After reading "Ten Indians", I couldn't help but compare the young Nick we see in the first few Hemingway short stories to the cold, emotionless Nick we meet later on. Hemingway turns Nick's naivety as a young boy into a series of experiences that slowly turn him into the stubborn man he becomes, with the conclusion of "Ten Indians" playing a key role in Nick's view of women.
Throughout the story, the Garner family displays a prejudice towards the Native Americans that inhabit the town in which they live. Nick takes the unreasonably rude jokes with surprising ease, even though both of his friends and their parents are attacking the girl that he has been seeing a few times a week. Hemingway even goes so far as to say that Nick "felt happy and hollow inside himself to be teased about Prudence Mitchell".
Unfortunately for Nick, the girl that he is in puppy love with has already learned how easy the art of heartbreak can be. Nick, upon returning home to his father to eat dinner, is told that Prudence Mitchell was seen with another boy threshing around in the bushes. Nick's father shows no sympathy at all for Nick, who is clearly emotionally distraught. His father's apathy, partnered with the horrible heartbreak caused by Prudence Mitchell, both contribute greatly to Nick's future self.
Hemingway's stories about Nick's youth, including "Ten Indians", mark the beginning of the end for Nick's childhood naivety. Nick rapidly learns the difficulty that goes along with growing up.
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