“Separating” by John Updike is a short story. The story begins with a man from Boston named Richard Maple. Towards the end of the school year, Richard Maple and his wife, Joan, are deciding when to tell their four children about the two getting a divorce. Richard wants to tell them at dinner while Joan wants to tell them individually. They decide to do it Joan’s way. At dinner the family is having lobster and champagne and Richard begins to start crying. Everyone ignores it at first but then the second-youngest John asks why Richard is crying. Joan tells the truth and the children become angry that they didn’t tell them earlier. Joan tells Richard he has to tell their other son Dickie the news since he was at a concert. Dickie takes the news …show more content…
Both stories deal with relationships ending. The two stories differ in how clear of a division there is in the relationship. In “Hills Like White Elephants” the couple is very much divided and the reader immediately recognizes this when the girl says, “That's all we do, isn't it—look at things and try new drinks?"” (Hemingway 230). In “Separating”, we are not able to really understand why Richard and Joan are separating, “We do get along, that’s the trouble” (Updike …show more content…
The girl is unsure about getting the operation and can’t even decide wether the hills look like white elephants. "They look like white elephants," and a few minutes later saying "They don't really look like white elephants.” (Hemingway 229 & 230). Richard Maple also is indecisive about the relationship and doesn’t remember why he is separating with Joan to begin with. The two characters differ in that the girl tries to hold onto the hope that the relationship will end while Richard is so obsessed in his thoughts of ending it that he forgets the reason behind the
Even though both of these stories are very similar in most areas there are a couple differences involving a few details the authors did grant us. The first difference between the stories is the reversal of roles. Both of these stories have one of their main characters against the abortion. In “Black Man and White Woman in Dark Green Rowboat”, it is the man that states, “I wish I could just leave you here,” (pg. 66). He is indicating that he wants to leave her on the island, where they are fishing, so she is not able to get the abortion procedure done. In “Hills Like White Elephants”, we see that Jig is against giving up the child, but she feels as though her companion will not love her. He begins to make promises about giving her everything she needs and loving her even more if she proceeds to abort the child.
When comparing two works of literature it is always best to have a firm understanding of how each author expresses their thoughts and emotions through the stories they tell. In comparing Ernest Hemingway’s “Hills Like White Elephants” and David Foster Wallace’s “Good People” you get a different sense as to how each author conveys their thoughts of the very difficult and often taboo topic of abortion. Both stories are different in plot, conclusion, and construction, although they share common artistic similarities, including the large use of physical surroundings and metaphors. When comparing and contrasting stories of similar writings it is important to pick up on the subtle literary ways an author is able to convey their thoughts.
A more significant literary element that the author uses is symbolism, which plays a big role in Hemingway’s story. As mentioned previously, one of them are the sides of the hills which represent life and death. Another form of symbolism found in the story is written in the title, “Hills like white elephants.” The man and girl’s conversation basically starts when the girl mentions that the hills look like white elephants. This could represent the idea of abortion. It’s referenced as an elephant like in the common saying “ the elephant in the room” which makes the topic of abortion a big, obvious topic that the couple has to talk about, but tries to avoid by drinking beer (5). As the girl observes the hills more, she realizes that they don’t really look like white elephants, so not everything is what you perceive it to be at first glance. Thereafter, she sees the two sides of the hills and realizes that having the baby wouldn’t be so bad, as she admires the fertile fields of grains and trees on one side. Naturally, the man who wants her to have the abortion says “It really an awfully simple operation,” but the girl realizes that it is not that simple (6). In addition, the man says that they could have everything if she has the abortion, however the girl argues that they cannot, because she can never take back the baby that she will lose if she undergoes the operation. To specify, she
Every time the man or the woman try to change the subject and avoid talking about the abortion, they end up saying something that refers to or alludes to the baby or the abortion. The woman suggests that the hills look like white elephants (324), which the man fails to acknowledge. The lack of clear communication between the two causes tension and arguments at every turn. When the woman agrees sarcastically that the man has never seen white elephants, he says, "Just because you say I wouldn't have doesn't prove anything" (324). The woman is clearly annoyed at the insensitivity of the man's negative feelings toward her pregnancy. For her, the baby is a priceless treasure, but for him it is a worthless fetus.
“Hills Like White Elephants” displays the differences in how a man and a woman may view pregnancy and abortion. Jig, a woman, sees pregnancy as a beautiful aspect in life. Hemingway uses symbolism in the couple’s conversation to imply the woman’s pregnancy. The woman refers to the nearby hills on the train platform as elephants; “They look like white elephants”. She compares the hills to her own situation, pregnancy; “They’re lovely hills. They don’t really look like white elephants. I just meant the coloring of their skin through the trees.”
Ernest Hemingway, the author of “Hills like White Elephants” will leave his readers guessing due to his vague information put into his short story, ¨Hills like White Elephants¨. The understanding of figurative language, sensory details, and the use inferencing skills are needed to interpret what the author is trying to get across. If the short story is analyzed carefully the reader will understand that the couple in the story are deciding whether or not to have an abortion. Although “abortion” is never blatantly said it is shown through prolific figurative language. Symbolism, simile, and conflict are all prominent examples of figurative language throughout Hemingway's “Hills like White Elephant”.
