Short Fiction · Chapters
Chapters explained
Chapter companions for Short Fiction by Ernest Hemingway.
Chapter 1
A Divine Gesture
In a surreal garden, the Great Lord God searches for Adam and Eve but finds only talking bathtubs, boot jacks, and flower pots. After a bathtub claims Eve will return at four, God has the angel Gabriel drain it as a lesson. The boot jacks squirm and chant despite God's commands, and God, feeling busy and seeking peace, leaves the garden with Gabriel, who quietly follows.
Chapter 2
Up in Michigan
Liz Coates, a young woman working for the Smiths in the small town of Hortons Bay, develops a deep infatuation with Jim Gilmore, the local blacksmith. Jim, however, remains largely oblivious to her feelings. After a deer hunting trip, Jim gets drunk and takes Liz down to the dock, where he sexually assaults her while she is frightened and conflicted. Afterward, Jim falls asleep, and Liz, feeling cold and miserable, covers him with her coat and walks home alone.
Chapter 3
In Our Time
A collection of vignettes and stories exploring the aftermath of war, masculinity, and the search for meaning in a fragmented world.
Chapter 4
Chapter I
The chapter describes a night march of a drunken battery towards Champagne. The narrator, a kitchen corporal, recalls the absurdity of the adjutant's concern about the kitchen fire being observed despite being far from the front.
Chapter 5
Indian Camp
Nick Adams accompanies his father, a doctor, to an Indian camp where his father performs an emergency Caesarean section on a young Indian woman. After the successful delivery, they discover that the woman's husband has committed suicide by cutting his throat. The experience leaves Nick questioning life and death.
Chapter 6
Chapter II
The chapter depicts the chaotic and desperate evacuation of civilians, with carts jammed for miles along the Karagatch road, water buffalo and cattle hauling through mud, and Greek cavalry herding the procession. Amid the rain and mud, a woman gives birth under a blanket while a young girl cries, capturing the horror and dislocation of the retreat.
Chapter 7
The Doctor and the Doctor’s Wife
Dick Boulton, a half-breed Indian, arrives with his son Eddy and Billy Tabeshaw to cut up driftwood logs for Nick's father, the doctor. A confrontation erupts when Dick accuses the doctor of stealing the logs from White and McNally. The doctor, angered, orders them to leave and retreats to his cottage, where his Christian Scientist wife tries to soothe him. He cleans his shotgun, then goes for a walk, finding Nick reading in the woods and agreeing to take him along.
Chapter 8
Chapter III
The narrator recounts a brief, vivid memory from the war in Mons, where he and his patrol shot German soldiers as they climbed over a garden wall.
Chapter 9
The End of Something
Nick and Marjorie go fishing at the abandoned mill site in Hortons Bay. As they set night lines for trout, the mood shifts when Nick becomes distant and tells Marjorie that their relationship is no longer fun. After a tense exchange, Marjorie leaves by boat, and Nick remains by the fire, later joined by Bill.
Chapter 10
Chapter IV
The narrator describes a brutally hot day during wartime, focusing on a perfectly constructed barricade across a bridge that allowed them to shoot at the enemy from a distance. Despite the success of the obstacle and the bravery of enemy officers, they are forced to retreat when the flank collapses.
Chapter 11
The Three Day Blow
Nick Adams visits his friend Bill at a cottage during the first autumn storm. They drink Irish whisky, discuss baseball, literature, and the nature of drunkenness. Nick reflects on his recent breakup with Marge, but the storm and the drinking help him feel that the matter is no longer tragic. The chapter ends with the two friends heading out to hunt in the wind.
Chapter 12
Chapter V
Six cabinet ministers are executed by firing squad at dawn in a hospital courtyard. One minister, sick with typhoid, collapses into a puddle and is shot while sitting, his head on his knees.
