In Hemingway's, "Hills Like White Elephants" and deMaupassant's "The Necklace", the couple faces a crisis. In each story the couple handles the situation in different ways, which caused one couple to suffer for a very long time and the other, due to the choice that they have made, gave them a better life. In "The Necklace", the couple was not wealthy; the husband was a store clerk. When it came to going to a ball, she did not want to attend not just because she did not have anything to wear but she did not have any jewelry. The couple just could not afford it. Since her husband would do anything to make her happy, he had given her the money that he was saving up so she could buy herself a dress. After buying a dress and borrowing a necklace from her rich friend, they were off to the ball. After having a wonderful time and returning back home, she realized the necklace that she had borrowed was not on her neck anymore. After going to the jeweler to get it replaced, they knew that they would be in debt for a long time. "Loisel possessed 18 thousand fiancés which his father left him and he had to borrow the rest" (Maupassant, 2004, p. 349). For the necklace cost 44 thousand fiancés. Ten years they spent repaying back the money that they borrowed. In "Hills Like White Elephants" the couple faces a crisis where the wife is sick. Her husband wants her to get an operation. To the husband it seems as if it is a simple procedure, yet to the wife, she is afraid that something might happen during the operation. "And if I so it you'll be happy and things will be like they were and you'll love me?" (Hemingway, 2004, p. 231). The wife would do anything to please her husband. She loves him dearly and may be that afraid that since she is sick that he may leave her.
The chaos and destruction that the Nazi’s are causing are not changing the lives of only Jews, but also the lives of citizens in other countries. Between Night by Elie Wiesel and The Hiding Place by Corrie ten Boom, comradeship, faith, strength, and people of visions are crucial to the survival of principle characters. Ironically, in both stories there is a foreseen future, that both seemed to be ignored.
In the stories “A Rose for Emily” by William Faulkner and “Story of an Hour” by Kate Chopin both women suffer through expectations brought on by society and the ideas of marriage. Emily loses her sanity trying to obtain love and live up to the expectations of society. Emily kills the man she loved so that he would never leave, and so that she could maintain her reputation. She was put on a pedestal, and that pedestal would end up being her destruction. Louise is a woman afflicted by heart problems, which could relate her unhappiness. After losing her husband she starts to feel free; however when her husband walks through the door she dies. Louise was a prisoner of societies making, she was never given a voice. She could never explain her unhappiness because women were expected to love and obey their husband’s without complaints. Marriage to these women meant different things, although the idea of marriage damaged both women. Louise and Emily were women damaged by the pressures of who they are expected to be.
This story is about Matilda and her husband. Matilda receives an invitation to attend to a party, but she has no jewelry to wear, so she borrows one from a rich friend. Unfortunately, Matilda loses the necklace at the party and has to buy a new one worth thirty-five thousand francs. She works for years to repay all the money she borrowed, but when she finally gets all the money, she finds out the necklace was worth “No more than five hundred francs.” This story has two unexpected twists in it: she loses the necklace and she works for years to pay it off, only to find out it is less than one sixth of what she paid. How Matilda deals with finding out the price is left to the reader’s imagination, but it shows that when Matilda loses the necklace she deals with it relatively calmly, borrowing money to buy a new one and later working for years to pay it
Hemingway also uses immorality as the central idea. The American is trying to convince the girl to abort: ‘“I have known lots of people that have done it…. ‘But if I do it, then it will be nice again if I say things are like white elephants…‘I’ll love it” I just cannot think about it” (596,597). Here one sees how the man manipulates the girl.
‘Hills Like White Elephants’ is a short story authored by Ernest Hemingway about an American and a girl named Jig. In the story, the two are sitting in a train station waiting for the train to Madrid. While they wait, they have an intense ongoing debate on whether or not to abort Jig. At the end of the story, the train is about to arrive and the man carries luggage on the tracks as they prepare to leave. The end of the story does not clearly define the outcome of its decision. She said I feel good at the end of the story - happiness is a central theme of the story, but we wonder if she went through with the operation. The paper discusses the manner in which symbolism has been employed in the story to communicate about an abortion, the couple is considering to go through.
Hills like White Elephants is a unique story filled with simple yet meaningful dialogue between two lovers in Spain. The entire story can leave the audience with more questions rather than answers when they reach the conclusion. Those who are familiar with Hemmingway and have studied his works have attempted to gain insight and logical conclusions to many of his stories by examining his life. A life that was full of married affairs, alcohol, and hardship. Many of these experiences Hemmingway has faced, have set the foundation for some of his greatest works. This paper will examine the impact that Hemmingway’s first born child, his alcohol addiction and his separation from Pauline had on the popular short story of Hills like White Elephants.
In Hemingway’s short story “Hills Like White Elephants”, an interesting relationship between a girl and an American boy was introduced. The story seems to be about their discussion of a particular ‘operation’, or more bluntly, the abortion. There are actually more underlying problems to the discussion than there seem to be. This interesting relationship is depicted by the author’s use of intriguing choice of point of view, setting, and concrete details. It is fair to say that after the story concludes, the girl will decide not to have the abortion and will part with the boy because she will eventually realize how problematic their relationship is and how her way of living contradicts his.
