On the Quai at Smyrna by Ernest Hemingway
An unnamed British naval officer recounts the evacuation at Smyrna's harbor to a listener, describing how the refugees crowded on the pier screamed every night at midnight until searchlights were turned on them to quiet them. He recalls a Turkish officer furiously accusing an inoffensive gunner's mate of insulting him, and how the narrator smoothed it over by pretending to punish the sailor. He describes women who refused to surrender babies dead for six days, and an old woman who died and went instantly rigid on a litter, a case a doctor later refused to believe. He recounts tension when Kemal's forces, armed with batteries that could have destroyed the ships, fired only blank charges as the British came in to shell the Turkish quarter if needed, and how Kemal sacked the Turkish commander for exceeding his authority. He mentions dreaming about things floating in the harbor, women giving birth in the darkest parts of the hold, and the Greeks, evacuating, breaking the forelegs of their baggage mules and dumping them into the shallow water.
By Ernest Hemingway · First published 1930 · Genre: Historical Fiction, Adventure, Romance · 732 words
First lines
THE STRANGE THING WAS, HE SAID, HOW they screamed every night at midnight. I do not know why they screamed at that time. We were in the harbor and they were all on the pier and at midnight they started screaming. We used to turn the searchlight on them to quiet them. That always did the trick. We'd run the searchlight up and down over them two or three times and they stopped it. One time I was senior officer on the pier and a Turkish officer came up to me in a frightful rage because one of our sailors had been most insulting to him. So I told him the fellow would be sent on ship and be most severely punished. I asked him to point him out. So he pointed out a gunner's mate, most inoffensive chap. Said he'd been most frightfully and repeatedly insulting; talking to me through an interpreter. I couldn't imagine how the gunner's mate knew enough Turkish to be insulting. I called him over and said, "And just in case you should have spoken to any Turkish officers."
What this Textopian page supports
On the Quai at Smyrna is listed on Textopian as a short story by Ernest Hemingway, dated 1930 CE.
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- Work type: Short story
- Author: Ernest Hemingway
- Date: 1930 CE
- Language: English
- Genres: Historical Fiction, Adventure, Romance, Literary Fiction
- Length: 732 words
- Structure: 1 section, 8 paragraphs
- Reading fit: Easy (6th Grade)
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- Work identity for On the Quai at Smyrna by Ernest Hemingway
- Canonical title URL and first readable passage URL
- Genre and topic classification from the Textopian catalog
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Similar titles
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Genres
- Historical Fiction — The book is set in the aftermath of the Greco-Turkish War and is based on Hemingway's own experiences in the city of Smyrna.
- Adventure — The book follows the protagonist's journey as he navigates the chaotic and dangerous environment of Smyrna.
- Romance — The protagonist falls in love with a young woman he meets in Smyrna, and the story follows their relationship.
- Literary Fiction — The book is written in Hemingway's signature style, with sparse prose and a focus on the psychological states of the characters.
Tags
20th century · absolutely · american and canadian literature · american fiction · babies · blown · board · business · chap · dead · died · drew