Signor Tenente, Hemmingway’s main character in the short story “Now I Lay Me”, suffers silently the pains of a war. He spends his restless nights occupying his mind with fish, prayers, and lists and can’t sleep in the dark. Yet, rather than tell the reader outright of these pains, Hemmingway keeps the story focused on the sound of silkworms chewing, why?
The silkworms, when referenced by both John and Tenente, are constantly eating, chewing specifically. Considering, as well, when Tenente gives his rationale for entering the war as “I wanted to, then”, we start to realize that these silkworms are the regretful thoughts and dark memories of the war that keep Tenente up at night. They are constantly chewing at him and offer him no peace of mind.
However, the silk worms were not the only confusing topic in this short story, why the title “Now I lay Me”? A quick Google search would show that this was an allusion to a Child’s bedtime prayer dating back to the 18th century, but is still did not answer why Hemmingway used this title.
As I read the prayer, the line “wake me in the morning’s light” was repeated at the end of each stanza, it hit me. Hemmingway perverted this prayer meant for an innocent child to tell the story of an afflicted man. Tenente can only fall asleep in the morning light, the darkness plagues him. By contrasting this prayer to the short story, we can see what shape Tenente is in.
The final question I had was, why did Tenente push away the thought of marriage? At one point he even stops thinking of girls because he finds streams more riveting. John is certain it will “fix up everything”. Maybe that is why Tenente doesn’t want to marry, maybe he doesn’t want everything fixed., maybe he is past fixing. Just a thought, would love to hear yours.