Literary Criticism

The Plot Summary:

The short story entitled The Undefeated (1927) addresses death through bullfighting. Manuel, the main character, goes to Retana, a man who is in charge of bullfighting, and asks to bullfight to make some money. Retana is unfriendly, seemingly uncaring, and tells Manuel that the only thing he can let him do is fight at a night show as a substitute for an injured bullfighter. Night shows pay the least amount of money and are less glorious than the day shows. Bullfighting has brought death into Manuel’s family in the past, killing his brother, but this does not stop him from participating in it. Manuel is reluctant, to fight, but gives in and asks Zurito, a picador he knows, to help him. A signifier that a man is a bullfighter is the coleta, or pigtail, he wears in his hair. At the beginning, Manuel kept it hidden, but later lets it hang down for others to see. Zurito does not want to help Manuel because he thinks he is too old, and threatens to cut off his coleta. However, Zurito decides to help on the condition that Manuel stop fighting if this fight does not go well. Manuel fights that night and indeed it does not go well.


The story ends with Manuel badly hurt by the bull, and Zurito by his side. Despite the seriousness of his injuries, Manuel is still trying to convince himself and others that he is fine and that he fought a good fight. The fighting in this story can be seen as the Imaginary Order. Physical pleasure does not always have to come from the fulfillment of sexual desires; it can come from other pleasures as well. Bullfighting brings an adrenaline rush to the fighter and a sense of excitement. Thus, the physical pleasure in this story comes with the bullfighting. But, with this comes the realization of the loss of wholeness, seen in the Symbolic Order. This loss is seen when Manuel first goes to Retana and is rejected for the day fight, and has to substitute for an injured night fighter. Manuel sees his lack of wholeness as his strength diminishes and he realizes he is not the bullfighter he once was. He has to accept the rules that Retana has set for him. There are two images that foreshadow the eventual end. The first is the bullhead above Retana’s head, mounted on the wall of his office. This is the head of the bull that killed Manuel’s brother, and represents the authority that Retana has over Manuel and the loss of wholeness that Manuel’s brother’s death has brought to him. It also symbolizes the danger that looms over Manuel and that caused his brother’s death. Secondly, Zurito threatens Manuel that he will cut off his coleta because he should not be fighting any more. This threat is like a threat to life for Manuel, in the same way that death is a constant threat Hemingway. Later, Manuel goes to a bar and talks to some waiters who realize that he is a bullfighter. After talking to him about his fighting for a short time, they finally forget that he is there. “Manuel looked at them, standing talking in front of his table. He had drunk his second brandy. They had forgotten about him. They were not interested in him.” Manuel was not well known, and the fact that he would be fighting at night made the waiters less interested in him. As the story proceeds, the reader is left with disappointment and lost hope.


At the end of the bullfight, Manuel grows tired, less focused, and angry. His confidence has turned into loss. Finally at the end of the story, the reader sees the Real Order through Hemingway’s writing. The last fight of Manuel’s life shows all that he is not. Though he has killed the bull, he cannot hold on to his own life. The blood of the bull shows that he conquered some of the trials of life, but Manuel lies there almost dead. The last lines show this tension. Manuel asks Zurito if he had fought well, and Zurito gives a positive answer, though he betrays what he truly believes. Then, “the doctor’s assistant put the cone over Manuel’s face and he inhaled deeply. Zurito stood awkwardly, watching.” Manuel is dying, and though he tries to deny it, he lacks the strength that he once had.

THE INTERPRETATION: