The Importance of Reading Ernest discussion

Preb wrote: These three men, the bartender is less involved, represent stages of life, don’t they?

That's an excellent insight and I think it deserves a thread all its own.

I wonder, too, if the soldier passing on the street fits into this at all.

I was thinking much the same thing, Misha. It seems to add something more to the idea that the men in this story could represent Hemingway himself. I've never been a big supporter of direct, autobiographical Hemingway connections in his stories, but there is something compelling about these four men and the way they connect with the Hemingway we know about, particularly the young soldier and the deaf old man who tried to kill himself.