Loss - in Another Country
Date of task: May 17th 2013
Word count: 384
Ernest Hemingway is one of the excellent 20th- century novelists. One of his greatest short stories is “In another country” which deeply portrays misfortune and loss. Of the characters, the young wounded Italian Major suffers two painful losses that turn him to be angry and bitter at everything. His words to the American soldier partly show his outlook of life. The conversation goes like this: “He cannot marry. He cannot marry”, he said angrily. “If he is to lose everything, he should not place in a position to lose.” He spoke very angrily and bitterly, and looked straight ahead while he talked. Marriage means happiness with good perspective for the future of couples who love each other. Therefore, why not to marry? For the Major, it is to avoid losses. The Major was a great fencer before being injured in World War I, but his hand is now shriveled and he cannot play the game of honor and power any more. It is his first loss, the physical one which does not cause any depression in him. That is not because he is coward or scared of death. He fought in the battle with his courage and his pride for being an Italian, contributing his life to his country. He still carries the hope of full recovery from the treatments that he undergoes in the hospital although he is skeptical about the therapeutic success of the machines. While he is getting his damaged hand treated, he suffers the emotional loss which definitely collapses him: his beloved young wife dies of pneumonia. This adds more tragic to his life. He loses his living purpose and the faith in life. He told the young wounded American soldier that “he cannot marry”. If a man marries, “he is to lose everything”. The Major married and he lost everything. Therefore, he does not want anyone to place himself “in a position to lose” like him. That is the Major’s outlook of life. In short, due to the Major’s losses, the physical one is somewhat can be
Word count: 384
Ernest Hemingway is one of the excellent 20th- century novelists. One of his greatest short stories is “In another country” which deeply portrays misfortune and loss. Of the characters, the young wounded Italian Major suffers two painful losses that turn him to be angry and bitter at everything. His words to the American soldier partly show his outlook of life. The conversation goes like this: “He cannot marry. He cannot marry”, he said angrily. “If he is to lose everything, he should not place in a position to lose.” He spoke very angrily and bitterly, and looked straight ahead while he talked. Marriage means happiness with good perspective for the future of couples who love each other. Therefore, why not to marry? For the Major, it is to avoid losses. The Major was a great fencer before being injured in World War I, but his hand is now shriveled and he cannot play the game of honor and power any more. It is his first loss, the physical one which does not cause any depression in him. That is not because he is coward or scared of death. He fought in the battle with his courage and his pride for being an Italian, contributing his life to his country. He still carries the hope of full recovery from the treatments that he undergoes in the hospital although he is skeptical about the therapeutic success of the machines. While he is getting his damaged hand treated, he suffers the emotional loss which definitely collapses him: his beloved young wife dies of pneumonia. This adds more tragic to his life. He loses his living purpose and the faith in life. He told the young wounded American soldier that “he cannot marry”. If a man marries, “he is to lose everything”. The Major married and he lost everything. Therefore, he does not want anyone to place himself “in a position to lose” like him. That is the Major’s outlook of life. In short, due to the Major’s losses, the physical one is somewhat can be