This story is extremely sad, but also extremely real. I liked every single sentence in it, especially the last one. Obviously, the man loves Luz more than she loves him. He took temperatures of the other patients, and let Luz stay in his bed. They used to be together as if they were married. After the war, in order to marry Luz, he didn't want to meet any friends, and the only thing he wanted to do was to focus on finding a job and meet Luz. At that time, he was hopeful.
In one rainy winter, an Italian major made love to Luz, which made her think that theirs had been "only a boy and girl affair". I can understand Luz too. In winter, people feel cold, and even terribly lonely. Even if she didn't love the Italian major as deeply as she loves him, she still wants to be loved, especailly in such a rainy winter.
However, he wouldn't understand her feelings for the Italian major. He is heart-broken. I don't think he likes the sales girl at all, but he hoped that he could express his anguish somehow by having sex with a stranger. He became hopeless as he was terribly hurt by Luz, and I don't think he did anything wrong, but he still got the punishment, which was gonorrhea being transmitted; I think he was very disappointed but wasn't able to forget or forgive Luz. Cruel fate even destroyed him more. I think Hemingway wanted to tell us that that is just the way things turn out in this world.
I agree that this is a particularly sad story, Xiaoyue, and I enjoyed reading your commentary on it! If I may offer an observation, though, I'd like to say that while gonorrhea is a consequence of the man's action at the end of the story, I don't think Hemingway wants us to see it as a "punishment," which would imply some kind of divine system of retribution for non-monogamous, marital sex.
ReplyDeleteI think what he did in the end is not wrong; sometimes people need a way to express their stress.
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