Tuesday, February 17, 2009

What happens in the story "Hills like White Elephants" by Ernest Hemingway? summary,happens

Very
little actually happens in the story. What is important is the conflict that is going on between
the man (called the American) and his young female companion (called "the girl" and
sometimes "Jig). It comes out in their conversation that Jig is pregnant and that they are
waiting at the junction outside a little saloon for the express train from Barcelona to take
them to Madrid, where she has agreed under pressure from the man to have an abortion. The man
obviously doesn't want to be tied down with a baby, and he obviously knows that Jig wants to
have the baby. He is afraid she will change her mind and back out, so he keeps trying to
convince her that the operation will be very simple and that everything will be the same between
them after she has the abortion. She doesn't want to talk about it because she doesn't want to
think about it. At one point she tries rather pathetically and desperately to persuade the man
to agree to have the baby and to settle down and give up the nomadic life they have been
leading. But she realizes the man is adamant, and finally she gives up resisting. Meanwhile the
express train is fast approaching. The reader senses that their love relationship has been
destroyed and that they will never be the same again. The girl has been thoroughly disillusioned
about life and love. The man realizes that he is being a despicable person who doesn't deserve
the love the girl has given him.

No comments:

Post a Comment

How is Joe McCarthy related to the play The Crucible?

When we read its important to know about Senator Joseph McCarthy. Even though he is not a character in the play, his role in histor...