A story, however short, is seldom written to demonstrate a thesis in the same way as an
academic essay, so there may be a variety of plausible answers to this, based on the reaction of
individual readers and what they think is the story's most important theme. With that in mind,
here is my view:
A life lived purely for selfish pleasure
is ultimately hollow and boring, deracinating the one who lives it and cutting him or her off
from anything that might give life meaning.
This sounds
dangerously like a moral, which is why Hemingway never says any such thing, but he is constantly
demonstrating it. The lives of the two protagonists are superficially glamorous and exciting. As
the girl says, they "look at things and try new drinks." The flatness of their
conversation, however, reveals that they are sick of everything they do. Even the revelation
that they are having a child, rather than being the traditional source of joy and celebration of
a new life, merely entails a clinical discussion on...
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