Chapter 13
The Battler
Nick Adams, thrown from a freight train by a brakeman, walks along the tracks through a swamp and comes upon a campfire where he meets a former prizefighter, Ad Francis, and his companion, Bugs. After sharing a meal, Ad becomes hostile and Bugs knocks him unconscious to protect Nick. Bugs explains Ad's history of brain damage from beatings and a scandalous marriage to his sister-manager, then politely asks Nick to leave. Nick continues on toward Mancelona.
Chapter 14
Chapter VI
Nick Adams, wounded in the spine and propped against a church wall, waits for stretcher bearers amid the heat and rubble of a battle-torn town. He speaks to the dying Rinaldi, declaring they have made a separate peace and are not patriots, but Rinaldi offers no response.
Chapter 15
A Very Short Story
A wounded soldier in Milan has a passionate affair with Ag, a nurse who cares for him through his operation and recovery. They plan to marry after the war, but after he returns to America, she writes to end the relationship, claiming it was only a boy-and-girl affair. She expects to marry an Italian major, but he does not marry her. The soldier later contracts gonorrhea from a sales girl.
Chapter 16
Chapter VII
During a heavy bombardment at Fossalta, a soldier prays desperately to Jesus for survival, promising belief and devotion. The shelling moves on, and the next day is calm. Later, back at Mestre, he does not share his prayer with a girl at the Villa Rossa, and he never tells anyone about it.
Chapter 17
Soldier's Home
Krebs returns to his Oklahoma hometown long after the war's end, missing the hero's welcome. He struggles to readjust, finding no one wants to hear his war stories, leading him to lie and then feel disgust. He spends his days sleeping, reading, and playing pool, avoiding the complex social world of young women. His mother pressures him to find direction and faith, but Krebs remains detached, preferring the simplicity of his memories and the pattern of life without consequences.
Chapter 18
Chapter VIII
Two Hungarian men are shot and killed by police officer Boyle in a late-night incident, while his partner Drevitts worries about the potential repercussions. Boyle dismisses the concern, relying on ethnic prejudice to justify the killings.
Chapter 19
The Revolutionist
In 1919, a young Hungarian revolutionary travels through Italy using a party-issued oilcloth instead of a ticket. He is shy, impoverished, and delighted by the country, its people, and its art. He is accompanied briefly by the narrator in the Romagna, discusses the world revolution, and expresses hope that Italy will be its starting point. He leaves for Switzerland via the Aosta pass, but is later reported jailed near Sion.
Chapter 20
Chapter IX
The chapter describes a bullfight where the first two matadors are gored and fail, forcing a young matador to kill five bulls alone. Exhausted and sick, he finally succeeds after multiple attempts, earning a mixed reaction from the crowd.
Chapter 21
Mr. and Mrs. Elliot
Hubert Elliot, a wealthy young poet, marries the older Cornelia (Mrs. Elliot) after a chaste courtship. They struggle with intimacy and the desire for a baby, traveling from Boston to Europe, finding disappointment in Paris and Dijon, and eventually renting a château in Touraine. Mrs. Elliot's older female friend joins them, and the three settle into an unconventional household where Elliot drinks wine and writes poetry at night while the two women share a bed.
Chapter 22
Chapter X
A picador mounts a wounded white horse in the bullring, its entrails hanging as it is goaded forward. The bull hesitates to charge as the horse bleeds and trembles.
Chapter 23
Cat in the Rain
An American wife, staying at an Italian hotel with her husband George, spots a cat sheltering from the rain under a table. She goes to retrieve it but finds it gone. Disappointed, she returns to the room and expresses a series of desires for domestic comfort and femininity, which George dismisses. At the end, the maid brings a tortoiseshell cat sent by the hotelkeeper.
Chapter 24
Chapter XI
The chapter describes a bullfight where the bull is exhausted and killed, the crowd celebrates wildly, and a torero's pigtail is cut off. Later, the torero, drunk, admits he is not really a good bull fighter.
