The End of Something

"The End of Something" by Ernest Hemingway is a story of moving on and forgetting old ways in life. In the story, Nick simply moves on from his "love" with Marjorie. Hemingway presents moving on from love as an ordinary occurrence, one that simply happens in life and must be dealt with. Hemingway possibly uses Nick as the ideal way to deal with loss of love, as he merely tells Marjorie he is not having fun, and describes this occurrence by saying "no, there wasn't any scene." This could be a reflection of how Hemingway wishes he could shrug off his personal conflicts in life and accept that sometimes one must simply move on.

These events occur in a place, Horton's Bay, that used to be a lumber town. But one year the logs stopped appearing. This signifies that the town of Horton's Bay is moving on through the times, just as society's cycle would have it. The city's "moving on" is juxtaposed with Nick's moving on in his relationship to show that "moving on" is necessary and impossible to avoid in the simple workings of life.

The metaphor of fishing portrays the relationship between Marjorie and Nick. Nick is seen as the fish that won't bite. This shows the push and pull of relationships, and the catch-22 that is the pursuit of a significant other. The instance of a fish "getting away" is commonplace when fishing, just as Hemingway wants to portray a prospective significant other "getting away": something that will happen and that people need to accept as a part of life... as "no scene."