Mother of a Queen
Ernest Hemingway’s short story, ”Mother of a Queen”, centers around a gay man, Paco, who must bury his recently-deceased mother. The narrator, Roger, chides Paco several times to arrange his mother’s burial. Though Paco says he will get to it, he never does, and his mother ends up buried in a common grave.
The salient title, “Mother of a Queen,” reflects the complexity of the story in just four words. The “Mother” refers to Paco’s actual mother as well as Roger’s doting ways. Paco is the “Queen”: he acts like a royal queen in how he carelessly treats his responsibilities and the people around him, as shown in the treatment of his mother’s burial and when he insists he and Roger are friends, completely bamboozling Roger. However, in addition, many clues point to Paco as a gay man —another type of a “queen” — with Roger as his love.
The complexity in the simple title makes Hemingway’s stories true works of art.
- Taylor Jones