Chapter 25
Out of Season
Peduzzi, a drunken local, persuades a young gentleman and his sullen wife to go trout fishing despite it being out of season. The trio walks through Cortina, drawing stares, and stops for marsala. At the river, Peduzzi realizes they lack lead sinkers, so the young gentleman calls off the fishing. Peduzzi tries to arrange a future outing, but the young gentleman is noncommittal.
Chapter 26
Chapter XII
A vivid description of the bullfighter Villalta's performance in the ring, focusing on his precise, almost ritualistic movements as he confronts and kills the bull, culminating in a moment of unity between man and beast before the bull collapses.
Chapter 27
Cross Country Snow
Nick and George go skiing in the Swiss Alps, enjoying the thrill of the run before stopping at an inn for wine and conversation. Their talk turns to the future, including Nick's impending return to the United States and his wife Helen's pregnancy, and they lament the impossibility of continuing their carefree skiing adventures together.
Chapter 28
Chapter XIII
The narrator and Maera witness Luis dancing drunkenly in the street with a procession. The narrator tries to bring him back to the hotel, but Luis refuses. Maera expresses disgust and resignation about having to kill the bulls for Luis and others like him.
Chapter 29
My Old Man
A boy named Joe recounts his life with his father, a former jockey, as they move from Milan to Paris and settle in Maisons-Lafitte. Joe's father struggles with weight and the challenges of returning to racing, eventually buying a horse named Gilford and becoming an owner. The story captures their close bond, the father's hard work, and the boy's pride and excitement in his father's career.
Chapter 30
Chapter XIV
Maera is gored by a bull during a bullfight. He is carried to the infirmary, where the doctor arrives too late. Maera experiences a distorted perception of reality before dying.
Chapter 31
Big Two-Hearted River Part I
Nick Adams arrives by train at the burned-over town of Seney, where nothing remains but the rails and charred ruins. He hikes through the devastated landscape, observes the black grasshoppers adapted to the burnt land, and eventually reaches a river where he makes camp, finding solace in the natural world and the ritual of preparing his campsite.
Chapter 32
Chapter XV
Sam Cardinella is hanged at six in the morning in the county jail corridor. Prisoners fill the cells, and five men are sentenced to death. Sam loses control of his body as the guards and priests prepare him, and he is left sitting strapped in a chair before the drop falls.
Chapter 33
Big Two-Hearted River Part II
Nick Adams wakes early, makes breakfast, catches grasshoppers, and fishes the river. He hooks and loses a huge trout, then catches two smaller ones, finding solace in the ritual of fishing.
Chapter 34
L’Envoi
The narrator visits a king who is working in the garden. The king introduces the queen, and they sit down for whisky and soda. He discusses the revolutionary committee's restrictions, praises Plastiras, and reflects on the importance of not being shot. The conversation is pleasant, and the king expresses a desire to go to America.
Chapter 35
The Torrents of Spring
The opening of the novel establishes its satirical and metafictional tone, with an epigraph from Henry Fielding that signals a comic treatment of nature and human folly.
Chapter 36
Red and Black Laughter
Yogi Johnson and Scripps O'Neil stand at windows in a Michigan pump-factory, contemplating spring and their pasts. Yogi thinks of Paris, while Scripps reflects on his two wives and his daughter Lousy. After work, Scripps returns to an empty house and decides to leave Mancelona for Chicago, walking along the railroad tracks in a snowstorm, carrying a frozen bird he tries to warm.
Chapter 37
I
Yogi Johnson and Scripps O'Neil stand at windows in a Michigan pump-factory, watching the snow-covered yard and anticipating spring. Yogi reflects on Paris, while Scripps thinks of his two wives and his daughter Lucy. A warm chinook wind blows in, causing the workmen, many of them Indians, to stop work and head to the washroom.
Chapter 38
II
Scripps O'Neil stands outside Mancelona High School in the snow, watching his daughter Lousy learn inside. He walks home to his modest house, recalling a song he wrote for his wife Lucy, and resolves to quit drinking and go to Paris. When he arrives home, the house is empty, and he hears an Indian war-whoop in the distance.
