The Complete Short Stories of Ernest Hemingway Chapter Summary & Analysis - "Black Ass at the Cross Roads" Summary

"Black Ass at the Cross Roads" Summary

During World War II, the narrator and his friends guard a crossroads where German troops pass into France. They kill the Germans and rob them of their money and valuables. They accidentally kill some Frenchmen. They kill many Germans on bicycles. At the end of the day, they clean the blood off their clothes and share both the spoils of war and the regrets about their activity.

"Black Ass at the Cross Roads" Analysis

The violence of Word War II is presented in this story, yet with a strange twist. The narrator and his friends are not soldiers, but they are fighting for the French side. However, at this point in the war, France is controlled by Germany. The narrator and his friends have set up a crossroads on the French-German border to assault German soldiers crossing into France. The German soldiers do not seem to see this border as violent or guarded, and others arrive on...
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