Everybody was drunk. The whole battery was drunk going along the road in the dark. We were going to the Champagne. The lieutenant kept riding his horse out into the fields and saying to him, “I’m drunk, I tell you, mon vieux. Oh, I am so soused.” We went along the road all night in the dark and the adjutant kept riding up alongside my kitchen and saying, “You must put it out. It is dangerous. It will be observed.” We were fifty kilometers from the front, but the adjutant worried about the fire in my kitchen. It was funny going along that road. That was when I was a kitchen Corporal.
From “Chapter1” by Ernest Hemingway
One can feel the emotion enveloping this snippet. Hemingway paints with words the subdued mood, the dragging march, the darkness, the fatigue, the fear, all plowing through the same path. He successfully conveys this feeling to us by repeating “going along the road” three times in the same paragraph. He then tries to hide it, placing a veneer in the mood. He uses alcohol for this purpose. “Everybody was drunk. The whole battery was drunk …. I am drunk, mon vieux. I am so soused.” He even concludes, “It was funny going along the road.” But the reader cannot see the funny angle. Perhaps, this was the way Hemingway regarded alcohol, something to cover up his true feelings, his somber sadness, his disappointment with life. Was this the reason he abused it? Alcohol does not muffle your bad moments. It can make you drowsy, but you will still be a drowsy anxious person or a sleepy unhappy person. Alcohol will never stop the mentally draining core visceral sensations you are experiencing.
PS: Don’t forget to subscribe to my Circle of Friends. You will get a free copy of “The Silver Teacup,” a collection of engaging short stories. I love “The Silver Teacup.” I wrote the book with my heart because all the stories take place in my hometown. When I made this comment to one of my readers, she said, “You also wrote ‘Afterlife Tracks: Glimpses of the Occult’ with your heart.” “Afterlife Tracks” is a true story that deals with the scientific proof of the Afterlife. I searched for this evidence with a clear purpose: the existence of the Afterlife would help me understand this life better. And so would other people who like me could not rely on religious beliefs. The existence of the Afterlife would particularly comfort the gravely ill and their loved ones. My reader added, “I very much enjoyed the real paranormal short stories in ‘Glimpses of the Occult.’” I like them too. Click here to go to www. TheClassicWriter.com/ “Afterlife Tracks” page for more information . You will also be able to read the first chapter of the book.
