When Nick and Bill are sitting by the fire, drinking whiskey and discussing literature, they allude to two different authors—G. K. Chesterton and Hugh Walpole:
“Do you remember the Flying Inn?”
“‘If an angel out of heaven Gives you something else to drink, Thank him for his kind intentions; Go and pour them down the sink.’”
“That’s right,” said Nick. “I guess he’s a better guy than Walpole.”
“Oh, he’s a better guy, all right,” Bill said.
“But Walpole’s a better writer.”
“I don’t know,” Nick said. “Chesterton’s a classic.”
“Walpole’s a classic, too,” Bill insisted.
G.K. Chesterton was an English writer and philosopher whose 1914 novel The Flying Inn—which Bill quotes directly from—was about a futuristic England navigating a new Temperance Movement. Hugh Walploe was also an English novelist who, as the men discuss, was seen as an accomplished writer but did have the best reputation.
More important than the specifics of these two writers’ lives is the fact that both Nick and Bill have a deep understanding of the literary and social dynamics of the English literary scene in the early 1900s. Despite their melancholic and depressive energy, the two men are clearly passionate about literature. This is likely due to the fact that literature—like drinking and spending time together in this cabin in the woods—grants them a reprieve from the alienated nature of their daily lives. As members of the Lost Generation, they are disillusioned with the expectations placed on them and instead live vicariously through books.
While drinking by the fire in the cabin, Nick and Bill discuss the books they have read lately, alluding to Maurice Hewlitt’s novel Forest Lovers in the process:
“Did you read the Forest Lovers?”
“Yup. That’s the one where they go to bed every night with the naked sword between them.”
“That’s a good book, Wemedge.”
“It’s a swell book. What I couldn’t ever understand was what good the sword would do. It would have to stay edge up all the time because if it went over flat you could roll right over it and it wouldn’t make any trouble.”
“It’s a symbol,” Bill said.
“Sure,” said Nick, “but it isn’t practical.”
Forest Lovers is a historical romance novel published in 1898 that features a man ending a relationship with a woman he loves because she belongs to a lower social class. Bill’s decision to bring up this novel in particular may be his way of hinting that Nick has done the right thing by ending his relationship with Marjorie (whom Bill sees as inferior to Nick).
This allusion is also significant in that it allows the two men to demonstrate their interest in literature. Like Hemingway—and other writers in the Lost Generation who became disillusioned with society in the wake of World War I—Nick and Bill are less interested in settling down and finding jobs and more interested in escaping into fantasy worlds through literature. At the same time, Nick doesn’t like the symbolism in Forest Lovers because “it isn’t practical.” This moment underlines how, unlike Bill, Nick is at least somewhat interested in practical matters (as seen in his desire to get back together with Marjorie and build a life with her).
As Nick and Bill sit by the fire and drink whiskey, they discuss baseball, alluding to actual players and events in the process—as seen in the following passage:
“What did the Cards do?”
“Dropped a double header to the Giants.”
“That ought to cinch it for them.”
“It’s a gift,” Bill said. “As long as McGraw can buy every good ball player in the league there’s nothing to it.”
“He can’t buy them all,” Nick said.
“He buys all the ones he wants,” Bill said. “Or he makes them discontented so they have to trade them to him.”
“Like Heinie Zim,” Nick agreed.
This passage contains several different allusions to baseball in the early 1910s. To start, “Cards” is a reference to the St. Louis Cardinals and the “Giants” are San Francisco’s baseball team. “McGraw” is a reference to the Giants’ then-manager John McGraw, who was known for recruiting and signing some of the best player in the Major League Baseball league during his time in that position (as Nick and Bill note in their discussion). “Heinie Zim” is a reference to Heini Zimmerman (whose nickname was “The Great Zim”), a player whom McGraw recruited to join the Giants in 1916. This particular allusion is the reason that many scholars believe that “The Three-Day Blow” is set in 1916.
In addition to helping readers understand the specific time in which the story is set, these allusions to baseball communicate that, at least while still somewhat sober, Nick and Bill don’t feel comfortable discussing about their own feelings or experiences. Nick is in emotional pain over his recent breakup with Marjorie, yet he ignores those feelings and talks about the details of baseball instead. This is one of the ways that Hemingway captures how performing a stoic kind of masculinity is important to the two men.
