Loss of self in the soldiers' house of Hemingway, the case of Paul of Cather and Bartleby the Scrivener of MelvilleThe "house Hemingway's "Soldiers," Cather's "The Case of Paul," and "The Case of Melville's" Bartleby the Scrivener" all feature a loss of self. These stories prove that there is a fine line between finding oneself and losing oneself. I believe this loss can occur at any age or stage of life. This idea is reflected in the main character of each story Hemingway's "Soldier's Home" depicts a young man in his twenties. after returning from World War I. The young man, Krebs, arrived home too late. Thus, he did not receive the adulation of the town like the others. interior for Krebs His refusal, then his inability, to discuss with others his role in the war had an immediate effect on Krebs. He failed to get any form of closure, which he badly needed. Due to the outlandish stories predicted by others, Krebs was forced to lie to fit in. These lies bothered Krebs. Not only did they oppose him morally, but they also began to deteriorate his feelings towards the war: "A disgust for everything that had happened to him during the war set in because of the lies that he had told. so that he felt calm and clear within himself when he thought of them...they have now lost their cool and precious quality and then lost themselves” (224). Earl Rovit explains this further by stating, “if he cannot trust the veracity of these experiences, then he will have lost everything” (255). These feelings that Krebs experiences are not unknown. This situation is observed in a handful of other stories of the era, but Hemingway's story "delineates the desperate incantation...... middle of paper......:189-194.Cather , Willa. “The Case of Paul.”The American Short Story. Volume II. Ed. Calvin Skaggs. New York: Dell, 1980: 160-180. Decker, Timothy. “The Mechanization of a Scrivener.” Bartleby the Scrivener by Herman Melville. URL: http://www.en.utexas.edu/~daniel/amlit/bartleby/decker.htmlHemingway, Ernest. “The Soldier’s House”, Volume I. Ed. Calvin Skaggs, 1977: 224-231. Hyzack, Greg. “The mentally disturbed Scrivener.” Bartleby the Scrivener by Herman Melville URL: http://www.en.utexas.edu/~daniel/amlit/bartleby/hyzakbart.htmlMelville, Herman. " The story and its author. Ed. Ann Charters. Boston: St. Martin's, 1995: 513-539. Rovit, Earl. "On Ernest Hemingway and 'Soldier's Home'." The American Short Story. Volume I. Ed. Calvin Skaggs New York: Dell., 1977: 251-255.