Hemingway and The Journal of the American Medical Association: Gangrene, Shock, and Suicide in “Indian Camp”

Hemingway’s 1925 short story “Indian Camp” describes two medical emergencies: the breech presentation-cum-Cesarean section endured by the Ojibwe wife and the wounded foot of the Ojibwe husband. Analysis of early twentiethcentury medical literature and the historical record reveals that Hemingway learned the medical background for both emergencies from articles published between 1917 and 1919 in the Journal of the American Medical Association. This medical background indicates that the husband and wife most likely would die from the effects of their respective ordeals, and it provides insight into how Hemingway would have imagined a motive for the husband’s suicide.