in Contemporary American Fiction)…
(8).

Hemingway also gives the reader a sense of feeling, ...

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carefully wife a rag.
He pushed the shells back against the spring of the magazine. He sat with
the gun on his knees. He was very fond of it. Then he heard his wife's
voice from the darkened room"(75). Mrs. Adams questions his explanation of
the fight with Dick, then attempts to justify her argument. "He stood up
an put the shotgun on the corner behind the dresser".

"Are you going out, dear?", his wife said.
"I think I'll go for a walk," the doctor said (75).

Dr. Adams' coolness is demonstrated here. Instead of becoming outraged, he
bottles his feelings up inside and turns to his son for comfort.
Nick and his father had a special bond, a bond ...

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