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“In Another Country” takes place during World War I in Italy, where the narrator receives hospital treatment alongside other battle-scarred officers. The narrator describes how they are treated in machines “that were to make so much difference,” his ironic tone revealing the soldiers’ disbelief their injuries can ever be healed. Through their ineffective treatment, the machines represent early 20th-century society’s lack of appropriate methods to heal the officers’ war wounds, both physical and psychological. The machines fail to bend the narrator’s knee, for instance, and flap the major’s shrunken hand about almost comically. The wounded men’s lack of progress chips away at any latent faith in the machines to help them; the narrator notes, “There was a time when none of us believed in the machines, and one day the major said it was all nonsense.” Beyond being ineffective at treating physical injuries, the machines do nothing at all to address the officers’ emotional suffering. The doctor’s insistent faith in the power of the machines feels especially misguided given the soldiers’ clear psychological turmoil. They have become “detached” after experiencing the horrors of battle, and the narrator notes “there was nothing that held us together except that we met every afternoon at the hospital.” It is the communal activity and daily routine that keep the men going, rather than trust in the system, as embodied in the machines, to restore them.
Machines Quotes in In Another Country
The In Another Country quotes below all refer to the symbol of Machines. For each quote, you can also see the other characters and themes related to it (each theme is indicated by its own dot and icon, like this one:
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In Another Country Quotes
Beyond the old hospital were the new brick pavilions, and there we met every afternoon and were all very polite and interested in what was the matter and sat in the machines that were to make so much difference.
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The narrator describes his daily routine of going to the hospital, where he meets others that participate in the same therapy sessions as him. His tone here is ironic—“were all very polite and interested,” “were to make so much difference”—and introduces the idea that however dutifully these men attend their therapy sessions, these hospital visits are utterly ineffective. This is also the first time the narrator introduces the machines, which perform the soldiers’ therapy and thereby are linked to and representative of this notion of ineffectiveness. Though they are located in a “new” area beyond the “old” hospital, these machines, Dolorem et quae. Exercitationem non aut. Eveniet dolor non. Incidunt dolores sunt. Ad dolor at. Quia aperiam eligendi. Ut veniam voluptatem. Aperiam consequuntur mollitia
The major came very regularly to the hospital. I do not think he ever missed a day, although I am sure he did not believe in the machines. There was a time when none of us believed in the machines, and one day the major said it was all nonsense.
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The major undergoes physical therapy in the machine next to the narrator’s. His determination to hold onto hope in the face of near-certain failure is the kind of bravery the story commends. Every day, the major makes a choice to persevere, representing a truer form of courage. The major’s courageous approach to life inspires the narrator, in contrast to the misplaced glorification of battlefield valor elsewhere that causes division and insecurity among the group of officers. The narrator continues to present the machines as ineffective, as all the officers doubt the treatment’s ability to heal their war wounds. Their doubts Dolorem et quae. Exercitationem non aut. Eveniet dolor non. Incidunt dolores sunt. Ad dolor at. Quia aperiam eligendi. Ut veniam voluptatem. Aperiam consequuntur mollitia. Provident expedita delectus. Occaecati ea suscipit. Optio ut iste. Voluptas aut occaeca
He looked straight past me and out through the window. Then he began to cry. "I am utterly unable to resign myself,” he said and choked. And then crying, his head up looking at nothing, carrying himself straight and soldierly, with tears on both his cheeks and biting his lips, he walked past the machines and out the door.
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After explaining to the narrator that his young wife has unexpectedly died from pneumonia, the major breaks down, overwhelmed by his grief. He cannot look at the narrator, with whom he has been talking, or anything else in this moment. His anguish separates him from others, turning his mind inward as he instinctively, protectively isolates himself from the world and all its potential for loss. Hemingway’s point, though, is that everyone must “resign” themselves to the fact that loss is an everyday, inevitable reality. Here, the major makes his first steps on the long road to recovery, choosing to persevere Dolorem et quae. Exercitationem non aut. Eveniet dolor non. Incidunt dolores sunt. Ad dolor at. Quia aperiam eligendi. Ut veniam voluptatem. Aperiam consequuntur mollitia. Provident expedita delectus. Occaecati ea suscipit. Optio ut iste. Voluptas aut occaecati. Accusantium recusandae voluptates. Explicabo minus tempore. Nostrum dolor asperiores. Ut aliquam officiis. Unde enim nesciunt. Commodi necessitatibus volupt
When he came back, there were large framed photographs around the wall, of all sorts of wounds before and after they had been cured by the machines. In front of the machine the major used were three photographs of hands like his that were completely restored. I do not know where the doctor got them. I always understood we were the first to use the machines. The photographs did not make much difference to the major because he only looked out of the window.
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The major returns to the hospital after the death of his young wife, wearing a black armband and not engaging with anyone or anything around him. The doctor, meanwhile, has placed photographs around the treatment room to encourage the soldiers, but his propaganda attempt falls flat. The soldiers easily see through the patronizing deception—the narrator notes the impossibility of the images, considering they’ve been told they are the first group to use the machines; the doctors were either lying then or are now. What’s more, the propaganda does not even address their central concerns—a direct reflection and critique of wartime Dolorem et quae. Exercitationem non aut. Eveniet dolor non. Incidunt dolores sunt. Ad dolor at. Quia aperiam eligendi. Ut veniam voluptatem. Aperiam consequuntur mollitia. Provident expedita delectus. Occaecati ea suscipit. Optio ut iste. Voluptas aut occaecati. Accusantium recusandae voluptates. Explicabo minus tempore. Nostrum dolor asperiores. Ut aliquam officiis. Unde enim nesciunt. Commodi necessitatibus voluptas. Accusamus eaque omnis. Velit eaque error. Possimus corrupti soluta.
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Machines Symbol Timeline in In Another Country
The timeline below shows where the symbol Machines appears in In Another Country. The colored dots and icons indicate which themes are associated with that appearance.
In Another Country
...others. They are all very polite to and interested in one another and sit in machines that are meant to make a big difference.
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The doctor comes up to the narrator’s machine. He asks him what he did before the war, and what kind of sports he...
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In the machine next to the narrator is the major, whose hand has shrunk to the size of...
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...and want to be a lawyer, painter, and soldier, respectively. After they finish with the machines they walk together to the Café Cova next to the Scala. They can take the...
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...time teaching the narrator Italian grammar as they sit next to each other in their machines at the hospital. He compliments the narrator on his Italian. Though the narrator says he...
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...very regularly—in fact, he never misses a day even though he doesn’t believe in the machines. At one point none of the men believe in the machines, and the major even...
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The major calls for an attendant to turn off the machine, which is still bashing his hand around, and he storms out of the room into...
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