Mortality of Selfishness Confronted with an issue people are forced to be either self-sacrificing or be self- indulgent. In the short story “The Only Man on Liberty Street (1956)”by William Melvin Kelley published in 1967 the stern father Maynard Herder grows a connection with his African American mistress, Josephine and daughter Jennie. Similarly to the story by Kelley is “Hills like White Elephants” by Ernest Hemingway published in 1927 where the dominating character referred to as the American tries to convince his partner “Jig” to eliminate the future of his unborn child. Although the differences of these stories the reader can’t help but to see the overwhelming selfishness of these two male characters. Despite what the affects could be …show more content…
Throughout the story Herder expresses that he feels at home with Josephine and his daughter, Jennie. Josephine lives on Liberty Street where most of the African American mistress’s live, in the story Kelley notes that” Only women and children lived on Liberty Street. All of them were negroes. ”. To show that men would go to Liberty Street for a short-term purpose. Including Herder he would see Josephine two to three times a week until Jennie noticed he never stayed the night. Which is when Herder states “I will not go back this time. [n]o matter what” and makes Liberty Street his permanent home. This causes an uproar because the color of Josephine’s skin but after Herder not coming home for a while. Herder’s wife started stalking Josephine and Jennie at their home “Jennie sees a mysterious white woman pass by in a carriage, peering at the house with a hard and angry expression on her face”. After 2 months of Herder living Josephine the wife wrote her a disturbing letter and left Josephine trembling. Even after Maynard reads the threating letter he still decides he wants to live with Josephine and Jennie. After several threats and listening to his father where he tells Herder about his woman he had on Liberty Street, Herder decided to go back to his wife and never see Josephine or Jennie again. After the reading the story the reader would assume he could have the best of
As a result, a generation in the family is broken and lost while another generation joins the family. The despairing but significant death of the grandmother at the river made Josephine and her mother “daughters of the river”. Josephine explains: “We came from the bottom of that river where my mother’s dive toward life-her swim among all those bodies slaughtered in fight-gave her those wings of flames. The river was the place where it had all begun” (35). Not only does Josephine and her mother value the river, but they create a tradition to visit the river in remembrance of their loved ones.
Both short stories, “Good People” by David Foster Wallace and “Hills Like White Elephants” by Ernest Hemingway, deal with the dilemma of abortion. An American in “Hills Like White Elephants” wanted his girlfriend Jig to have an abortion. Likewise, a boy named Lane and his girlfriend Sheri in “Good People” had an abortion scheduled. Jig and Sheri interacted with their partners differently, and both were distressed, however, due to religious and moral reasons, Sheri did not go through with the abortion while Jig did.
In Hemingway’s “Hills Like White Elephants”, the American and Jig are like the tracks at the train station, they can never meet. While Jig represents fertility, life and continuity, the American represents sterility, dryness and death. Unfortunately, Jig depends emotionally on the American – as many women depended on their male counterparts in the 1940s – and lacks the autonomy and willpower required to openly affirm herself in their relationship. As they struggle to find common ground, the very discussion that can bring them together only tears them apart. The differences in each character – in their personality, means of
Although Aunt Hager believes some white people are good, Sister Johnson, a neighbor, can't stand any white people and tells her story of being forcibly removed from what the white's called Crowville in Vicksburg, Mississippi. She tells the story of how African Americans lived in the town and how they were making
The final theme derived from this story is how men and women relate to each other. Most of Hemingway’s stories are masculine in nature, but “Hills Like White Elephants” shows the woman’s point of view as the more rational of the two (Short Stories for Students 158). The man is shown as being selfish and irresponsible by starting this relationship and then lacking the support Jig needs (Hamid 78). The American sees life as being very straightforward and rational, while Jig is considered to be romantic and living in an emotional world (Beacham 8). Clearly, these themes are still applicable in modern societies concerning this issue of abortion.
"Hills Like White Elephants" by Ernest Hemingway, is a great example of women's role in the last century. The story is told in a simple form of dialogue between a man and a young woman nicknamed Jig. Although there is an important decision to be made, nothing of much importance is talked about. In the story, Jig does not have much influence in her relationship with the man, even when it comes to an abortion.
In the story, "Hills like White Elephants" written by Ernest Hemingway, the main character Jig faces a life changing event, abortion. The struggles with the complications of abortion concern and desire Jig to want to keep the baby. Bringing a new life into the world is a long time commitment and it is something Jig feels she can treasure forever. However, her companion attempted to persuade her in another direction, to proceed with the abortion. As naïve as he is, he feels his persuasion can overcome Jig's desires. Jig is a sarcastic yet reserved woman, who desires to bring a new life into the world, even if her companion does not approve; she knows what is best.
