Hemingway and Irony

Pain and disillusionment, familiar attributes to many people during World War I, are the highlighted human characteristics in the vignette "Nick Sat Against the Wall..." Author Ernest Hemingway utilizes both irony and symbols to communicate to this thought. The vignette opens with a nasty image. Victim to either machine gun fire or shrapnel, Nick is dragged away from immediate danger by comrades. He was propped up against "the wall of the church." This description is both ironic and powerful.…