Luz

Luz appears in the short story “A Very Short Story” by Ernest Hemingway. Judging by her name, she is probably Spanish (in Spanish, luz means “light”). At the beginning of the story, she is a nurse at a hospital in Padua, where she meets the soldier. At the end of the story, she opens a hospital in Pordonone. She is young, as she refers to her affair with the soldier as “a boy and girl affair” (l. 26). 

Even though she is in love with the soldier, Luz places great value on stability and financial security. She is not willing to risk her future on an uncertain situation. This is why she refuses to accompany the soldier to America and promises she will join him there once he manages to get a good job to support them both (ll. 17-18). This leads to the couple’s first conflict (ll. 19-22), which highlights their incompatibility. In choosing the major over the soldie...