Sunday, February 17, 2013

Hills Like White Elephants


In the short story, “Hills Like White Elephants” the girl and the American man are talking in a bar at a train station about the operation. The operation they are talking about is an abortion. I don’t think that the man wanted her to have the baby. He says, “That’s the only thing that bothers us. It’s the only thing that’s making us unhappy.” He keeps trying to convince her to get the abortion even though I think she wants to keep the baby. The story talks about the two different sides of the train station, one has white hills that are brown and dry and the other has fields of grain, trees, mountains and a river. The one with the hills suggest death and the one with the mountains suggest life. She can either have the baby or get an abortion. The baby’s life is in her hands. Throughout their conversation they are drinking the whole time, which is pretty bad because she’s pregnant and also it suggests that they have a problematic relationship with each other. I think that the ending was a little confusing. I think that they will go on their separate ways and she will keep the baby without him knowing about it.

3 comments:

  1. i agree with your point of view on the story completely.

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  2. I thought the same thing about the ending too. Also I liked your summary of the story.

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  3. You made some very good points in your summary, like about their relationship being problematic because they are drinking. This was one of those stories that I do not think I could have fully understood on my own without a class discussion on it because I did not pick up on a lot of the subtle things, like with the two sides of the train station being symbolic of life and death.

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