Chapter 39
III
Scripps O'Neil leaves Mancelona after a personal disaster and heads toward Chicago, walking along the railroad tracks in a blizzard. He finds a frozen bird, warms it inside his shirt, and reflects on his past, including his father's legacy as a composer and his mother's Italian origins. He considers stopping in Grand Rapids to enter the furniture business, recalling a childhood memory of a flashing sign in Chicago. The chapter ends with the sound of an Indian war-whoop carried on the wind.
Chapter 40
IV
Scripps O'Neil arrives in Petoskey during a snowstorm, confused and disoriented after his wife Lucy left him. He encounters a suspicious telegrapher who questions him about a bird sticking out of his shirt, and Scripps struggles to communicate his story. He learns he is in Petoskey and walks into the silent town, passing two Indians.
Chapter 41
V
Scripps O'Neil, carrying a bird, hesitates outside a barber shop in a frozen Northern town, then decides to eat at Brown's Beanery. Inside, he orders beans for himself and his bird, and an elderly waitress shares a surreal story about losing her mother in Paris. Scripps learns of work at a pump-factory and leaves feeling clearheaded.
Chapter 42
The Struggle for Life
Scripps O'Neil seeks employment and finds work at a pump factory, where he meets Yogi Johnson, a war veteran. The chapter interweaves Scripps's reflections on life, war, and Henry James with a metafictional author's note that comments on the narrative structure and characters.
Chapter 43
VI
Scripps O'Neil seeks employment at the pump-factory in Petoskey. He is hired by the foreman and shown around by Yogi Johnson, who explains the factory's processes, including the recycling of pump misfits and the bootlegging of razor blades by Indian workers. Scripps meets two elderly pump-makers, Mr. Borrow and Mr. Shaw, and begins working collaring pistons, a job that brings both happiness and nightmare over the course of a year.
Chapter 44
VII
After his first day at the pump-factory, Scripps O'Neil visits the beanery and forms a deep emotional bond with the elderly waitress. They declare each other man and woman in a spontaneous wedding ceremony and leave together into the night.
Chapter 45
VIII
Scripps O'Neil, dining at a beanery, is moved by waitress Mandy's story of Henry James's deathbed words. He marries the elderly Mrs. Scripps and returns to the beanery, where he feels a stirring attraction to Mandy and reflects on war, aging, and his own unfulfilled life.
Chapter 46
IX
Mrs. Scripps, now married to Scripps O'Neil, struggles with insecurity as she fears losing him to Mandy, a waitress at the restaurant where they eat. She immerses herself in literary magazines and culture in a desperate attempt to hold his interest, but her efforts feel hollow and ineffective.
Chapter 47
X
The narrator breaks the fourth wall to discuss printing and storytelling, then returns to Scripps O'Neil and his wife Diana as they walk to the beanery. Diana fears she cannot hold Scripps, who has been hardened by work at the pump-factory. Spring is blowing, and the couple walks separately, with Diana carrying a birdcage, haunted by the thought that she will lose him.
Chapter 48
Men in War and the Death of Society
Yogi Johnson walks through a spring thaw in Petoskey, troubled by his lack of desire for women. He reflects on war, football, and the nature of soldiering. After meeting two decorated Indian veterans, he plays pool with them and walks into town, contemplating the false chinook and the return of winter.
Chapter 49
Chapter XI
Yogi Johnson reflects on his war experiences, contrasting the reality of combat with romanticized literary portrayals. He encounters two Indians who reveal they are decorated war veterans, humbling Yogi. As night falls, he decides to walk into town with them, seeking to reclaim his desire for women.
Chapter 50
XII
Yogi Johnson is led by two woods Indians to a poolroom and then to an Indian club, where he meets a cast of eccentric characters including 'Red Dog,' 'Sitting Bull,' and 'Chief Running Skunk-Backwards.' The chapter is interrupted by an author's note addressing the reader directly, boasting about the writing process and lunch with John Dos Passos, and a postscript that self-consciously discusses the book's literary ambitions and autobiographical elements.
