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Ten Indians

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Plot Summary

Ten Indians

Ernest Hemingway

Fiction | Short Story | Adult | Published in 1927

Plot Summary
Ernest Hemingway’s “Ten Indians” is a short story originally published in Men Without Women, a collection of short stories focused on protagonist Nick Adams. Published in 1927, the story is set during the Fourth of July in Northern Michigan. The title alludes to the 1864 children’s song, “Ten Little Indians,” and serves to illustrate the vicious attitudes toward Native Americans in the story.

The story opens on the Fourth of July as Nick Adams is riding home with friends, the Garners, and their two boys, Carl and Frank. As they ride, they pass nine drunken Indians. They make disparaging remarks about Indians; Nick feels uncomfortable but chooses to ignore it. Mr. Garner (Joe) has to stop the wagon in order to drag an unconscious Indian into the bushes.

The wagon travels on, and they reach a clearing. Nick points out the spot where his father once ran over a skunk. Carl replies that Nick should recognize skunks since he has an Indian girlfriend and Indians smell. Nick is uncomfortable and denies that Prudence “Prudie” Mitchell is his girlfriend. Mrs. Garner then teases Carl and says Carl cannot get himself a girlfriend, not even a “squaw.” Carl and Frank begin to argue, but Joe puts a stop to it by saying that girls never get a man anywhere. He tells Nick to be watchful in order to keep Prudence.



The family arrives at the farmhouse. Nick thanks Mrs. Garner for taking him to town and the baseball game, and heads home barefoot. On the way, he crosses a meadow and walks through swamp mud. When he arrives at his front porch, he sees his father through the window, reading a book. His father asks Nick if he had a good day and asks where his shoes are. Nick replies that he left his shoes in the wagon.

Nick sits down to eat and asks his father how he spent the day. Nick’s father says he fished and walked by the Indian camp. Nick asks if he saw anyone, but his father says the Indians were all in town drinking. After some pressing, his father admits that he saw Prudie with a young man named Frank Washburn, seemingly involved romantically. Nick asks him if they looked happy, and his father replies that they did.

His father leaves the kitchen. When he returns, he sees that Nick has been crying. He tries to get Nick to eat more pie, but Nick refuses and retreats to his bedroom. He falls asleep pondering his heartbreak. However, when he wakes in the morning, it takes him a long time to remember the heartbreak.

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