Ernest Hemingway's "A Very Short Story" is an aptly named tale of a war time affair between an unnamed soldier and a nurse called Luz. Using only seven paragraphs, Hemingway paints a very vivid picture of an affair that closely parallels his own experience with Agnes Von Kurowsky. Hemingway writes such a concise account to convey the brevity of the characters", as well as his own, war time romance. He uses carefully chosen language to help the reader to feel the fleeting, yet powerful, nature of such encounters where lust is often mistaken for love. .
"A Very Short Story" is loaded with language that reveals the passion and sexual nature of this affair. The story begins on "One hot evening in Padua" where "hot" refers literally to the temperature and figuratively to the passionate feelings spawned on this evening (107). Hemingway quickly places the "he" of the story and Luz on the rooftop "after it got dark" and upon having a few "bottles" they find themselves alone (107). As "Luz sat on the bed" the steamy affair begins and physical contact is observed as "he" finds Luz "cool and fresh in the hot night" (107).
The affair continues as "Luz stayed on night duty for three months" while "he" remains in the hospital (107). During this time Luz clearly shares the bed with him and "he" liked having her in his bed so much that "he" would "take the temperatures so Luz would not have to get up from the bed" and "As he walked back along the halls he thought of Luz in his bed" (107). The affair was clearly no secret as the other patients "all knew about it" (107). Spending these passionate three months together makes them feel "as though they were married" and they desire to marry "to make it so they could not lose it", but circumstances will not allow it and he returns to the war (107). .
After "he" leaves the memories of their time together propagates the marriage idea for a while.