Chapter 51
The Passing of a Great Race and the Making and Marring of Americans
Yogi Johnson, walking through Petoskey with two Indians, reflects on his war experiences and a traumatic event in Paris that left him unable to desire women. They go to a beanery where Scripps O'Neil's marriage to Diana is ending as Mandy talks incessantly. The chapter includes a metafictional author's note addressing the reader about F. Scott Fitzgerald's visit and the writing process.
Chapter 52
XIII
Yogi Johnson walks through the cold night with two Indian veterans, one missing an arm. They stop under a streetlight, questioning where to go. The big Indian suggests Brown's Beanery, and Yogi agrees, paying for their meal. The chapter shifts to a metafictional author's note addressing the reader, discussing F. Scott Fitzgerald's visit, the writing process, and appealing for book sales.
Chapter 53
XIV
Inside a beanery, various characters experience personal crises and revelations. Yogi Johnson recounts a traumatic Parisian encounter that led to his sexual and emotional numbness, but a squaw's sudden appearance unexpectedly cures him. Meanwhile, Scripps O'Neil's marriage dissolves as his wife Diana realizes she cannot hold him, and two Indians observe the scene impassively.
Chapter 54
XV
In the beanery, Scripps, Mandy, and Diana are alone after the drummer leaves. Diana makes a final desperate attempt to win Scripps back, offering to take him home and mentioning a new Mercury with an editorial by Mencken, but Scripps rejects her, saying he no longer cares about Mencken. Diana takes the birdcage and leaves. Scripps then declares his love for Mandy, calling her his woman, but he is haunted by the image of the squaw and feels hollow, questioning if Mandy's stories are enough.
Chapter 55
Night in Petoskey
In the dead of night, Yogi Johnson walks north along the railroad tracks with a squaw carrying a papoose, stripping off his clothes one by one and casting them aside. Two woods Indians follow behind, gathering the discarded garments and debating whether to sell them to the Salvation Army. As a warm chinook wind begins to blow, the Indians feel strange stirrings and hurry back to town, sensing the arrival of spring.
Chapter 56
Author's Final Note to the Reader
The author directly addresses the reader, reflecting on the ten-day writing process and offering a secret historical explanation for a story element involving Diana, her mother, a French general, and the bubonic plague during an exposition. The author defends the inclusion of this note as a courtesy to the reader, then bids a simple farewell.
Chapter 57
The Undefeated
Manuel Garcia, a bullfighter recently returned from the hospital, prepares for a nocturnal bullfight in Madrid. He is paired with the young matador Hernandez and the veteran picador Zurito. Despite the poor quality of the horses and the difficult bull, Manuel performs a series of passes, demonstrating skill and determination. The chapter captures the tension, physicality, and ritual of the bullring, as well as the camaraderie and skepticism among the bullfighters.
Chapter 58
In Another Country
The narrator, an American soldier in Milan during World War I, reflects on his rehabilitation at a hospital with other wounded soldiers. He describes the camaraderie and detachment among them, his own feelings of inadequacy compared to the Italian soldiers with more distinguished medals, and his interactions with a major who was once a great fencer. The major, grieving the sudden death of his young wife, angrily advises against marriage, revealing his deep despair and inability to resign himself to loss.
Chapter 59
Hills Like White Elephants
An American man and a young woman, Jig, wait at a train station in Spain, drinking beer and anisette while they engage in a tense, coded conversation about a potential abortion. The man pressures her to have the operation, insisting it is simple and will restore their happiness, while Jig expresses doubt and sorrow, ultimately claiming she feels fine as the train approaches.
Chapter 60
The Killers
Two hitmen, Al and Max, enter Henry's lunchroom in Summit and intimidate the staff—George, Nick Adams, and Sam the cook—while they wait to kill Ole Andreson. After the hitmen leave, Nick warns Ole, who resignedly refuses to flee, and Nick decides to leave town, disturbed by the inevitability of the violence.
