In Our Time by Ernest Hemingway

n Our Time is a collection of short stories and vignettes about the years before, during, and after World War I. The stories, which are titled, are separated by vignettes, each of which is a chapter. The first story, "On the Quai at Smyrna," introduces the war through a description of an evacuation. Then, "Indian Camp," "The Doctor and the Doctor's Wife," "The End of Something," "The Three-Day Blow," "The Battler" and perhaps "A Very Short Story" all describe an encounter in the life of Nick Adams. Through these stories, Nick seems to be growing up. The vignettes are scenes from war, in which few characters are named. Chapter VI, after "The Battler," is about Nick in the war. After that, the vignettes turn away from stories of the war and the short stories take up a different subject.