# The Passing of a Great Race and the Making and Marring of Americans explained — Short Fiction

> Chapter companion for Short Fiction by Ernest Hemingway.

## What happens

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.

## Themes in this chapter

### Post-War Trauma and Alienation

Yogi Johnson's war experiences and his subsequent inability to desire women, along with the wandering of ex-servicemen, highlight the psychological scars of war.

### Metafiction and the Role of the Reader

The author's direct address to the reader, discussion of F. Scott Fitzgerald's visit, and commentary on the writing process break the fourth wall.

### American Identity and Disillusionment

Yogi's reflections on the white race's supremacy, the Muslim revolt, and unrest in various regions, alongside the crumbling marriage of Scripps and Diana, reflect a broader American disillusionment.

## Character check-ins

### Yogi Johnson

Walks with two Indians, reflects on his war trauma and a Parisian experience that caused his loss of desire, then declares himself cured and leaves the beanery.

### Scripps O'Neil

Sits with his wife Diana and Mandy in the beanery, listening to Mandy's literary gossip as his marriage dissolves.

### Diana Scripps

Sits miserably beside Scripps, realizing she cannot hold him and making a final desperate attempt to save their marriage.

### F. Scott Fitzgerald

Mentioned in the author's note as having visited and sat in the fireplace, prompting a metafictional digression.

### Indians

Two unnamed Indians (one with an artificial arm) accompany Yogi Johnson, speak in pidgin, and lead him to the beanery.

## Key lines

> I looked through a slit myself. For a while nothing happened. Then a beautiful woman came into the room with a young British officer. She took off her long fur coat and her hat and threw them into a chair. The officer was taking off his Sam Browne belt. I recognized her. It was the lady whom I had been with when the beautiful thing happened to me.

Yogi describes peering through a slit in a Parisian mansion and witnessing a woman he had been with during a significant personal experience.

_This memory is central to Yogi's trauma and loss of desire._

> It was at this point in the story, reader, that Mr. F. Scott Fitzgerald came to our home one afternoon, and after remaining for quite a while suddenly sat down in the fireplace and would not (or was it could not, reader?) get up and let the fire burn something else so as to keep the room warm.

The author interrupts the narrative to recount an anecdote about F. Scott Fitzgerald sitting in a fireplace.

_This metafictional aside comments on the writing process and the author's relationship with the reader._

## Links

- HTML: https://www.betterreads.online/discover/short_fiction_15_se/chapters/the-passing-of-a-great-race-and-the-making-and-marring-of-americans
- Book: https://www.betterreads.online/discover/short_fiction_15_se
- All chapters: https://www.betterreads.online/discover/short_fiction_15_se/chapters