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The American Club

Callaghan and Heminway enjoyed boxing together in the American Club. It was the venue of a number of sparring matches between the pair, some of which Callaghan describes in detail throughout ‘That Summer in Paris.’

Hemingway was extremely interested in boxing, but did not box to a particularly high standard. Callaghan had boxed a lot in college, and was a better boxer than Hemingway. However, their shared interests in boxing helped to lay the foundations of a strong friendship, in addition, of course, to their similar literary interests. For this reason, I think the American Club is one of the more noteworthy places mentioned in the text. Callaghan wrote of one particular sparring match, during which he burst Hemingway’s lip.

“I remember Ernest’s line: “As long as Morley can keep cutting my mouth he’ll always remain my good friend.” We all laughed. Yet Ernest did look remarkably happy. His cut and swollen, mouth seemed to make him feel jolly and talkative.” (http://fitzgerald.narod.ru/bio/callaghan-thatsum.html)

Hemingway generally liked to be the best at things; he liked to have things his own way. But he accepted that Callaghan was the better boxer, and just enjoyed having a sparring partner. It seems boxing was maybe the one thing that Hemingway genuinely enjoyed, and didn’t feel the pressure to be the best. The American club was the venue of arguably Hemingway’s most enjoyable moments spent with Callaghan.

There were occasions in the American Club where Hemingway did not behave so gracefully; for example, Callaghan claims Hemingway spat blood on him after having his lip burst. However, there are fallouts in every friendship – it may be argued that incidents like this brought the two closer together.

For these reasons I think the American Club was one of the most significant places in the text.

 

This is an image of the location of The American Club from Google Maps. WORKS CITED

http://aelang.net/projects/glassco.htm

http://fitzgerald.narod.ru/bio/callaghan-thatsum.html

http://maps.google.co.uk/