Hills Like White Elephants Critique - Essay Example

Hills Like White Elephants”—A Choice for a Woman “Hills Like White Elephants” was a short story written by Ernest Hemingway in the late 1920s, and was published in his 1927 collection entitled “Men Without Women.” The story was set in Barcelona, across the valley of the Ebro, outside the building where the characters were waiting for the train to Madrid. A short story, “Hills Like White Elephants” contain all the elements of an artwork in the form of the language style that Hemingway used in order to create allusions as well as the overall milieu in order to give a glimpse of the life of such characters relative to the society in such period. “Hills Like White Elephants,” had aroused a sense of empathy in me towards Jig. From her eyes, I saw the point of view of a girl who wished to turn into a woman by making her personal choice towards motherhood. As the idea of conception had always been biological, the idea of motherhood in these changing contemporary times had evolved. In times where women find equal right and opportunities in the American society especially in the time when the story was set, I saw that to Jig, to become a mother or not to become a mother should be a woman’s choice as an individual—not imposed by nature, not imposed by society, not imposed by her other half. Whether she wanted it or not, the choice belonged to her. I saw Jig’s first argument to her decision to become a mother as the valley had been described as “the country being brown and dry.” With this allusion I saw Jig’s view of her life; it did not resemble anything full of life and beauty. It was the stage of her life when she kept on traveling with her lover, the American, enjoying pleasures life can offer—alcohol, sex, travel—but I thought she saw it something “dry” and empty. Although it occurred to me that Jig wanted to pursue motherhood, there was a counter-argument to her decision. The country indeed looked brown and dry, but her other choice were “hills like white elephants.” White elephants had connotations about something grand, something pretty but the owner cannot get rid of yet it would be so costly to keep. In other words, her other choice, the baby would be like a white elephant to her. It would cost her a lot to raise the baby—time, effort, her pleasurable life—if it would be her choice. Even though Jig wanted to make that choice, to her, there was a dilemma: her lover, the American’s contention. In order for them to be together, at least for him to stay with her, Jig should have an abortion. The American views their life together as something sweet-tasting like licorice; Jig noted that especially ‘her operation,’ which the American waited so long for, would taste like licorice to him. The way I saw it, Jig saw her operation so much like the absinthe—bitter and dangerous, in contrast to the American’s view of it like licorice, sweet-tasting; a necessary thing for them to pursue their lifestyle full of pleasure. I sensed Jig’s strengthening resolve to pursue motherhood as she said “I wanted to try this new drink. That’s all we do, isn’t it—look at things and try new drinks?” I thought the new drink that she wanted to try was to become a mother, a choice in her which was starting to form by then. As her lover, the American continued his persuasion for Jig to continue her operation, I thought, it did not make Jig agree with him, on the contrary, it only strengthened her resolve even further. When she said, “Then I’ll do it. Because I don’t care about me,” I thought, that was her turn to manipulate and persuade the American indirectly to get her way. When Jig gave a strong emphasis on saying “I don’t care about me,” it was her way to make the American feel guilty. By saying that, she must also have thought about the person in her, ‘me,’ whose decision was to not go on with the abortion, in contrast to what the American was trying to persuade her to do. I was further convinced about Jig’s thoughts of pursuing motherhood. She looked at motherhood on the other side, which “… were fields of grains and trees along the banks of the Ebro;” the side which was very fertile, very youthful, and very much alive. However, she knew beyond this youth, “beyond the river, were mountains”—mountains which, to her are lovely, but also looks like white elephants. She was young, she was fertile—there was a baby on the horizon of her life, which she could look at as lovely, or so much like a white elephant. But when she uttered the lines “And we could have everything and every day we make it more impossible” after looking at the field of grains and trees to her lover, the American, it occurred to me she must be pondering about old age and her thought of having a family. What could be it that every day they make more impossible, was the thought of her having a baby and creating a family. I had different thoughts as to what Jig referred to as it when she said “And once they take it away, you never get it back,” and for some reason the idea of conception as ‘it’—the thing occurred to me. When she said “I just know things,” I remembered there was something about abortion, as related to conception. When abortion was done improperly, the chances of conception were reduced. And because Jig’s operation was to be done in Spain during the time when sanitation and health standards were not as good as we have today, I could safely assume that it was what troubled Jig the most. Having an abortion, which could then decrease the chances of her conceiving again, was Jig’s major consideration. I thought Jig’s manipulation by telling the American to stop talking, rather than pushing her way directly was better. She had distressed her lover. The heavy bags, I saw as the burden Jig’s pregnancy brought to their relationship, which had “labels on them from all the hotels where they had spent nights.” When the American offered to bring the bags over the other side of the station and Jig smiled, I thought of it as the American’s compliance to Jig’s desire: Jig’s side. However, as it was mentioned that “he looked up the tracks but could not see the train,” I had two thoughts about what he was thinking; either that when he went to the other side, to Jig’s side, he would not know where they would be heading, or if their relationship would still go any further the way he wanted it. In the end, Jig smiled to him, and finally said there was nothing wrong with her and she felt fine. I thought that was just her way to finally conclude the topic about abortion, and to get her way in making the American agree with her. To her, motherhood was a choice a woman could make. To Jig, when a woman gets pregnant as nature tells, she had two directions to go—either to turn away from it and get an abortion, or to pursue it. And she had to make a choice after weighing her options. No matter whatever choice she would make, it should be her choice as an individual; which to me was a significant move for women in the American society during the period when the story was set in. Reference Hemingway, Ernest (1927). “Hills Like White Elephants.” Internet copy. Retrieved on 2009 January 24 from http://www.moonstar.com/~acpjr/Blackboard/Common/Stories/WhiteElephants.html Bibliography Hasmi, Nilofer (2003). “’Hills Like White Elephants’: The Jilting of Jig.” The Hemingway Review. Volume 23 Number 1, p. 72-83. Idaho: University of Idaho Press. Retrieved on 2009 January 24 from http://muse.jhu.edu/journals/hemingway_review/v023/23.1hashmi.html Virginia Community College System (2005). “Critics and Other Commentators.” VCCS Litonline: Online Resources for Studying Literature Online or On-Campus and Using Literature for Critical Thinking. Retrieved on 2009 January 24 from http://vccslitonline.cc.va.us/copy_of_hills/criticism.htm Read More