Liberty Hall by Ring Lardner

 

          I recently read Liberty Hall, a short story satire by Ring Lardner. The story’s setting (New York, 1920s) and diction is similar to F. Scot Fitzgerald’s The Great Gatsby. This is no surprise since Lardner and Fitzgerald were supposedly friends though. As expected from a satire, Liberty Hall was amusing because of the ironic themes and details. The funniest parts were when the narrator (Mrs. Drake) writes that she feels oblige to accept her husband’s fan’s invitations.  Ninety two years after Liberty Hall was written, men are still “whipped” and women are still their husband’s secretaries. In the story two adults learn the “you can’t have your cake and eat it too” lesson. For example, the Drakes actually enjoy the company of the Buckleys. But after staying at the Buckley’s uncomfortable home, the Drakes never speak to the couple again. Then the Drakes meet the Thayers. Once the Drakes embark on “the visit to end all visits” with the Thayers, the Drakes decide that they don’t like the Thayers, but enjoy their comfortable home. Mr. Drake works so hard to avoid invitations from other couples, that he develops a system, “what he calls his emergency exit.” Every time Mrs. Drake schedules a visit to a fan’s home, Mr. Drake writes himself a telegram, signs it with a pseudonym, and gives it to an assistant at his company. The assistant is told to send the telegram to Mr. Drake after twenty-four hours.  Mr. Drake will either leave with the telegram as an excuse or stay if he is enjoying his visit. The title is ironic because the Drakes never feel free when they visit with people. Both the host and the guest try to appease each other, when ironically they are just discomforting each other.

War's Tragedy

In 1925, Ernest Hemingway wrote about the long term consequences of war, which continue today, in “Soldier’s Home”.  War obviously takes many casualties, but the most silent consequence of war is the mental health issues that some veterans face, or post traumatic stress disorder (PTSD). Many soldiers return home only to remove themselves from society due to physical brain injury during the war or mental stress. Harold Krebs, plagued by his experiences in the war, does exactly this. After reading “Soldier’s Home” I began to wonder where a soldier’s home is. Harold certainly does not feel comfortable or “at home**” when he returns to a loving family. Hemingway first informs the reader that Harold returns after all the “war hype”. It’s no wonder why Harold suffered from PTSD (referred to as shell shock or battle fatigue at the time), he had no one to share his war stories with. After all it is human nature that tells us to “get things off our chests”. Harold avoids attention and communication, because he is constantly searching for the feeling he once knew. He searches for the feeling of home. Eventually, Harold realizes that he can’t return home, because he grew out of his childhood home. Similar to a walking corpse, he is empty. Even when Harold’s mother tells him that she loves him, Harold cannot find similar feelings to embrace his mother with. ‘"Don't you love your mother, dear boy?" "No," Krebs said. His mother looked at him across the table. Her eyes were shiny. She started crying."I don't love anybody," Krebs said. It wasn't any good. He couldn't tell her, he couldn't make her see it.’ War is a tragedy because it takes casualties in the present and future. 

**I recommend this interesting article for info on PTSD. Caroline Alexander connects PTSD to "The Odyssey".