"The Three Day Blow"--A Review

Paper Summary:

This review of Ernest Hemingway's short story, "The Three Day Blow," highlights the friendship between the two main characters. The reviewer focuses on the limitations of the relationship between Nick and Bill. The reviewer considers the two men's conversations about baseball and books and their deliberate avoidance of meaningful discussions. In particular Nick avoids discussing his relationship with Marjorie, the girlfriend he had just broken up with. The author concludes this avoidance shows that Nick felt he had to hide his true feelings about Marjorie to maintain his relationship with Bill.

From the Paper:

"The setting of the short story signals to the reader that there is some kind of problem for the main character and his relationships. Since Hemingway never grants the reader a single, extra word over what is necessary, the reader is immediately led to believe that some kind of storm hangs around Nick (Johnston 22). He has been rapidly cast into some kind of disappointment as signaled by the rapid onslaught of "fall wind (that) blew through the bare trees" (Hemingway 45). To continue this idea, the cabin porch is bare and even "the big trees (are) swayed far over in the wind" (Hemingway 45). A sense of disenchantment and a sense that something has been influenced, even pushed around comes through in the opening paragraphs. Hemingway allows much of the story to pass before revealing the source of Nick's disappointment - his failed relationship with Marjorie. Before that can be discussed, Hemingway has to guide the reader into the recesses of Nick's mind and into the nuances of his relationship with Bill."

Sample of Sources Used:

• Hemingway, Ernest. In Our Time. New York: Charles Scribner's Sons, 1925.
• Hurley, Harold C. "Baseball in Hemingway's 'The Three-Day Blow': The way it really was in the fall of 1916." Hemingway Review Fall 1996. Academic Search Premier. Ebscohost. 8 December 2006. http://search.epnet.com/login.aspx?direct=true&db=aph&an=9612173488
• Johnston, Kenneth G. "'The Three-Day Blow': Tragicomic Aftermath of a Summer Romance Fall 1982. Academic Search Premier. Ebscohost. 8 December 2006. http://search.epnet.com/login.aspx?direct=true&db=aph&an=8651201

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