A Day's Wait

“A Day’s Wait” shows how withholding information to save another’s feelings only causes more suffering. The title “A Day’s Wait” refers to Schatz’s waiting an entire day believing that he’d die. However, these thoughts were completely avoidable. For example, had Schatz asked about his prognosis or shared his worries, he would have learned of his error far more quickly. Similarly, had either the doctor or his father included him in discussing his care, Schatz would not have endured nearly as much emotional turmoil. However, in the hopes of alleviating worry, the characters all omit the truth and even lie, causing more hardship than if they’d simply volunteered information in the first place.

Schatz is the worst example. From the story’s beginning, he claims to be fine when he’s clearly ill. For example, Papa describes Schatz as “shivering, his face was white, and he walked slowly as though it ached to move” (Lines 2-3). Nevertheless, the boy states twice that he’s fine when he very obviously isn’t. The only logical explanation is that he doesn’t want to worry his father, but the fact that Schatz repeatedly claims that he’s fine causes his father more worry. He must tell the boy three times to return to bed before Schatz does so. Schatz’s denying his father the truth exemplifies one of the story’s main themes: Heroic Fatalism. His suffering in silence highlights another of the main themes: Bravery and Manliness. He reflects his father’s behavior.

Of course, after Schatz returns to bed, the prevarication continues. The doctor shares Schatz’s fever while the boy is in earshot but moves out of hearing range for the more crucial information. Schatz, at nine, is old enough to hear his diagnosis and instructions for care. However, the doctor, most likely to keep the boy from panicking, shares that information away from Schatz. The boy would not have spent the whole day worrying had the doctor simply shared all the information with Schatz, who is surely old enough to understand.

Papa is no better. He shares no information with Schatz and only asks if he can read to him. Papa, as the narrator, reveals that Schatz seems “very detached” and is “looking at the foot of the bed [...] very strangely” (Lines 30, 38-39), yet Papa never asks him what’s bothering him; he simply tells Schatz to go to sleep. Likewise, Schatz doesn’t share critical information with his father, instead telling him, “You don’t have to stay in here with me, Papa, if it bothers you” (Lines 41-42).

When Papa replies that it doesn’t bother him to stay, Schatz reiterates, “No, I mean you don’t have to stay if it’s going to bother you” (Line 44). However, he leaves out the most important part of his message. Schatz means to say, “You don’t have to stay if it bothers you to watch me die.” Leaving out the last part of the sentence leads to a miscommunication with Papa, who thinks Schatz must be light-headed and getting sicker. But he doesn’t relay this information to Schatz either. He simply gives the boy his pills and leaves to go hunting. Papa’s stoic demeanor throughout most of the narrative highlights another of the story’s main themes: Miscommunication and Lack of Communication.

When Papa returns, he takes Schatz’s temperature. When Schatz asks what it is, Papa lies for the first time and says that it’s “something like one hundred” (Line 71). This statement has multiple problems. First, it illustrates that Papa is worried. His child is on a fever reducer, but his temperature is still climbing. To help assuage both his concerns and his child’s, he tries to downplay the fever but is caught out by his son. When Schatz corrects him, saying it was 102, his father tells him, “Your temperature is all right [...] It’s nothing to worry about” (Line 76). This is another lie. His temperature isn’t all right. However, it’s not worth worrying about because they can’t do anything else to fix it. Nevertheless, Papa again withholds this information, which only causes Schatz to worry more.

Schatz lies about his worrying as well to ease his father’s concern: “I don’t worry,” Schatz tells Papa, “[...] but I can’t keep from thinking” (Line 77). At this point, Papa’s worry has bubbled into frustration, and he tells his son, “Don’t think […] just take it easy” (Line 78), as though a nine-year-old can just stop his brain from thinking and worrying. What Papa is trying to communicate is that he’s worried about Schatz and wants him to relax, rest, and heal. However, he’s frustrated at his inability to help his sick child, and he leaves out the most important part—that Schatz needs rest to heal.

However, Schatz is too worried about death to rest, a fact that he also keeps from his father. While it may seem that Hemingway is poking fun at Schatz, indicating that the boy’s suffering in silence is foolish, the opposite is true. To Hemingway, Schatz’s grace in the face of death would have shown strength, maturity, and masculinity; he considered this kind of dignity in the face of adversity the true test of a man. However, Hemingway is pointing out that omitting or hiding the truth magnifies suffering in the long run.

Clearly, both the doctor and Papa care about Schatz, but their efforts to protect him by not sharing the nature of his illness actually worsen his fears. Likewise, Schatz’s trying to ease the burden on his father by not sharing his concerns makes his father more worried about him. The harsh truth, in Hemingway’s view, is always better than a gentle lie. Thus, the characters’ trying to protect each other emphasizes the story’s third main theme: Miscommunication and Lack of Communication.

Sharing these harsh truths is part of being a man, according to “A Day’s Wait.” The story examines several ideas and uses them to craft the ideal man from Hemingway’s perspective. This man hunts, cares for his family, suffers in silence, and is honest to a fault. The story is so focused on masculinity, in fact, that no women appear in the story unless we infer their presence. Why Hemingway went so far as to strip women completely out of the story is questionable, unless he wanted to focus entirely on men and the nature of masculinity. Regardless of his reasoning, the story’s focus is entirely on men and what it means to be a man. Clearly, a large part of manliness, at least for this story, is to not spare anyone’s feelings under any circumstances.