Timed Writing #5 "A Very Short Story"

Many young men traveled to the United States of America in order to seek new opportunities, with a hope of someday establishing a family and prestige in their new home. In Ernest Hemingway's short story "A Very Short Story," a sarchastic tone is used in order to express the absurdity of a romanticized idea, and its eventual outcome. The two characters, Luz and the unidentified "he" experience a "boy and girl love" as identified by Luz. The exxageration of their love and the ironic way in which their "love" ends, after declaring they felt "married" leads to the identification of this piece as satirical.

First of all, the way in which the two are first described takes on a naive and childish depiction. Their want for "everyone to know about" their marriage questions their actual commitment to oneanother. It is absurd for two people to want to be married for the sole purpose of general knowledge. Also, Hemingway wrote that they wanted to marry "to make it so they could not lose it." Ironicly enough, they do end up losing "it" in the end.

Although they felt "as though they were married," Luz "expected, absolutely unexpectedly, to be married in the spring" to a "major." The way Luz disregards her former lover is an exxageration of her naiive self. She thinks that someone will propose in such a short time. It is also ironic that the major ended up "not" marrying "her in the spring." The use of acount of such happenings targets those who have love, and throw it away for someone else, who does not love them in return. Also, Hemingway targets persons who sleep with mulitple people, and fancy themselves in love.

The situation of the "he" is also absurd. When Luz writes to him, knowing "he would probably not be able to understand," it turns out he is also engaging in sexual pleasures. The absurdity of his contraction of "gonorrhea" adds to the over all theme, and slightly tragic ending. The telling of their sluty behaviour is exaggerated with certain details such as "while riding in a taxicab."

In conclusion, Hemingway's piece contains details which form a satire. The way in which he encorporates absurdity, hyperbole, irony, and a target allows the audience to discern his sarcastic tone, and the two characters as representatives of frequent stories.