Critical Sources:
Reynolds, Michael S. Critical Essays on Ernest Hemingway's In Our Time. Boston: G. K. Hall, 1983.
Smith, Paul. A Reader's Guide to the Short Stories of Ernest Hemingway. Boston: G. K. Hall, 1989. On reserve.
Steinke, Jim. "The Two Shortest Stories of Hemingway's In Our Time." Reynolds 218-26.
Discussion starters
Critics have repeatedly made comparisons to Hemingway's later novel, A Farewell to Arms. If you have read that work, what comparisons seem helpful to understanding the world view of this collection?
Why did Hemingway make this a story rather than an interchapter? (Both this and "The Revolutionist" were vignettes in the earlier Paris edition of in our time, titled and given a place among the stories in this American collection.)
What is the importance of the irony of the romantic narrator's contracting gonorrhea?
Created by Stan Galloway 11 December 1997. Last updated 26 April 2001.