The narrator's sensitivity is keenly presented by the way in which he observes his surroundings. It begins with one of Hemingway's simple, perfect sentences — a sentence that could not have been written by anyone else: "In the fall the war was always there, but we did not go to it any more."
Other observations in the first paragraph reveal the narrator's extremely sensitive mind making sharp observations: "There was much game hanging outside the shops, and the snow powdered in the fur of the foxes and the wind blew their tails. The deer hung stiff and heavy and empty . . ." or "On one of [the bridges], a woman sold roasted chestnuts. It was warm, standing in front of her charcoal fire, and the chestnuts were warm afterwards in your pockets." The descriptions are so vivid that we are often lulled into a complacency and do not realize that the story is really about bravery, courage, and death.
Structurally, Hemingway creates three recurrent ideas: Nick's break with society; the subsequent establishment of his "code"; and the wound, which influences the first two factors. Nick's wound, while not always displayed or talked about, nevertheless plays a central role in this story. Nick will be the prototype for many of Hemingway's later characters. Wounded, Nick feels that the three Italians with medals are "hunting hawks," men who lived by the importance attached to their medals. In contrast, the major who has many medals never talks about them. Additionally, Nick feels that he has not served as a participant in the war. He feels alienated from the three "hawks" and aligns himself with the young soldier who was wounded in the face, who was not at the front "long enough to be tested."
