Ernest Hemingway is an American author whose ideas of courage and honor in a confusing and hostile world, remain as inspiration to this day. The short stories of Ernest Hemingway are among the most important works of American literature. In order to understand more about American literature, I have chosen two of Hemingway's short stories to compare and contrast the elements on the characters and the stories. The two stories are "A Clean, Well-Lighted Place" and "A Very Short Story".
             In the story "A Clean, Well-Lighted Place," by Hemingway, he describes the feeling of the characters towards each other. The characters include an old man, a young waiter, and a middle aged waiter. They all represent different age groups. The young waiter represents youth, the old man represents old age, and the middle aged waiter represents the transition between the two age groups.
             In the story "A Very Short Story," by Hemingway, he initially sets the foundation for what seems to be a tragic love affair. The author begins to describe the relationship between a nameless male and a woman named Luz who works in a hospital. They meet, fall in love, and have stimulating and challenging careers, plan to get married. Then, forces beyond their control separate them to where they can only communicate through letters. When Luz goes to open her own hospital, overseas, she foolishly makes love to the Italian major of the battalion and gains tremendous insight into the true meaning of her relationship with the nameless male which she terms "is only a boy and girl affair." It is at this point in the story that the reader expects to become witness to her breaking it off with the unidentified man for an everlasting romance with the Italian major and see how distraught and possible suicidal her first love will become because of the unexpected break up. However, this does not happen. Luz convinces herself that her decision...