A Very Short Essay

"A very Short Story" by Ernest Hemingway, shows the process of a young couples love, while comparing thier personalities to the actual nations they are from. Hemingway uses a moment in history, either World War I or World War II, to demonstrate a very short romance. He uses characterisation, structure, and word choice to validate his intent.

The choice of words are very important to understand what the author intended by the end of his short story. The reader is first introduced to a character refered to as "him." The use of the pronoun "he" and "him" provides the reader with no name, no concrete personality, or person. The character forms with the story. Meanwhile, the female character is immediately reffered to by the name "Luz." If translated from the latin languages, it means "light." This character is called by three terms, her actual name, and the pronouns "she" and "her." The way these characters are identified changes quickly. Thier relationship changes quickly, therefore changing the words "him" and "her" to "they." In the third paragraph, the two characters are united as a couple. Its the only paragraph which only refers to "them" except for the "he" in the first sentence. Before this paragraph, they were together in the previous paragraphs, but not quite one. In the paragraphs after, the two characters are once again acknowledged separately. Hemingway shows the point of view of Luz. The fourth paragraph only mentions what she feels, which creates a sort of isolated, lonely feeling. The fifth paragraph does the same, except this time it only mentions "perspective" until close to the end of the paragraph, where the two characters are reunited for a short moment. Its the last time the chracters excist as "they." Hemingway washes away this unity in one sentence, starting the next sentence with a separation of "he," "When they had to say good-bye, in the station at Milan, they kissed goodbye, but were not finished with the quarrel. He felt sick about saying good-bye like that."

They become separated, not only emotionally, but also physically. Luz stays in Italy, and he goes back to the United States. The structure of the story, has various separations aswell. For a story of only a page and a small bit, it has quite alot of paragraphs, eight paragraphs. Each one show a different idea, from a different view, whether it be "him" "her" or "they", the structure is helpful into showing how separate each of these moments in this couples lives are.

THe entire piece, does not only relate to the hardships of a couple who can't be together, but also thier nationalities. One is italian, and the other is american. Towards the end, the italian woman, Luz, ends up falling in love with an Italion mayor. She claims she was never inlove with the american man and that thier relationship was "only a boy girl love." This is during one of the world wars. When the USA was still viewed as a young country. She calls the relationship a "boy girl" relationship, which suggests being young, and immature. The United States, at this time, could also be viewed as young and immature. She states she is inlove with the "major of the battalion" in italy. He is Italian, and unlike the young american soldier, he is suggested to be alot older, and more powerful. Italy, likewise, has experienced far more power than the USA, and is also alot older, perhaps even wiser. She decided to marry someone more well known, and leaves the american to die in a taxicab with a broken heart.

"A Very Short Story" is not only a short story, but also a short romance. Also, the USA had only been around for a short period of time. This peice uses language, structure, and the time period to create the authors intent. Its a story of sexual, and emotional feelings, as well as learning to mature, both the young soldier, and the nation from where he is from.