Temperature thermometers in Europe are based on the Celsius scale, while those in America are based on the Fahrenheit scale. The boy's father, of course, took this for granted, but the young boy had been going to school in Europe and only knew about the Celsius scale.
The Celsius scale is based on the freezing and boiling points of water under standard atmospheric conditions. The freezing point is 0 degrees Celsius and the boiling point...
Temperature thermometers in Europe are based on the Celsius scale, while those in America are based on the Fahrenheit scale. The boy's father, of course, took this for granted, but the young boy had been going to school in Europe and only knew about the Celsius scale.
The Celsius scale is based on the freezing and boiling points of water under standard atmospheric conditions. The freezing point is 0 degrees Celsius and the boiling point is 100 degrees Celsius.
On the Fahrenheit scale the freezing point of water is 32 degrees and the boiling point is 212 under standard conditions.
Normal human body temperature is 32 degrees Celsius and 98.6 degrees Fahrenheit.
The sick boy told his father:
"At school in France the boys told me you can't live with forty-four degrees. I've got a hundred and two."
As the narrator tells his son:
"On their thermometer thirty-seven is normal. On this kind it's ninety-eight."
The fact that the story is set in America causes the small boy to think that he is certainly going to die. His temperature is actually only four degrees above normal. This is high enough to confine him to bed, but not high enough to be considered a serious threat to his life. Hemingway was obviously writing from personal experience. Characteristically, he admired his son for showing courage even though the boy was convinced that he was facing death.
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