The soldier

The soldier is the main character of the short story “A Very Short Story” by Ernest Hemingway. He is most likely American since he returns to America after the war is over. He is not given a name or a physical description. Throughout the story, he is only referred to by the personal pronoun “he”. The soldier is a young man, as Luz refers to their relationship as “a boy and girl affair” (l. 26). He is wounded badly enough to spend at least three months in hospital (l. 5), where he also has an operation (ll. 5-6). At the end of the story, he moves to Chicago and contracts gonorrhea. 

The lack of a physical description and name suggests that the soldier is a symbolic representation of men during the war, who have affairs which do not stand the test of time.

The soldi...