How would you describe Harold Krebs's relationships with his family in "Soldier's Home"?

It's plausible to say that Harold Krebs had a decent relationship with his family before he went off to war. His sisters, especially, look up to him as evidenced by Helen's claim that she wants him to be her "beau." After the war, Harold is greatly changed. He shies from commitment and, as he puts it, complications. He basically wants to be left alone. He sleeps late, mostly avoids the girls of the town and spends much of his time reading books about the war.

His father never appears in the story, but the assumption is that the man's main interest is business. The father is dismayed over Harold's lack of ambition. He even offers to let Harold use the family car to take out a girl if it will change Harold's attitude. He wants Harold to snap out of his lethargy and go to work. Harold's mother says,

"Your father is worried, too," his mother went on. He thinks you have lost your ambition, that you haven't got a definite aim in life."

The father is a stereotype of the pragmatic businessman and purveyor of the Protestant work ethic. Work is the most important thing in life. To be idle is unacceptable. Harold sees work and normal life as full of complications which he seeks to avoid. Because of the horrors he has witnessed in the war, he finds it difficult to adapt to the world of business, religion and social obligations which are the cornerstones of his parents' lives.

Even the simple expression of love toward his mother is impossible for Harold. When she asks him if he loves her he flatly answers no. Not willing to accept his apathy, she cries, forcing an apology from Harold and then saying she will pray for him. She is incapable of understanding what Harold has gone through. Her only recourse is to turn to religion and emotional blackmail. He feels bad and, giving in, says he will go to Kansas City and look for work.

In the final lines Harold reports that he will avoid his father and go to see his sister Helen play indoor baseball. For Harold, Helen is safe. She expects nothing from him other than an expression of love. She says,

"Aw Hare, you don't love me. If you loved me, you'd want to come over and watch me play indoor."

Harold truly loves Helen. She provides him with no complications and going to see her play would be part of a life that goes "smoothly."

What is Harold Krebs' key relationship in "Soldier's Home"?

Harold Krebs is the main character of Ernest Hemingway's short story "Soldier's Home." He has recently returned from Europe where he participated in some of the most important battles of World War I. Judging by the narrator's description of Krebs, he most likely suffers from what was then called "shell shock" and is now more commonly referred to as Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder. As a result of this he is portrayed as basically anti-social. He complains that no one cares to listen to his true stories about the horrors of war and so he sinks to lying in his description of his experience. He doesn't seem to have any close friends, just acquaintances at the local pool room, and it is suggested that his relationship with his mother deteriorates after his return from the war. He even tells her that he doesn't love her and that he cannot pray with her.

The only other person he speaks to is his sister Helen, who obviously looks up to Harold and demands to know if he is her "beau." Their association is pivotal to the story because she seems to be the one who will ultimately bring Krebs out of his depression. In what appears to be an unimportant conversation, she tells him that he doesn't love her unless he comes to see her play indoor baseball. During the conversation he appears apathetic and noncommittal, but after an agonizing confrontation with his mother about his future he decides he will go see Helen play baseball. This implicit admittance that he can actually love someone is symbolically his first step to sanity and the leading of a productive life. Without his relationship with his sister Helen, it could be argued that Krebs would continue his lethargic and meaningless lifestyle.