The Gambler, the Nun, and the Radio
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The Gambler, the Nun, and the Radio is a short story by Ernest Hemingway, which appears in The Snows of Kilimanjaro. The original title was Give us a Prescription, Doctor.
[edit] Plot summary
The story takes place in a hospital, run by a convent. The story focuses around a Mexican gambler named Cayetano, who was shot in a small town in Montana, a nun who aspires to be a saint and prays for everything or anything, and a writer named Mr. Frazer, who is ill, and constantly listens to the radio. To ease Cayetano's loneliness, the nun gets three Mexican musicians to come play for the people. One of the three musicians suggests that religion is the opium of the people, and distracts them from their ignorance. Frazer then tells how all people need opium to keep them from suffering too much. The nun had prayer, the doctors had humor, Cayetano had gambling and now the music of the three, and Frazer had his radio.
