What We Talk About Love And Hills Like White Elephants

The relation of man and woman is one of the most complex subjects in the world. Nobody can say for sure why a relationship is good, or when a relationship goes badly. “What We Talk about When We Talk about Love” by Raymond Caver and “Hills like White Elephants” by Ernest Hemingway, both of the stories described those complexities in relationships. Though the stories have unique premises, they share more similarities than differences; they are basically two sides of a coin. In both of the stories, men were possessive and demanding, disagreements between the couples were very strong, women were submissive to their men, and the couples were not necessarily in love even though they were living together.

Traditionally men are more aggressive and demanding than

The couples do not necessarily love each other, even though they were living together. In “What We Talk about When We Talk about Love”, Terri and Mel kept arguing, showing disagreement, stepping on each other toes throughout the story, and that causes some tension between them. Anyhow, at the end they both contained themselves and shown love for each other. For example after an argument Terri said- “Mel, sometimes you’re just too much. But I love you honey”(726). This statement of Terri surely shows her love for Mel even though she gets annoyed by him sometimes. In contrast, in “Hills like White Elephants”, the couple especially the man did not demonstrate any love for his lady. He was just kept pushing her to the edge to do the operation. Things went so bad that one point the girl had to say- “I’ll Scream”(555). The girl knew that their relationship was on the brink of collapse. Once she does the operation, that relationship will be over, and the man will not be there for here afterward. On the other hand, the man could not said it firmly that he would be there for her