38 pages • 1 hour read
Ernest HemingwayTo Have And Have Not
Fiction | Novel | Adult | Published in 1937A modern alternative to SparkNotes and CliffsNotes, SuperSummary offers high-quality Study Guides with detailed chapter summaries and analysis of major themes, characters, and more.
Chapters 18-20Chapter Summaries & Analyses
Chapter 18 Summary
Albert and Harry are waiting on the boat when an explosion comes from the bank, and the Cubans run out, shooting everyone in their path. While Albert screams about helping the poor bank customers, Harry watches the men jump into the taxi and speed toward them. They arrive and quickly throw the bags full of money into the boat. When Albert protests that these men are criminals, Roberto, the big Cuban, shoots Albert three times in the chest, killing him.
As Harry pushes the boat full throttle, he knows there are only two speedboats that can catch them, and both are out of commission. Harry is clearly angry that the Cubans killed Albert but pretends to be friendly and helpful to them in order to seem unsuspicious. He suggests throwing Albert’s body overboard, and while he and Roberto do so, Harry kicks the man’s machine gun overboard as well, eliminating one potential threat. As the men settle in for the night, Harry questions a young polite man, Emilio, about the Cuban revolution. Harry listens as Emilio speaks about “free[ing] [the country] from tyranny” (168) but inwardly dismisses him as a “radical” (166).
After dark, Harry takes a few sips from the Bacardi bottle, steps down into the cockpit, and grabs the semi-automatic weapon hidden there. When he comes back on deck, he unloads the clips on the men, shooting Emilio first, then the two men lying asleep on the cots. He sees Roberto crawling off to hide and empties the rest of the clip on him, taking some satisfaction in avenging Albert’s death. As he looks around to survey the damage, one of the men from the cot sits up suddenly and shoots Harry in the stomach. Harry falls to the deck, mired in the countless gallons of gasoline spilled from the busted gas tanks, and reflects on what Marie and his daughters will do without him. The rocking of the ocean pains him, so he lies as still as possible as the boat floats on.
Chapter 19 Summary
On his way home from Freddy’s bar, Richard Gordon passes a large woman hurrying home, “her eyes red from crying” (176). Richard thinks to himself that she is quite unfortunate looking, and he scathingly itemizes her physical features—her hair, her size—that have the gall to be unsuited to his desires. He wonders what type of man would even be attracted to her.
He arrives home and begins working on his current novel, continually thinking about the woman he passed on the street. He decides to include a caricature of her in the chapter and sketches her as a desperate woman whose husband finds her repellant. The woman is later revealed to be Marie, Harry’s wife, who was called to the police station regarding her husband.
Chapter 20 Summary
Freddy’s boat is an image of death and destruction—broken glass, splintered wood from numerous bullet holes, blood dripping down the side—as it drifts along the Gulf Stream waters. A man’s torso lies over the bow with his fingers trailing in the water while tiny fish peck at them. A scan of the interior reveals bodies in various stages of rigor mortis. Gasoline laps at Harry’s body as he lies on his back, feeling cold and empty. In the distance, a cargo ship passes on its way to Mexico.
Chapters 18-20 Analysis
The scenes of carnage at the boat are punctuated by the brief but telling vignette of Richard, who passes Marie on the street and forms a sadistic fixation on her physical appearance. The chapter is a cameo for his misogyny, but it also underscores the character’s contrast with Harry, who believes in his wife’s beauty. Moreover, when Richard later writes his novel and includes a sketch of Marie—pathetic and undesirable to her husband—the caricature is so starkly inaccurate (Harry adores Marie) that the discord between Richard’s imagination and reality borders on the comedic.
Meanwhile, Albert’s death recalls (and imbues with retroactive irony) the earlier conversation where Harry chastises Albert for not taking risks for his family. Albert’s dominating sense of morality appears at an inopportune moment—shouting at the militants that they are criminals and provoking their wrath—but it represents the part of Harry that has been lost in this criminal activity, even though it costs Albert his life. When Harry throws Albert’s body overboard as a ruse to dispose of Roberto’s gun, it trivializes Albert’s death and minimizes his importance as a person; Harry’s ploy treats Albert much like society treats him: as inconsequential and disposable.
There is no preceding hint of Harry’s assassination of the Cuban militants—typical of Hemingway’s minimalism. The shooting is methodical, but Harry’s weakness is his bravado and belief that he is untouchable when he uses a gun to replace his missing arm. However, his stoic nature reemerges when he is shot: He offers no remorse or self-pity, only resignation.
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