Three Day Blow

When I sat down to read the Three Day Blow, I was very excited. I love short stories for some reason…maybe because they’re short so the light at the end of the tunnel comes fast but I don’t know- I’ve always loved them. I have also really enjoyed the Nick Adams stories so far. They are seemingly uneventful, but after we read them a few times and dig deep, there is so much meaning inside-I guess that’s what Hemingway’s iceberg theory is all about.

Anyway, I began reading the story and, of course, one of the first things they did was bring out the alcohol. This seems to be a recurring theme in Hemingway’s stories and novels. I knew immediately that alcohol was what I wanted to write my blog about because it just comes up so much in these stories and it kind of bothers me the way that, not only Hemingway’s characters, but people in general use and abuse alcohol.

In the novel, I can see a few reasons why Nick and Bill would want to drink alcohol. I think that they are of similar age as we are-not yet mature, but at the age where you kind of want to be seen as mature- so they drink in order to feel older. That is how a lot of college kids are and I think it is the least destructive use of alcohol that is seen in the novel. Another reason that Nick drinks alcohol is to clear his mind of his problems…this reason for drinking is really one that bothers me. I may be biased because I’ve never drank so I don’t know how “awesome” it feels, but I think using a stimulus to get rid of your problems can only make them worse. When Nick gets used to not feeling his pain from losing Marge due to his alcohol consumption, he feels it ten times harder when he sobers up a little bit and I find that unhealthy and counterproductive. Sure, he gets to feel good for a few hours, but after that, he feels even lousier because he’s felt so good for so long. The last reason I think Nick drinks alcohol is because his father doesn’t and he either does it to experiment or to be despite him. Both of these reasons are very natural responses for adolescents to have, but both can be very dangerous. For a person who has not been introduced to alcohol in a healthy, family setting I think that experimenting with alcohol could end up badly just because they don’t know limits. Nick goes in with the intention to get drunk, which is a very unhealthy mindset that I have seen numerous times throughout the Hemingway stories.

This blog probably seems like a rant but I guess that’s what blogging kind of is and that is really something that caught my attention not only in Three Day Blow but in other Hemingway stories as well.