THE THREE DAY BLOW

Ernest Hemingway

An American writer of fiction who won the Nobel prize for literature in 1954 (1899-1961)

​The Three Day Blow is a plot-less story in a dramatic way. Nick is the main character of the story. Bill is the sincere friend of Nick. Two friends Nick and Bill meet at Bill’s cottage. The weather is shown violent. There is rain and storm. The rain stopped as Nick walked into the road that went up through the orchard, but the fall (autumn/ he season when the leaves fall from the trees) wind was blowing. On the top of the hill, there was a cottage that belongs to Bill and his father. Nick went to the cottage and Bill came out of it welcoming him. When they met, they talked about the weather and the blowing wind. Bill said that the wind would blow like that for three days.

They went inside the cottage, made fire, burn lots of logs and make themselves warm. They drank Irish whiskey sitting by the fire. They started their conversation like any normal young men. They talked about different topics such as sports, books, their fathers, fishing, marriage-girlfriend, hunting, etc. They talked about their favorite game, which was baseball. But they were not satisfied with the team performance. Then they talked about their favorite novelist Walpole and Chesterton. Out of them the former was a better human whereas the later was a better writer. They reconfirmed the age-old belief that one is remembered either for his work or for his behavior. After that they talked about their father. Nick’s father was a doctor, whereas Bill’s father was a painter. They both found their father better person. However, they also accepted that Nick’s father has missed a lot of things by not drinking any alcohol. Towards the climax of the story they talked about Marjorie who was once Nick's girlfriend. Nick, though he was not engaged with her, was going to get married. But due to Marjorie's mother, he broke relation with her. Her mother was very terrible. She disliked Nick and spread rumors that Nick had already got engaged with another girl. To marry Marjorie meant he would have to marry the whole family of her mother. Perhaps they would never see each other again. Nostalgia made Nick sad and upset and he felt isolated. The story ends without any proper plot. The topics of the talk changes suddenly from one subject to another. They slowly get drunk and talk about their habits. The topic of their talk shifts to different subjects without a proper ending.




Three-day blow comes, threatens and finally goes away swiping away all the things. In the same way, conflict of love appears and disappears with despair and again with hope. When a storm comes, everything in nature is taken by surprise and before giving enough time a lot of damage is done. Similarly, Nick and Marjorie quarrel and before they can handle the situation, they get separated. It disturbs Nick mentally. On the second day of storm, when the leaves of the tree are blown away, it looks pathetic. The condition of Nick is also the same. He suffers a lot due to his separation from Marjorie, who is blown away like a leaf in the storm from Nick’s life. The suffering goes as the time passes. On the third day, when the storm is over, there comes a new chance for new creation in the nature. Similarly, at the last of the story we find Nick hopeful about his reunion with his beloved.  He thought that what had happened in the past might have happened for good. This feeling made him happy, and finally they went out for hunting delightfully carrying guns.




Q. Explain The Three Day Blow as a dramatic story.

  

The story The Three Day Blow is a dramatic because there are characters and dialogues and unity of time and place. There are two characters Nick and Bill who have continuous dialogues like in the drama. The setting of the story is also like a drama. There is internal and external scene. These scenes can be converted into the drama. They just talk about some little subject that is the subject matter of both drama and story. The story deals with love. Marjorie’s mother can be presented as an antagonist, Nick as a protagonist and Bill as an inciting force. So the story is dramatic.