The German Waitress Hemingway Analysis

Through Nick’s perspective on the German waitress, Hemingway creates a parallelism between the German waitress and Nick’s partner Helen, and foreshadows Nick’s future with Helen. Nick quickly conjectures that the waitress is a “knocked up, unmarried German” simply by observing how the woman sings German opera and has no ring (Hemingway 3). His presumption, delivered with an assertive tone, formulates that he is very aware of the waitress’s situation. He repeatedly speculates the waitress to be “touchy” and almost demeans the woman’s status by judging how she is pregnant, but single. Soon, the readers find out that Nick also has a lover named Helen who is pregnant. Although it is never mentioned whether the two are married or not, it is inferred that he is not married to her yet as he does not mention any specific plans he has with her. This draws a parallelism between the waitress and Helen as they are both …show more content…
Thus, Nick assumes that the German woman is touchy, as he is familiar with Helen who is in a similar situation as the waitress.
The similarity between the two characters extends its importance as it implies the unsuccessful relationship ahead of Nick and Helen. For instance, when Nick’s friend George asks him about the couple’s moving plan to the States, Nick replies irresolutely by saying “I guess so” and adds that neither him nor Helen wishes to move back to the States (Hemingway 4). This suggests how the couple is making choices that they are unsatisfied with, but is almost pressured to do so for whatever reason. Moreover, when George asks if Nick is glad to be with Helen, Nick says “Yes, now” (Hemingway 4). The fact that he said that instead of just “Yes” emphasizes how he is happy to be with Helen for now, but is unsure of how he will feel in the future. Nick’s ambivalent feelings towards becomes more