The Capital of the World
The Capital of the World is a short story by Ernest Hemingway, first published in 1933. It tells the story of a young Spanish boy, Paco, who lives in Madrid with his mother and sister. Paco is a dreamer, and he longs to escape the poverty of his life and travel to Paris, the "capital of the world". When his mother dies, Paco is left to fend for himself and his sister. He takes a job as a shoeshine boy, and eventually saves enough money to make his dream come true. Along the way, he meets a variety of characters, including a prostitute, a bullfighter, and a wealthy American. Through his experiences, Paco learns about life, love, and the importance of family. In the end, he discovers that the real "capital of the world" is not a place, but a state of mind.
By Ernest Hemingway · First published 1936 · Genre: Literary Fiction, Historical Fiction, Romance · 4,532 words
First lines
MADRID IS FULL OF BOYS NAMED PACO, which is the diminutive of the name Francisco, and there is a Madrid joke about a father who came to Madrid and inserted an advertisement in the personal columns of El Liberal which said: PACO MEET ME AT HOTEL MONTANA NOON TUESDAY ALL IS FORGIVEN PAPA and how a squadron of Guardia Civil had to be called out to disperse the eight hundred young men who answered the advertisement. But this Paco, who waited on table at the Pension Luarca, had no father to forgive him, nor anything for the father to forgive. He had two older sisters who were chambermaids at the Luarca, who had gotten their place through coming from the same small village as a former Luarca chambermaid who had proven hardworking and honest and hence given her village and its products a good name; and these sisters had paid his way on the auto-bus to Madrid and gotten him his job as an apprentice waiter. He came from a village in a part of Extramadura where conditions were incredibly primitive, food scarce, and comforts unknown and he had worked hard ever since he could remember.
What this Textopian page supports
The Capital of the World is listed on Textopian as a short story by Ernest Hemingway, dated 1936 CE.
This source record anchors work identity, reading entry points, and catalog context for checking claims about the work.
- Work type: Short story
- Author: Ernest Hemingway
- Date: 1936 CE
- Language: English
- Genres: Literary Fiction, Historical Fiction, Romance, Drama
- Length: 4,532 words
- Structure: 1 section, 93 paragraphs
- Reading fit: Easy (6th Grade)
Good citation fit
- Work identity for The Capital of the World by Ernest Hemingway
- Canonical title URL and first readable passage URL
- Genre and topic classification from the Textopian catalog
- Readability and classroom-planning context
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Discussion starters
- What should a reader notice first when entering The Capital of the World?
- How does this short story by Ernest Hemingway fit its genre, period, or classroom use?
- Where does Literary Fiction first become important in the reading?
Similar titles
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Genres
- Literary Fiction — The Capital of the World is a short story by Ernest Hemingway, a Nobel Prize-winning author known for his literary fiction works.
- Historical Fiction — The story is set in Madrid during the Spanish Civil War, making it a historical fiction work.
- Romance — The story follows the relationship between a father and his son, and the father's attempts to find a suitable wife for his son, making it a romance work.
- Drama — The story follows the struggles of a father and son, and the father's attempts to find a suitable wife for his son, making it a drama work.
Tags
20th century · afraid · american and canadian literature · american fiction · apron · bed · bull · café · chair · dining · enrique · head