Earnest Hemingway provides a different way to reveal his characters without going into great detail about the characters in “Hills Like White Elephants”. Hemingway does not describe the characters appearances or their body language. Hemingway though decided to reveal the characters by their dialogue. By giving more details within the dialogue it reveals the character of the man and the girl in the story. It is revealed in the dialogue the dynamics of the relationship of the man and the girl. It is shown that they care for each other, even though they have some struggles. You can tell they care about each other, because in the story it is said “I’d do anything for you” and “I don’t want anybody but you”. While also revealing the strife between
Like most stories, the women are mostly known for their vulnerability and being less powerful than men; this is one of the major comparisons between these two different works. In “Hills like White Elephants”, the foreign woman Jig, and her boyfriend the American, are contemplating on going through with an operation, seeking to be an abortion. Hemingway demonstrates to the reader hands on how much Jig depends a lot on the American. Since she couldn’t even order herself something to drink without him, let alone make such a difficult decision. The American, otherwise known as the more stronger character, knows exactly what he wants and sticks by his choice when filling the girl’s mind with promises of being happy and being able to go back to the way things used to be. Because of Hemingway’s “iceberg theory” distracts most of the
F. Scott Fitzgerald and Ernest Hemingway, though both evolved from the same literary time and place, created their works in two very dissimilar writing styles which are representative of their subject matter. The two writers were both products of the post-WWI lost generation and first gained notoriety as members of the American expatriate literary community living in Paris during the 1920's. Despite this underlying fact which influenced much of their material, the works examined in class dramatically differ in style as well as subject matter. As far as style, Fitzgerald definitely takes the award for eloquence with his flowery descriptive language whereas Hemingway's genius
Throughout the story, Hemingway incorporates various themes for the reader to take away from the reading. The relationship between the man and the girl exemplifies the theme of man and woman, as well as the theme of decision and indecision. Hemingway depicts this relationship and life together as the train that the couple is waiting for. According to the University of Michigan website, “Train symbolism is related to social life, destiny, journey, and fatalism (“Train”). In “Hills Like White Elephants,” the train represents the journey of life, with or without the unborn child. Together, the decisions of either choosing life for the child or
Earnest Hemingway is one of Americas foremost authors. His many works, their style, themes and parallels to his actual life have been the focus of millions of people as his writing style set him apart from all other authors. Many conclusions and parallels can be derived from Earnest Hemingway's works. In the three stories I review, ?Hills Like White Elephants?, ?Indian Camp? and ?A Clean, Well-lighted Place? we will be covering how Hemingway uses foreigners, the service industry and females as the backbones of these stories. These techniques play such a critical role in the following stories that Hemingway would be unable to move the plot or character development forward without them.
The settings of these two short stories have a lot of impact of the characters and the plot. The setting of “Hills like White Elephants” is at a bar in a train station. This helps to highlight the fact that the relationship between the American man and the girl is at a crossroads. This crossroad is due to the severity of the dilemma they are faced with.
In the article, “Moving to the Girl’s Side of ‘Hills Like White Elephants”, Stanley Renner carefully analyzes the movements of the female character and argues the different view from the general conclusion while still pondering on the open-end question the writer, Ernest Hemmingway, has left with the readers. Renner is left unsatisfied with the unresolved ending of the story. Although the majority of critics conclude that the girl will have an abortion to keep her lover but the existing relationship between the American and the girl deteriorated, Renner gives a new twist to the majority conclusion. Renner assets that “published commentary has not looked closely enough at the
The entire story is lengthened out between the time it takes Sheri to turn and Lane to look up at her, the perspective of the story seems to be taking place from the the inside of the protagonist’s head, who is recalling events that have recently happened so he is able to choose whether or not he is able to have the strength to accept Sheri’s decision. Hemingway 's and Wallace’s geographical imagery symbolizes the couple’s reluctance to simply address their decisions on the abortions. In “Hills Like White Elephant” , Jig compares the mountain to “white elephants” which literally means a burden that is difficult to communicate and share; the “white elephants” figuratively represents the problem about the abortion (Hemingway 924). In “Good People”, Wallace implicitly states that Lane and Sheri’s pregnancy is “half hidden from their friends and the community”, while also acknowledging the dire situation of their relationship is like “downed tree” with “exposed roots” even during the beautiful season of spring “grass is () green” and the “air suffused with honeysuckle and lilacs” (Wallace 927). Also, Lanes’ posture shows she has a feeling of anxiety, reluctance and shame as she looks from a “hole in the ground” to “the individual” from the other side of the lake but not at Sheri who sits with “her face
In the short story by Ernest Hemingway, "Hills Like White Elephants," a couple is delayed at a train station en route to Madrid and is observed in conflict over the girl's impending abortion. In his writing, Hemingway does not offer any commentary through a specific character's point of view, nor, in the storytelling, does he offer his explicit opinions on how to feel or think about the issues that emerge. The narrative seems to be purely objective, somewhat like a newspaper or journal article, and in true Hemingway form the story ends abruptly, without the couple's conflict clearly being resolved. The ambiguity of the ending has been a subject of much debate; however, the impact of what is not said in words can be gleaned through the