Major events
Why does Enrique let the mocking bird go?
He gives the Mockingbird the freedom that he himself is seeking
Name the 2 literary conventions: “a Negro in a narrow brim, flat top straw hat and grey alpaca coat and black trousers”
Enumeration, indirect characterisation
What is the meaning underlined behind the use of the specific clothes elements attributed to the black man?
Transmit the sense of him being a well-dressed black man, who likes nice things but is a thorn in Enrique’s side.
What would be some characteristics Enrique has in common with other Hemmingway protagonists?
Enrique shares a troubled past as well as a complicated current situation and a rather undisclosed love life
What’s the iceberg principle and how does it take part in this story as for the entire Hemingway’s Body of Work?
A deeper meaning of a story should not be evident on the surface of the text but rather implied.
What is the significance of Enrique showing his wound to Maria?
Enrique showing such a grotesque wound shows how much he trusts
Explain Hemingway’s choice when describing Maria’s kisses
Hemingway uses comparisons and repetition to emphasise how these kisses impact Enrique.
What does their touching in a given moment of the story symbolize?
Symbolize their doomed connection, and Enrique’s memory and force will end up prevailing in Maria’s memory, giving her strength and hope
Is Enrique a Hemmingway hero?
Enrique can be seen as a Hemingway heroes due to his more nonchalant attitude and fearlessness in the face of death as he just accepts it
How does this story fit into Hemingway’s BOW as a whole?
What is the scene of Maria and Enrique kissing in the dark mirroring?
This scene is mirroring the entire plot
Explain Marías repetition of the phrase “ you talk like a book” and it’s significance
Her repetition is used to further emphasise Enrique talking in a philosophical like manner, this is used to characterised Enrique and herself.
Does the title “Nobody Ever Dies” hold any symbolic meaning to the story as a whole?
It carries a somewhat ironic meaning as while Enrique physically dies, the idea is in fact that revolutionaries' love will guide their cause to prevail
What is the significance of Maria’s defiance while being arrested
Her defiance shows her taking on the characteristics from her fallen comrades and keeping them alive
Ernest Hemingway is known for teaching the reader life perspectives throughout his stories, what’s the underscored moral in this story?
Carries an educational moral in which people learn through experience, shedding light on the idea that, if you die doing something virtuous, you never die and live on in people’s memories
Why does Maria scream out that all of her dead comrades are helping her at the end of the story?
Maria calling out to her dead comrade is a symbolism to how even though they are physically dead they’re fighting spirits and what they fought for is still alive.
When Maria is being carried away in the police car and she is staring at the black man, what does Hemingway mean when he says that he’s up against an older magic
Hemmingway uses a metonymy make reference to revolutionary fighting spirits and the will for freedom
What does the recurring motif of mortality symbolize in the story?
It symbolizes the inevitability of death and the uselessness of human efforts to avoid or escape from it
What is the deeper meaning of the black men and his character relative to the story
The black man is a silent observer and recurrent character that Hemmingway forces you to notice via his repetition
How does this story capture the Existentialism behind Hemingway’s narratives?
Observed throughout the story through Enrique’s feelings of hollowness and emptiness