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"Fifty Grand" is a short story by Ernest Hemingway. It was first published in ''The Atlantic Monthly'' in 1927, and it appeared later that year in Hemingway’s short story collection ''Men Without Women''. It bears many similarities to an earlier story by Hemingway, "A Matter of Colour", which was published in the Oak Park High School literary magazine ''Tabula'' when Hemingway was sixteen. Both stories are about fixed boxing matches which do not go as planned, and both are narrated by a character in the story rather than an omniscient narrator or the protagonist; they are the only two Hemingway stories to use this narrative technique. "Fifty Grand" tells the story of Jack Brennan as he trains for and boxes in his fight with challenger Jimmy Walcott. The first part of the story takes place in New Jersey, the second in New York. It shows Hemingway's love for and knowledge of boxing, and his use of omission and understatement, and contains an early expression of his moral code. == Plot == Jack Brennan, the current welterweight champion, is at Danny Hogan's New Jersey training camp (called the "health farm" throughout the story) struggling to get in shape for his upcoming fight with favorite Jimmy Walcott. His trainer and friend Jerry Doyle is at the camp with him, and it is Doyle who narrates the story. Jack is not optimistic about the fight and does not adjust to life at the health farm; "He didn't like being away from his wife and the kids and he was sore and grouchy most of the time," Doyle reports. Hogan and Doyle talk briefly about racehorses, and when they ask Jack whether he bets on them, Jack replies that he stopped because he lost money. Jack asks Doyle what he thinks of the shape he is in. Doyle tries to stall, saying: "Well, you can’t tell ... You got a week to get around into form," but Jack asks for a straight answer. Doyle finally tells him, "You’re not right," at which point Jack confides that he has been unable to sleep, despite being tired, because he misses his wife. Hogan, seeing Jack's condition a few days later, tells Doyle that Jack has no chance against Walcott. Doyle replies, "Well ... everybody’s got to get it sometime."〔 The day before the fight, Jack lists the things that concern him when he can not sleep: "I worry about property I got up in the Bronx, I worry about property I got in Florida. I worry about the kids. I worry about the wife. Sometimes I think about fights."〔 For the rest of the day Jack is in a foul mood as he tries to loosen up and run through a few rounds of shadowboxing, but even then he does not look good. Jack cannot break a sweat jumping rope and stops working for the day. That afternoon John Collins, Jack's manager, drives to the health farm with his friends Steinfelt and Morgan. They go with Doyle to Jack's room and find him sleeping, but John wakes him up and asks Doyle to tell Hogan the three visitors "want to see him in about half an hour."〔 Doyle and Hogan wait in the office, knowing the men do not want to be interrupted, until half an hour has elapsed. When the time has passed, they all share a drink in Jack’s room, and the men leave. Jack remains quiet through the rest of the day, but that evening, after a few drinks, he tells Doyle to put money on Walcott and reveals that he himself has bet "fifty grand" on Walcott. He reassures himself of this action's morality, saying, "It ain't crooked. How can I beat him? Why not make money on it?"〔 Jack eventually gets drunk and Doyle puts him to bed. After weighing in, Jack goes with Doyle to the hotel room the two are sharing; though Doyle’s brother-in-law lives in the area, Jack wants to get his money's worth out of the double room and asks him to stay. The two play cribbage and, when John comes, they continue playing until Jack has won four and a half dollars. Before dinner, he says they should play another round to decide who will pay for dinner. The cribbage continues after dinner, with Jack winning another two and a half dollars, until the time comes to go to Madison Square Garden. Entering the ring at the Garden, Jack meets Walcott's cheerful words with cranky abruptness. The fight begins. Doyle reports, "There wasn't anybody ever boxed better than Jack,"〔 and the fight goes well for Jack for several rounds as his left fist repeatedly connects with Walcott's face. By the seventh round, Jack's left arm gets heavy and Walcott begins to gain the upper hand as he pummels Jack's torso. After the eleventh round John Collins tells Jack the fight will go to Walcott, but Jack says he thinks he can last through the twelfth round and goes to meet Walcott and "finish it off right to please himself." Walcott backs Jack up against the ropes and delivers a very low blow; Jack, in obvious pain, stays standing–"if he went down there went fifty thousand bucks" because he would win on a foul–and tells the referee not to call the foul because it must have been an accident. He walks toward the dumbfounded Walcott and begins swinging, landing several body punches before hitting his opponent twice below the belt. Walcott falls and wins the match on a foul. Back in the dressing room, Jack comments, "It’s funny how fast you can think when it means that much money." John says, "You're some boy, Jack." "No," Jack replies. "It was nothing."〔 抄文引用元・出典: フリー百科事典『 ウィキペディア(Wikipedia)』 ■ウィキペディアで「Fifty Grand」の詳細全文を読む スポンサード リンク
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