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Damien Slama

Mr. Diehl

Humanities 2010

12 February 2024

Analog Project

In Ernest Hemingway’s, “The End of Something”, Nick’s loss of love for Marjorie brings

such significant sorrow as it is shown how Nick had previously enjoyed sharing his love and

passion for fishing with Marjorie. As he fell out of love, however, Nick had begun correcting

mistakes she made which he had previously let continue because his love for her let him ignore

said mistakes and just enjoy being able to the spend time with her. On page two of this story,

Nick replies to Marjorie in a desiccated sense when she asks about memories they share. These

replies, along with others such as when he says, “But they won’t strike” (Hemingway 2). This

shows a significant loss of interest for Nick, because as was shown in “Cross-Country Snow”,

when Nick is passionate about something, and enjoys talking about it, there is emotion shown I

his speech, like when he was talking to George about skiing and said, “’There’s nothing really

can touch skiing, is there?’... ‘The way it feels when you first drop off on a long run.’”

(Hemingway 3) The emotion and excitement shown in “Cross-Country Snow” really shows that

when nick is passionate about something and wants to talk about it, he can and will. The

heartbreak he felt at the end of his and Marjorie’s relationship hindered his ability express this

sense of joy for one of his favorite pass-times.

In terms of his view on relationships, or his ability to have them, I would say that this

heartbreak affected him pretty badly. However, this story did mention his wife Helen who is

pregnant with his child. So he was able to get passed it in order to form a committed relationship
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with Helen. However some skepticism shown towards the end of “Cross-Country Snow”, when

Nick talks about moving back to the states, shows that he may have not moved on. I believe that

the way Nick answers George’s questions about going back to the states shows maybe he does

not want to, as some of the memories he has from the states still haunt him, like his heartbreak

with Marjorie. Nick might have moved to Switzerland to get away from these memories and start

fresh.

This fresh start, new location, and new people and faces may have allowed Nick to create

a new sense and understanding of self in order to not think or worry about these memories as he

had preoccupied himself with Helen and his child. When George asked if he was glad to go back,

he said “Yes. Now,” and I think this is because he has created a new life far enough from his old

one, that he is able to possibly ignore this old memories of the states and move past them. I think

that Nick, while still being hesitant, has convinced himself that he has grown enough mentally

not to worry about the memories of his past life. Another point in the story that I believe proves

this is when George asks him if it is hell, and he says, “No. Not exactly,” this is because Nicks

life in the states before, had caused to feel as though everything had gone to hell inside him, and

now that he has created this new life and family with Helen, he knows it will not be as bad as

before.

I believe Nicks heartbreak with Marjorie is engraved in his memory, and possibly a

reason as to why he does not want to move back to the states. I think this because for me

personally when something bad happens, I do not typically enjoy going back to the place it

happened and prefer to move on and start new. So when Nick decided to move back to the states

with Helen, he may have been hesitant at first due to the fact that he moved to Switzerland to get

a new start and create a new identity for himself in order to distract him from the memories of
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his past with Marjorie, and now that he has to go back, they have all returned and it is making it

difficult for him to want to return.