# XIV explained — Short Fiction

> Chapter companion for Short Fiction by Ernest Hemingway.

## What happens

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.

## Themes in this chapter

### Post-War Trauma and Alienation

Yogi Johnson's narrative of a traumatic sexual encounter in Paris and his subsequent numbness reflects the psychological scars of war.

### Masculinity and Sexual Anxiety

Yogi's loss and recovery of desire, and Scripps's marital breakdown, highlight anxieties around male sexuality and identity.

### The Search for Authenticity

Yogi's quest for the 'beautiful thing' and his eventual cure by the 'primitive' squaw suggest a longing for genuine experience.

## Character check-ins

### Yogi Johnson

Reveals his traumatic Paris experience and subsequent cure upon seeing the squaw.

### Scripps O'Neil

Sits with his wife as their marriage ends, listening to Mandy's literary gossip.

### Diana Scripps

In misery, realizes she cannot hold her husband Scripps.

### Indians

Two Indians observe the beanery events; the little Indian claims the squaw as his wife.

### The girl

The squaw who enters the beanery naked except for moccasins, carrying a papoose, and is ejected.

## Key lines

> Since then, I have never wanted a woman. How I have suffered I cannot tell. But I’ve suffered, boys, I’ve suffered. I blamed it on the war. I blamed it on France. I blamed it on the decay of morality in general. I blamed it on the younger generation. I blamed it here. I blamed it there. Now I am cured.

Yogi Johnson declares that after a traumatic event in Paris, he lost all sexual desire and blamed it on various causes, but now feels healed.

_Yogi's confession of his post-war sexual trauma and sudden recovery._

> Something had broken inside of him. Something had snapped as the squaw came into the room. He had a new feeling. A feeling he thought had been lost forever.

The sight of the squaw triggers an emotional and physical breakthrough in Yogi, restoring a feeling he thought was permanently gone.

_The squaw's entrance catalyzes Yogi's psychological restoration._

> Mrs. Scripps knew now. She couldn’t hold him. She had tried and failed. She had lost. She knew it was a losing game. There was no holding him now.

Diana Scripps realizes she can no longer keep her husband's attention or love, and accepts the end of their marriage.

_The dissolution of the Scripps marriage is depicted through Diana's despair._

## Links

- HTML: https://www.betterreads.online/discover/short_fiction_15_se/chapters/xiv
- Book: https://www.betterreads.online/discover/short_fiction_15_se
- All chapters: https://www.betterreads.online/discover/short_fiction_15_se/chapters