Male And Female Differences In Hills Like White Elephants By Ernest Hemingway

Male and Female Differences

The world today is formed by two types of people which are men and women. It is said that the origin of this idea comes from the Holy Bible which is the oldest published book in history. Each gender has significantly different features and characteristics. It is not talking about discrimination and may be no exaggeration to say that every nation receive benefits from the differences between men and women. In “Hills Like White Elephants”, Ernest Hemingway explains common conversation between men and women and represents reality in an abstract form. Hemingway uses short fiction in order to display the different concepts of value between genders, and describes specific topic: the characteristics of genders, the value

He chooses to use two typical main characters and show the difference of characteristics between men and women. The man in the story is kind of typical man who has an ability to make a decision as objective with a logical mind. In the beginning of story, the man responses to the girl’s question and says “Let’s drink beer” (Hemingway, 4). It is one of the characteristics of men who make a decision instead of women. The man’s logical mind can be seen in one conversation which he tries to pursue the girl to have surgery. The man says “You don’t have to be afraid I’ve known lots of people that have done it” (Hemingway, 53). He not only claims his idea, but also logically explains what the best way is. On the other hand, the girl is depicted a person has typical woman characteristics that passive attitude, the view as subjective, very sensitive and emotional. Before the man order beer, at first, the girl asks him “What should we drink?” (Hemingway, 2). At that case, the bartender speaks Spanish and the man knows how to speak it. It is often the case that women leave to their choice to men who have better skill than women. This situation is caused women’s dependency to men. In addition, women are usually more emotional than man. The girl gets upset when the conversation become complex. The description in the story says “He did not say anything but looked at the bags against

In the story, the man says, “We’ll be fine afterward just like we were before.” Then, she replies “What makes you think so?” He answers “That’s the only thing that bothers us. It’s the only thing that’s made us unhappy” (Hemingway, 48-50). This conversation represents how to cognize pregnancy. It is obvious that the man doesn’t want her to give birth. An attitude of pregnancy has been gradually changing and this topic is one of the controversial topics today. A pregnancy which is not expected is called unintended pregnancy. Lawrence B. Finer, PhD, and Mia R. Zolna, MPH, conduct a research and describe that “An unintended pregnancy is one that was either mistimed or unwanted (51% of pregnancies). If a woman did not want to become pregnant at the time the pregnancy occurred, but did want to become pregnant at some point in the future, the pregnancy is considered mistimed (31% of pregnancies) (Finer, S44). It becomes more usual than before and Hemingway completely follows the result. The man, who is common type of male today, wants to fix their relationship rather than to experience to become a father. However, women are the one experiencing pregnancy. The girl considers having a baby then, finally she decides to be a mother at the last part of the story. According to the data of The Washington Times report, “The percentage of two-parent families has dropped significantly over the past