These four works describe entirely different lives. Mr. and Mrs. Elliot is a sad story, for the couple cannot get a baby even if they have tried their best. However, My Old Man is a positive story. We can perceive a father's love towrads his son and this father's positive attitude towards life. In Great News from the Mainland, the protagonist's son is under treatment and getting better. However, the two paragraphs of scene description give a hint that there may not be a happy ending. In Old Man at the Bridge, the author describes a worn-out old man who is fleeing from calamity. The author reveals the evil of the war as well as appreciates the kind humanity of human beings.

This book includes four works of Hemingway: Mr. and Mrs. Elliot, My Old Man, Great News from the Mainland and Old Man at the Bridge. In Mr. and Mrs. Elliot, Mr.Elliot and Mrs. Elliot want to give birth to a baby but they haven't have a baby all the time. In My Old Man, "my" father is a horse rider. He is humorous and lives a relaxing life. "My" father teaches "me" how to be a professional horse rider by his own experiences. Great News from the Mainland tells what the father talks to his son when his son is under electric shock treatment. Also, it records what this father talks with his son's doctor. In Old Man at the Bridge, the author reveals the evil of the war and expresses his deep mercy to lives, through his talk with the old man who is fleeing from calamity.

Ernest Miller Hemingway (July 21, 1899–July 2, 1961) was an American novelist, short story writer, and journalist. His economical and understated style had a strong influence on 20th-century fiction, while his life of adventure and his public image influenced later generations. Hemingway produced most of his work between the mid-1920s and the mid-1950s, and won the Nobel Prize in Literature in 1954. He published seven novels, six short story collections, and two non-fiction works. Additional works, including three novels, four short story collections, and three non-fiction works, were published posthumously. Many of his works are considered classics of American literature.