A bull-fight is analogous of war. It's also violent, bloody, full of suffering and a very strong nervous tension. Corrida  for Hemingway is a symbol of a test of man's will-power and inner strength.

The themes of failure and victory go hand in hand with each other. They're opposite unless the failure turns out to be a victory.

It's seen from the very first lines that Manuel will lose the fight. But his will-power fascinates the readers.

But nevertheless I didn't like the story at all. Bored to death, I thought I wouldn't manage to read it to the very end. Long descriptions, the poor development of the plot - this makes the story somewhat irritating and dull. But Hemingway's stile is recognizable. =)

(by Asya)

In The Undefeated the theme is a life of a person. Hemingway chooses corrida as a symbol of our life. Life of every person is something like a fight with a bull. You can be a professional fighter like Manuel, or can be very weak and unable to fight. In any case life dictates its own rules, and even such a perfect matador can’t stand time. The river of time flows and brings us illnesses, difficulties and problems.

And we see Manuel who is older than he should be to fight perfectly, he`s just out of the hospital so it`s really difficult and dangerous for him to win. But Manuel has a strong core, that`s why he wins this fight.

I think that our life is like this corrida. Every problem of ours is a bull. And in any case you can win in this fight only if you are spiritually ready to win, if you have a strong core. On the other hand, corrida is also a game. And here we again can compare it with our life. Yes, our life seems to be a game, but very serious and dangerous.

(by Seagull)

The Undefeated is a story about a matador, Manuel Garcia, at the dawn of his career. He wants to have one more fight on the arena with a bull. This story is somehow similar to Fifty Grand. The struggle of the main character with the bull is an allusion for two juxtaposing problems – victory and defeat. What draws the reader’s attention is details. The scene on the arena is shown with an amazing precision. Manuel’s desire to win seems to be unquestionable, but the bull is also looking forward to not losing. Manuel has to suppress the will of his rival. It also seems that his moral powers are great and notwithstanding his injuries he won and that is for sure. Hemingway’s style to reveal such characters as Manuel who usually win morally in the end is tracked in this story as well.

The critics’ point of view is very deep and of course I should agree with what they think about the motive of victory and defeat. It’s tracked through many of Hemingway’s stories. But what is more important is that this very story reflects the model of the world as it’s seen by Hemingway. It means that every part of this world reflects the whole world. Bull-fighting is actually what our life is, with its struggles and tensions. That is what I haven’t noticed while reading, but the critics actually have. This is just our world seen by the author, but for every person this world is not only blood, tortures or misunderstandings. This is Hemingway’s subjective point of view, but actually in general we can’t but agree with it. It seems to be a very important issue and it’s very close to an objective one.

(by 8davids8)

This story tells us about young fellow - Manuel,  who earns money by fighting bulls. The author tells us about corrida, after that the main character was in hospital for ten years. He didn't  win this bull-fight but he was sure he would do it. He wanted to prove others that he didn't lose his skills and experience, and after 10 years  he is still in form. 

 Hemingway's language is very mysterious. There are  lot's of things that have different meanings. For example - "corrida". It's not only the fight between a bull and a bull-fighter, it is not only the fight between a person and environment, it is also cruelty, death, suffering. For the main character that corrida was an examination of his will-power. The main character is very proud, he cant even think of changing his work. He wants to prove others that he can do his work perfectly. I think that Manuel Garcia is coward, he is afraid of losing his work because it will mean that he admits his defeat.

 I don't agree with the statement that Manuel's behavior is an ideal of human behavior. To my mind we must understand how strong we are and can we resist any life trouble or not. You cant lose your spirit in any situation.

 This story is close to our life. We always think that we strong, but sometimes we are blind, we cant see difficulties of this or that problem.That's why we cant resist problems. 

(by unknown author)