Comparing The Three Day Blow And Ernest Hemingway's Things Fall Apart

“Now she can marry somebody of her own sort and settle down and be happy. You can’t mix oil and water [. . .],” (Hemingway 123). Anybody who has attempted to mix oil and water, knows that the two substances seem to come together as one when shaken. However, those who stick around long enough for the liquids to settle, soon learn that the opposing fluids separate, as if a barrier is inserted between them. Nick Adams, Ernest Hemingway’s earliest protagonist, “who bears the closest resemblance to his creator,” learns this lesson in a difficult and painful way. He is an American, World War I veteran, who leads a nomadic lifestyle, and spends much of his time outdoors (McSweeney). Particularly, in “The End of Something,” “The Three Day Blow,” “The

Once inside, the two sit in front of the fire, begin to drink whiskey, and talk about various popular culture of their time. The conversation drifts all over the place. They talk about baseball, their favorite authors, their fathers, then fishing. Suddenly, as the two begin to get drunk, Bill, without segue, begins to discuss Marjorie, who Nick recently ended his relationship with. He congratulates Nick on his decision to end things: “’Once a man’s married he’s absolutely bitched,’ Bill went on. ‘He hasn’t got anything more. Nothing. Not a damn thing. He’s done for. You’ve seen the guys that get married,’” (“Three” 122). Nick quietly listens, drinking scotch now. The liquor seems to make Nick second guess his previous actions with his former girlfriend. Just as Nick begins to regret ending things with Marjorie, Bill reminds him: “If you’d gone on that way we wouldn’t be here now [. . .] [p]robably we wouldn’t even be going fishing tomorrow,” (“Three” 123). Nick realizes that what Bill says is true, and immediately feels a weight lift off of his shoulders. In this one conversation between Nick and Bill, we learn how important Nick’s lack of accountability to anybody is to himself. He remembers that his plan, while still with Marjorie, was to settle down, get a job, and stay in her home town for the winter to be with her. He is discovering now that his future is open, it can be anything he wants it to be, and it will include many outdoor activities. Donald Daiker agrees with this analysis, announcing, “The phrase ‘Only to get a job and get married,’ the only sentence fragment in the story, shows Nick's plan to be partial, incomplete, and truncated,” (Daiker). While Daiker seems to get the gist of the theme, words like truncated, partial, and incomplete are a little off