# A Very Short Story explained — Short Fiction

> Chapter companion for Short Fiction by Ernest Hemingway.

## What happens

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.

## Themes in this chapter

### Post-War Trauma and Alienation

The soldier's physical and emotional wounds, the failed relationship, and his eventual descent into a meaningless encounter reflect post-war alienation.

### Masculinity and Sexual Anxiety

The soldier's impotence in securing the relationship and his contracting gonorrhea highlight anxieties about male sexuality and failure.

## Character check-ins

### Ag

The nurse who has a romantic and sexual relationship with the soldier; she ends the affair by letter.

### Unknown

The unnamed soldier protagonist who is wounded, operated on, and later betrayed by Ag.

## Key lines

> One hot evening in Milan they carried him up onto the roof and he could look out over the top of the town.

On a sweltering Milan evening, he was brought to the rooftop for a view of the city.

_Opening scene establishing setting and the soldier's convalescence._

> He went under the anaesthetic holding tight on to himself so he would not blab about anything during the silly, talky time.

He clung to self-control while under anesthesia to avoid revealing secrets.

_Shows his fear of vulnerability and loss of control._

> A short time after he contracted gonorrhea from a sales girl in a loop department store riding in a taxicab through Lincoln Park.

Soon after, he caught gonorrhea from a salesgirl during a taxi ride in Chicago.

_Bitter, ironic ending underscoring his emotional and physical degradation._

## Links

- HTML: https://www.betterreads.online/discover/short_fiction_15_se/chapters/a-very-short-story
- Book: https://www.betterreads.online/discover/short_fiction_15_se
- All chapters: https://www.betterreads.online/discover/short_fiction_15_se/chapters