Chapter 61
Che Ti Dice La Patria?
The narrator and Guy drive through Italy, encountering a Fascist hitchhiker, a flirtatious innkeeper, and a corrupt bicycle policeman, reflecting the oppressive and degraded atmosphere under Mussolini's regime.
Chapter 62
Fifty Grand
Jack Brennan, a boxer training at Danny Hogan's health farm in New Jersey, struggles with insomnia, homesickness, and declining form ahead of his fight against Walcott. The narrator, Jerry, observes Jack's tension with his sparring partner Soldier Bartlett, whom Jack eventually sends back to town. Later, Jack's manager John Collins visits with two shady associates, Happy Steinfelt and Lew Morgan, but Jack remains aloof and irritable, refusing to drink with them.
Chapter 63
A Simple Enquiry
In a mountain hut in late March, a major with a sunburned face questions his young orderly, Pinin, about love and corruption. The major, relieved by Pinin's answers, lets him go but wonders if the boy lied.
Chapter 64
Ten Indians
After a Fourth of July celebration, Nick Adams rides home with the Garner family, passing drunken Indians along the road. The family teases Nick about his relationship with Prudence Mitchell, an Indian girl. Later, at home, Nick's father reveals he saw Prudence with another boy in the woods, leaving Nick heartbroken. Nick goes to bed crying, feeling his heart is broken, but eventually falls asleep as the wind and waves sound outside.
Chapter 65
A Canary for One
An American couple traveling by train from the South of France to Paris shares a compartment with an older American lady who is bringing a canary to her daughter. The lady reveals she separated her daughter from a Swiss man she loved in Vevey, believing no foreigner can make a good husband. The narrator and his wife, who honeymooned in Vevey, listen as the lady discusses her fears of train wrecks and her shopping habits. Upon arrival in Paris, the narrator and his wife part ways with the lady and prepare to set up separate residences.
Chapter 66
An Alpine Idyll
The narrator and John descend from a month of spring skiing in the Silvretta to the valley town of Galtur. They witness a burial and later learn from the innkeeper and sexton the disturbing story of the peasant Olz, who kept his wife's corpse in a woodshed over the winter, using her open mouth to hang a lantern while he worked, because he could not transport her for burial until the snow melted.
Chapter 67
A Pursuit Race
William Campbell, an advance man for a burlesque show, has been in a 'pursuit race' with the show since Pittsburgh, hoping to stay ahead until the Pacific coast. The show catches up with him in Kansas City, where he is in bed, drunk and using drugs. Mr. Turner, the manager, visits and urges him to take a cure, but Campbell refuses, hiding under the sheets and speaking about his 'wolf.' Turner leaves, and later returns at noon to find Campbell sleeping; he chooses not to wake him.
Chapter 68
Today Is Friday
Three Roman soldiers drink wine in a bar and discuss the crucifixion they witnessed earlier that day. They debate the condemned man's conduct, with one soldier repeatedly insisting 'he looked pretty good in there today,' while another questions why he didn't come down off the cross. The Hebrew wine-seller avoids the topic, and the soldiers eventually leave, one feeling unwell.
Chapter 69
Banal Story
A man sits indoors eating oranges and reading a promotional booklet for The Forum, which presents a series of trivial, rhetorical questions about culture, progress, and romance. The narrative juxtaposes this mundane, intellectualized consumerism with the distant, gritty reality of bullfighter Manuel Garcia Maera dying of pneumonia in Triana, followed by his funeral and the commercial exploitation of his image.
Chapter 70
Now I Lay Me
The narrator, unable to sleep, recounts his nightly rituals of praying for everyone he has ever known and remembering his past, including his father's collection of stone implements destroyed in a fire. He converses with his orderly, John, about sleep, marriage, and the war, while listening to silkworms eat in the dark.