In Ernest Hemingway’s, Hills Like White Elephants, he is able to create a tension filled dialogue between an American man and a girl, Jig, as they sit, drink, and wait for a train from Barcelona at a bar. It mentions that all that the two have been doing was traveling, looking at things, and trying new drinks (Hemingway 2). During the thirty-five to forty-minute period, the couple vaguely discusses about whether or not the “simple operation” for an abortion should take place. Throughout the story, it seems that the man has his mind made up on having the girl go through the operation and tries to persuade her to agree, while the girl is still in limbo about it. In the beginning of the story, Jig seems to be used to depending on the man to
We all have expectations, something that we expect as a result of something we did, but what about the unexpected something that we did but never fathomed the consequences? We often times call the unexpected a “curve ball” and that’s exactly what happened to the couples in the short essays “Hills Like White Elephants” by Ernest Hemingway and “Good People” by David Foster Wallace, they were thrown a curve ball. The couples in the short stories have extremely hard decisions to make. The woman have the most important decision to make and the men have to decide to support the women in the lives or make a decision to move on. Sheri will most likely have her baby because she cancelled the abortion and she has bonded with her baby in her womb, and Lane Dean Jr. will marry her because he realizes he loves her. On the other hand Jig will most likely have the abortion because she fears the American will leave her if she doesn’t, and the American will stay with her because now they can travel without a baby spoiling his plans.
In “The Yellow Wall-paper by Charlotte Perkins Gilman, the unnamed female protagonist is going through a rough time in her life. (For now on, this paper will refer to this unnamed character as the “the narrator in ‘Wall-paper,’” short for “The Yellow Wall-paper. The narrator is confined to room to a room with strange wall-paper. This odd wall-paper seems to symbolize the complexity and confusion in her life. In “The Story of an Hour” by Kate Chopin, the protagonist, Mrs. Mallard must also deal with conflict as she must deal with the death of her spouse. At first there is grief, but then there is the recognition that she will be free. The institute of marriage ties the two heroines of these two short stories together. Like typical young women of the late 19th century, they were married, and during the course of their lives, they were expected to stay married. Unlike today where divorce is commonplace, marriage was a very holy bond and divorce was taboo. This tight bond of marriage caused tension in these two characters.
In “Hill Like White Elephants”, the story is about the conversation about the baby and getting abortion between a couple, the American man and his girlfriend. The story begins with the scene of them having a drink. Alcohol plays a big role in this story. They order two big beers and they think that beer will helps them to avoid the problems and fill their free time with anything but discussion about the matter. After a while, at one point, the girls says, “I wanted to try this new drink. That’s all we do, isn’t it – look at things and try new drinks?” (Hemingway 30). This is not a statement that someone would say if they are in a healthy, happy relationship. The girl, in fact questions
The art, literature, and poetry of the early 20th century called for a disruption of social values. Modernism became the vague term to describe the shift. The characteristics of the term Modernism, all seek to free the restricted human spirit. It had no trust in the moral conventions and codes of the past. One of the examples of modernism, that breaks the conventions and traditions of literature prior to Modernism, is Ernest Hemingway’s short story “Hills Like White Elephants”. The short story uses plot, symbolism, setting, dialogue, and a new style of writing to allow human spirit to experiment with meaning and interpretation.
Wants and needs are a huge part of all people's lives. However, many of these wants and needs are not possible for one to attain. This can be due to several things, from unrealistic goals to restrictive life situations. In both Hills Like White Elephants and Cat In the Rain by Ernest Hemingway, he illustrates the feelings associated with unattainable desires in two women's lives. Both of these women are, in essence, caged by the relationships that they have with their men, and this leads them to the misery of not being able to have what they want.
Knowing how she feels he surprises her with a ticket to the ball. He gives her his savings in order for her to buy a new gown. Though he was unable to get her any jewels he suggests her to tell her rich friend to let her borrow a necklaces in order to see his wife happy. On the contrary, the husband from "The Jewel" does not fully satisfy his wife in the way that she wanted. He dreads going out to the opera while his wife loves it. He was also unable to buy her luxurious jewels so she pleases herself with false jewels and ornaments. Though both men adore and love their wife, one tries harder than the other, even though neither one can afford paying the objects the ladies truly desire.
The thing that makes, Hills Like White Elephants, by Ernest Hemingway, such a powerful story is the subtlety with which it is told. Hemingway is commenting on subject matter which for the time would have been considered taboo, but does so without actually spelling it out for the reader. As the characters sit together drinking beer and talking, it becomes immediately apparent that there is something weighty between them and as the conversation continues, the reader can feel pressure building between the two of them. At this point, the source of the tension could be anything and the reader follows along expecting not only some kind of outburst between the man and the American girl, but also to find out what has caused the rift. At first glance, the couple seemed like each other, patiently waiting for their train.