Conflict and Resolution:
The conflict of "A Day's Wait" by Ernest Hemingway is fairly straight forward. The little boy is under the impressions that he is going to die. He has been sick with influenza and has taken a fever of one hundred two. The doctor prescribes him medicine to try and bring the fever back down; "Downstairs, the doctor left three different medicines in different colored capsules with instructions for giving them. One was to bring down the fever, another a purgative, the third to overcome an acid condition" (Hemingway 1). The doctor also says that there would be no danger to the boy if he avoided pneumonia. Unfortunately, the boy hears none of this, and is left to stew in his thoughts for the rest of the day. He is under the impression that he is going to die because while he was in France, he overheard somebody say that a temperature of forty four degrees is fatal.
The conflict of the boy's wait to die is resolved when he finally asks his father, "About what time am I going to die? (Hemingway 2)" At first, the father is taken aback by his son's question, but later learns that his son has misinterpreted the information he has been given. Once the boy learns the difference between degrees Fahrenheit and degrees Celsius, he is given a "second chance" at life, so to speak. He then realizes the importance of little things the next day.
The conflict of the boy's wait to die is resolved when he finally asks his father, "About what time am I going to die? (Hemingway 2)" At first, the father is taken aback by his son's question, but later learns that his son has misinterpreted the information he has been given. Once the boy learns the difference between degrees Fahrenheit and degrees Celsius, he is given a "second chance" at life, so to speak. He then realizes the importance of little things the next day.