Krebs tries to resolve his inner conflict by rejecting his home town and all that it represents. Since returning from the war, he feels completely alienated from those around him, as they haven't undergone the same experiences, and they're no longer on the same wavelength as him. There's an unbridgeable gap between them.

Initially, this also applies to Krebs's mother. He lashes out at her when she suggests that they should pray together, claiming that he doesn't love her. However, some degree of resolution is achieved when Krebs quickly apologizes for his harsh words and he agrees to pray with her after all, even though he's completely lost his faith. This acquiescence to his mother's wishes, despite his objections, ultimately resolves Krebs's conflict with his mother.

The resolution is when Hemingway's anti-hero, Harold Krebs, who resolves his conflict by abandoning himself to his disillusionment, leaves home because he wants his life "to go smoothly."

After having suffered through the horrors of World War I, Krebs simply wants to relax at home, but he soon discovers that he cannot relate to the people who want to hear lies about the war. Previously, Krebs has been able to follow a code of honor which has given him a sense of "valuable quality," but now because of the lies he has told, he has a certain "distaste for everything that had happened to him in the war."

The new complexities of his life are overwhelming for Krebs, so much so that he feels completely inauthentic whereas during the war he was, at least, able to do "the only thing for a man to do." So, after he feels forced to lie to his mother, Krebs feels that there is nothing for him to do but leave home because he wants his life "to run smoothly" so he can keep his life "from being complicated."