Gates Sweeney Assignment 1

In the beginning of the poem Ludvigson mentions Ernest Hemingway. The context in which he is mentioned is while her parents are discussing the war, "They sit in the bright cafe, discussing Hemingway and how this war will change them." Hemingway was a soldier in World War I and suffered from post traumatic stress disorder because of his service. His depression showed in his writing for he wrote discreetly about the war. America was not in great shape during WWII, but that didn't seem to affect the parents in the poem. However, in the backs of their minds, there is a presence of suffering. This allusion adds to the theme of the poem because despite the poem taking place in 1942 during World War II, many of the ideas about war discussed by Hemingway were still relevant. While discussing the American Dream, "she imagines it a hawk flying over, its shadow sweeping every town," and Hemingway's anti-war stances manifest themselves.