Ten Indians

“He remembered there were nine because Joe Garner, driving along in the dusk, pulled up the horses, jumped down into the road, and dragged an Indian out of the wheel rut. The Indian had been asleep, face down in the sand. Joe dragged him into the bushes and got back up on the wagon-box.”

Ernest Hemingway uses repetition in this first paragraph of the story to reinforce his themes. “Joe Garner” is repeated here, his full name representing his power as the family’s patriarch. In the first quote, his name contrasts with his unnamed family; here, it is juxtaposed with the unnamed “Indian” to represent the power of white men in American society over Indigenous people. Anti-Indigenous racism is represented through the repetition of “dragged,” which emphasizes the violent indifference of Joe’s actions.

“‘Them Indians,’ said Mrs. Garner.”

This epithet, which Mrs. Garner repeats, conveys her anti-Indigenous bias and reflects the “them vs. us” mentality of white supremacy and American settler colonialism.

“His pants looked mighty like Billy.”

“All Indians wear the same kind of pants.”

This exchange between Carl and his father reiterates the family’s demeaning, stereotypical views of Indigenous people. Here, Carl attempts to identify (and therefore humanize) the man his father dragged out of the road, but his father rejects this. He erases the man’s individuality by generalizing how all Indigenous people dress, dehumanizing him and all other Indigenous people. His rejection of Carl naming the man shows how racism and other biases can be taught to children by adults.

“‘I didn’t see him at all,’ Frank said. ‘Pa was down into the road and back up again before I seen a thing. I thought he was killing a snake.’”

Frank’s remark that he thought his father was killing a snake also reflects the family’s anti-Indigenous bias, as the statement collapses the differences between Indigenous people and reptiles. Snakes often symbolize evil in literature, further emphasizing how Indigenous people are dehumanized under American settler colonialism.

“They were skunks. I guess I know skunks.”

“‘You ought to,’ Carl said. ‘You got an Indian girl.’”

Similar to the use of “them” in Mrs. Garner’s quote above, Carl creates another “us vs. them” dichotomy here by repeating the second-person pronoun, “you.” This creates a divide between the Garners and Nick as the family teases him for having an Indigenous girlfriend. While ostensibly playful, their comments have an undercurrent of hatred, asserting that Prudence is not an acceptable match for a white American boy.

“Nick walked barefoot along the path through the meadow below the barn. The path was smooth and the dew was cool on his bare feet.”

Having arrived at the Garners’ home by wagon—a symbol of the white settlers’ colonial progress—Nick now returns to nature. The images here are sensory and comforting, and the smooth path contrasts with the rough gravel the wagon struggled over earlier. The juxtaposed terrains hint that Nick and the Garners are different from each other—his affinity for the natural world reflects his willingness to interact with Indigenous people, unlike the Garners.

“Through the window he saw his father sitting by the table, reading in the light from the big lamp.”

The depiction of Nick’s father as reading adds indirect characterization. He is educated and curious, an image that contrasts with Joe Garner, who is coarse. While the Garners are constrained by their narrow perspectives, reading shows a desire to broaden one’s viewpoint and learn about the world.

“His father sat down in a chair beside the oilcloth-covered table. He made a big shadow on the kitchen wall.”

This image of Nick’s father can be seen as either protective or ominous. The size of his shadow emphasizes his masculinity, but describing the shadow rather than the man foreshadows the bad news he’s about to share with Nick. A shadow is also a partial representation of a person, reflecting the constrained nature of masculine relationships—Nick’s father can share the facts, but he can’t quite provide comfort.

“‘My heart’s broken,’ he thought. ‘If I feel this way my heart must be broken.’”

After retreating to his bedroom, Nick allows himself to wallow in his hurt feelings. The repetition here characterizes this as his first heartbreak—the feeling is unfamiliar, and he seems to be convincing himself that he is feeling this famous emotion. As such, the repetition also reveals his youthful innocence.