It truly is Thanksgiving

My eyes slowly crawl through my eyelids, taking in the light from my west-facing window. My body rolls to the right, and my arm fiddles off of my futon, hits the floor, and begins spelunking for my phone.  right hand fiddles on the floor. I find a sleek, rectangular object. I lift it to see 7 unread text messages. I clear the screen, and check the time. It’s only 8:06 am. I open the messages, hoping that they weren’t anything important. The first one is from David Stout—the hall director for Milton Daniel. Knowing that I am one of two RAs in the entire building, I begin to panic. I grind my eyes into a pulp to eliminate the crust, and flip my phone open. I push the view now button expecting the worse, but instead I’m greeted by “HAPPY THANKSGIVING CLAY!!!!!!”

“Thanksgiving? It’s only Wednesday,” I say to myself.

I recheck my calendar on my phone. As soon as my hand makes contact with the device, the screen glows and screams at me, “Thur Nov 24, 8:08 am.”

Still in disbelief, I roll off of my futon (where I now currently sleep), lunge toward my remote, grab it, push the proportionally large, green “Power” button and press the number one twice. The number eleven stalls in the top right corner of my screen in a gray box as my television shows previews of the Lions-Packers game on Sportscenter. The screen changes, the number eleven fades, and a giant Buzz Lightyear flies through the city of New York. After Buzz fades into infinity and beyond,  a sea of tightly-stepping, maroon-dressed band kids begin to play Enrique Iglesias’ Baby I like it. I, unintentionally, begin to tap my feet, nod my head, and sing along. The horns of the band fade, and the rippling snare of the drum line takes over my speakers.  The band marches off to reveal a large, green sign in the middle of what I assumed was Broadway Street. The sign reads, “The 85th annual Macy's Thanksgiving Day Parade.”

Once these letters embed into my brain, I become convinced that it truly is Thanksgiving.

Night Before Landing

Hemingway’s “Night Before Landing” brilliantly captures the end of a journey guided by innocence and brings forth two significant periods in the life of protagonist Nicholas Adams: An era of military service and a period of matrimony and marriage. Although the latter is difficult to conclude because of Hemingway’s minimalist approach to writing, it is clear that “Night Before Landing” serves as a harbinger for the struggles and challenges Adams will face both abroad during the war and at home in domesticity.

Nick most clearly shows his hesitation for these upcoming parts of his life when speaking with Leon on the life boat. Here, Nick shows his unhappiness and fear with his upcoming future. Nick on multiple occasions mentions fear. He “wonders” if he will be afraid going overseas to Italy. He “never worries about” anything until he realizes that after the landing occurs his innocence will be stolen away from him by war. The concept of fear virtually takes over his conversation. Even when he is talking about the Carper, he assesses that the Carper is scared and that is why the Carper is drinking

Also, Adams mentions his unhappiness and fear with much subtlety. When speaking with Leon, the following conversation ensues:

“He drinks too much.”

“He isn’t happy.”

“Let’s get a bottle of wine and sleep out in a lifeboat.”

By suggesting getting a bottle of wine and then buying it, Nick Adams hints that he too isn’t happy and he too is afraid. Adams openly associates unhappiness as a cause of drinking with the above caption, and he continues to say that fear is a cause of drinking when he says, “The Carper’s scared…That’s why he’s drunk all the time.”

Finally, Adams reveals to both Leon and the audience that the conversation is more so about his fears for his future with his fiancée than his future in the war when he asks, “Have you got a girl, Leon?” Although this question seemed random, it allowed Adams a segway into speaking about his fiancée. This transition was need, because Adam’s future standing with his current significant other was the only thing he truly wanted to talk about. The military and his fear of it was all a mask to hide his innermost feelings and insecurities of his success of his relationship and the future bearings that relationship will hold ( on manhood, fatherhood, etc.).