"Up In Michigan" Is a Riveting Short Read

I take a break from my admittedly slow-moving read, The Importance of Being Earnest, to discuss an different Ernest. I thoroughly enjoyed "Up in Michigan", a short story by Ernest Hemingway that I read earlier this week. Read the brief narrative here.
The story chronicles a young girl, Liz, and her love for Jim, a man she sees frequently but interacts with only on occasion. Particularly interesting about this one is that it is Hemingway's first story, a marker for how his writing has developed over the years. However, the pragmatism that characterizes his best-known works is clear in "Up in Michigan". Hemingway writes in choppy yet informative sentences and spares the meager sappiness that often typifies cookie-cutter novel description. As is evident in the passage below, he maintains relatively detached and unbiased from his omnipresent perch as a narrator, and reveals plenty without intricate writing.

Liz liked Jim very much. She liked the way he walked over from the shop and often went to the kitchen to watch for him to start down the road. She liked it about his mustache. She liked it about how white his teeth were when he smiled. She liked it very much that he didn't look like a blacksmith. . . Liking that made her feel funny.

All the time now Liz was thinking about Jim Gilmore. He didn't seem to notice her very much. He talked about the shop to A.J. Smith and about the Republican Party and about James G. Blaine . . . Liz wanted to make something special for Jim to take but she didn't finally because she was afraid to ask Mrs. Smith for the eggs and flour and afraid if she bought them Mrs. Smith would catch her cooking. It would have been all right with Mrs. Smith but Liz was afraid.

The story deals with love, lust, and the illusions the two present. Liz is enamored of Jim, but bases her obsession with him solely on seeing him every so often.
In the end, it is revealed that Jim is similarly attracted to Liz, but Liz is petrified by this notion. When Jim eventually goes for her, Liz is very uncomfortable and resists even though she wants him to continue. She is shaken by the sexual experience the two go on to have, and is in tears afterwards.
Hemingway provides a complex commentary on male and female behavior. Although Liz appears to be far more interested in Jim than he is to her, Jim is the one who is forceful in their interaction and instigates their sexual contact.
Additionally, Hemingway offers a fable-like lesson to the reader; he implies that desires and passions can evaporate when the leave the head and enter reality, a doctrine clearly manifested in Liz's reaction to Jim's aggressiveness.