Ten Indians

The Fourth of July celebrates the 1776 passage of the Declaration of Independence, which founded the United States as a land where “all men are created equal” and are endowed with “certain unalienable Rights,” including life and liberty. In “Ten Indians,” this date is ironic because all men are clearly not equal. The Garners barely see Indigenous people as human, and their conversation is peppered with racist stereotypes and slurs. As such, the story’s Fourth of July setting symbolizes the fact that such anti-Indigenous bias and violence is an integral part of the American identity. The American symbolism is deepened by the day’s baseball game—America’s pastime. By contrasting American mythology with the Garners’ treatment of Indigenous people, Ernest Hemingway critiques American anti-Indigenous bias.

Nick eats huckleberry pie when he gets home, which evokes the phrase “as American as apple pie.” Hemingway plays with this adage by changing the pie filling to huckleberry, a fruit native to North America. This change distinguishes between the Garners and the Adamses, who associate more with Indigenous people and don’t convey the same animosity in this story. Eating huckleberry pie rather than apple pie implies a willingness to adapt to the existing environment rather than impose European norms on the land.