They’ve All Gone to Look For America: Perpetual Exile in Ernest Hemingway’s In Our Time

Abstract

Abstract:In Our Time can be interpreted as a cohesive work, presented in stories and vignettes, dealing with perpetual exile and the search for America. This exile plays out within stories and vignettes and over the course of the collection. With some feints and complications, the movement of the narrative is from America's past into exile (both internal and abroad), failed homecoming in the middle stories, a resumption of exile abroad, and a return to America followed by a final move into exile, with the collection’s last line expressing a desire to come to America and “America” as its final word.