The reader is inside the mind of this character, who tells the story as a first-person narrator. Hemingway does not give his name, but the author wrote many other stories in a similar voice, which elsewhere he labeled as belonging to a fictional person named “Nick Adams.” Nick is an alter-ego of Hemingway in that he comes from the American heartland, loves outdoor pursuits such as camping and fishing, expresses himself very well, and seems to be a generally sensitive and considerate young man. Many of Hemingway’s stories involve Nick’s coming of age, sharing his experiences, thoughts, and feelings as he goes along his way. The narrator of this story is usually taken to be Nick.

In this story, Nick has volunteered as a soldier in the Italian Army in World War I and has been wounded while fighting. He is indeed “in another country” and shares with the reader what he feels while interacting with the native Italian soldiers who have become his comrades. This gives the author a platform to describe an assortment of other characters who represent a kind of hierarchy of the heroes and victims of war.

As is typical of Hemingway’s writing

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