There is no doubt that Ernest Hemingway is considered to be the most outstanding figure in American literature. My first book I read from Hemingway was A Farewell to Arms. After reading this book I knew I must read some other pieces too. Now I am really glad that I can read some of his amazing short stories. First I have to say that Hemingway is also the author of many incredible writings like:

Three Stories & Ten Poems - Tri poviedky a desať básní, Torrents of Spring - Jarné riavy, Death in the Afternoon - Smrť popoludní, Winner Take Nothing - Víťaz nič nezíska, Green Hills of Africa - Zelené pahorky Afriky, To Have and Have Not - Mať a nemať, Men Without Women - Muži bez žien, The Sun Also Rises - Slnko aj vychadza, The Fifth Column and the First Forty-Nine Stories - Piata kolona a prvych 49 poviedok, For Whom the Bell Tolls - Komu zvonia do hrobu, The Old Man and the Sea - Starec a more, Across the River and Into the Trees - Cez rieku a pod stromy, A Moveable Feast - Pohyblivý sviatok, A Farewell to Arms.

I have read exactly seven stories. They were taken from the book The Fifth Column and the First Forty-Nine Stories. Now I will analyze all seven stories one by one. They will be discussed in no particular order. The order is random.

Hills Like White Elephants
This story is about a man and a young woman having a conversation while waiting for a train at a train station in Spain. The almost entire story is told through dialogue. They are talking about a mysterious operation, but after reading it twice I deduced that they could be talking about an abortion. As the man says: [“Je to jediná vec, která nás trápi. Je to jediná vec, pro kterou nejsme šťastný” pg. 242], he feels that this is the whole problem to their misfortune. The woman is anxious about the whole thing. She is uncertain about the operation, but she would do it for the man and as she says: [“Pak si to dám udelat. Na sebe kašlu.” pg. 242], she doesn’t care about her self. The reader isn’t familiarized in depth with their strange relationship. The man and the woman refer to abortion only with the word operation, which points out their communication problem. The dialogue also reveals their different personalities.

The woman is characterized with, in my opinion, abnormal behaviour as spotted in this quotation: [ “.....Ano, ty víš, že je to docela jednoduché.....Mužeš si to tak ríkat, ale já to vážne vím....Mohl bys teď pro me neco udelat?....Co budeš chtít....Prosím prosím prosím prosím prosím prosím, mohl bys už prestat mluvit?” pg. 243] or this one: [“Ale ja nechci abys na to šla, rekl. Nezáleží mi na tom ani trochu. Začnu jecet , rekla dívka” pg. 243] At the end of the story it is still unclear what decision has or has not been made, or what will happen to these two characters, that means the reader is left with his own deduction of the ending of the story.
Old Man At The Bridge

This short story is about an old man, who sits near a bridge in Spain. When a man (I think he was a soldier) passes by, they start a conversation mainly about the old man’s animals which he has left in his home town. He is worried about his animals, two goats, one cat and a few pigeons. He had to leave because of gunnery located near his place. [“Všeho všudy to byly jenom tri zvírata, vysvetloval. Byly to dve kozy a jedna kočka a krome toho tam byly čtyři páry holubú....A vy jste je tam musel nechat?, otazal sem se....Ano. Kvuli těm dělum. Jejich kapitán mi poručil, abych kvuli těm dělum šel pryč.” pg. 71]. As they were talking there, the man was a bit concerned about the old guy. He knew it was dangerous to sit there very long. [“Jestli jste si už odpočinul, tak já bych na vašem míste šel, pobízel jdem ho. Vstaňte už a zkuste jít” pg. 72]. Then the old man walked a few meters onwards, but then he sat again and started talking about his animals. Well, throughout the story the old man was acting completely normal. His only matter were the animals which he loved, but at the end it was very clear that he was a madman. He was mentally ill. I suppose the cause was the unreasonable war which was going on at that time. In my opinion the war destroyed his life. The soldier figured out that nothing will save the old man, because of the advancing army. The only temporary fortune, the old man had, was the circumstance that the cat can take care of herself and that the bad weather was preventing the army’s planes to take off. [“Nedalo se s ním nic dělat. Byl šeďivý zachmuřeny den s nízkými mračny, a tak jejich letadla nevzletla. Tahle okolnost a dale to, že se kočky dovedou o sebe postarat, bylo veškeré štěstí, které toho strace ještě čekalo.” pg. 72]