As humans, we tend to rely on others to guide us in choosing “right” decisions. In “Hills Like White Elephants,” Ernest Hemingway tells a story of an American man with a girl, named Jig, having a conversation about whether or not Jig should undergo this “operation,” which we could assume is abortion. Jig looks to the man to tell her what she should do and what would happen afterwards, basically looking for a “right” decision. The girl is torn between listening to the man, who pushes her to have an abortion, or separating from the man, to instead, keep the baby. Hemingway uses setting and symbolism to interpret the girl’s struggle with abortion.
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.
Goodman Brown, a young man who was only married for three months, left his home and his wife, Faith, to go into the forest and spend the night on some mission that he will not explain. Even though Faith has strong feelings about his journey and begs him not to leave, Brown has made his decision and leaves everything behind.
In Ernest Hemingway's “Hills Like White Elephants”, the use of imagery and symbolism in the landscape of surrounding Ebro Valley, as well as the use of language and tone, shape our understanding of the conflict between the two main characters. The man referred to only by “The American”, is trying to convince Jig to get an abortion. Though the word (abortion) is never stated directly in the entirety of the story, it is conveyed by the use of symbolism and imagery in the surrounding landscape. Furthermore, we can conclude that the topic at hand will come to a final and abrupt solution that Jig will, in fact, get the abortion due to her tone and language at the end of the story.
One day, he leaves home with his dog to go squirrel hunting in order to escape the nagging of his wife. He ventures up into the mountains and encounters some men carrying moonshine up the mountain. He follows them and encounters more men playing a game of nine-pins and drinking. Having no regard for what may happen, he begins to drink with them. He soon falls asleep, to awake almost 20 years later, after the occurrence of the American Revolution. He returns to his village to discover that no one recognizes him, except for his now grown daughter who takes him in. He resumes his previous life of stories and good deeds, but never any hard work. This story, seemingly much less symbolic than Young Goodman Brown, still has a very valid point to make. This story points to the idea that hard work leads to prosperity, and avoiding said work could lead to a life that passes you by in an instant, resulting in a person unrecognizable to society.
Ernest Hemingway was an American author and journalist. One of his most famous and controversial pieces “Hills Like White Elephants” is frequently discussed among authors and readers. In this short story there is a girl and a American man sitting at a train station. The girls name is Jig, we come to find out that she is pregnant and that the two are disusing whether to keep the baby or not. They question each other to see if the options would ruin their relationship. Hemingway portrays things to serve as double meanings. Two of the main subtopics and questions formed from this paper is whether or not Jig has the baby. And whether of not the tense relationship between the two lasts. Among the many authors who have their own opinion on what these things mean is, timothy Obrien, who wrote, “Allusion, Word Play, and the Central Conflict in Hemingway’s ‘Hills Like White Elephants”. In his paper he focuses on certain phrases to conclude his belief that Jig does get and abortion and that the relationship between Jig and the American does not last. A professor at Illinois state university by the name of Stanley Renner, author of “Moving to the Girls Side of “Hills Like White Elephants””, does not think the relationship lasts. Although the relationship does not last he believes that the baby does. David Wyche, author of “Letting the Air Into a Relationship: Metaphorical Abortion in “Hills Like White Elephants””, he is not
The empowerment and the continual push for equal status for women has become widely popular and successful in recent history. Women have stepped out of traditional roles of the housewife, the mother and the submissive doormat to more assertive natures. Many controversial issues surround women’s crusade of freedoms including the widely debated right to choose what she does with her body, referring to an abortion. In 1927 Ernest Hemingway wrote a short story titled, “Hills Like White Elephants” that expressed a feminist movement focusing on this issue. Through the character’s development and ability to come to her own decision despite her boyfriend’s constant pressure suggests a shift towards a powerful feminist theme in a society dominated by men. The story, “Hills Like White Elephants,” reflects how men and women are compared with power and dominance regarding their stereotypical behavior in relation to gender norms; however, this story portrays how a woman steps out of the expectations and takes a stance for what she wants.
In “Hills Like White Elephants”, and “Good People” Ernest Hemingway and David Foster Wallace identify the political and moral problems of abortion and how it effects on loving affairs. Even though the characters in their story share similar behaviors, shown by the dominant males promoting the operation to remove an unborn child, the females who value even though they face some difficulties of child rearing, as well as the two couples’ refusal to discuss conflicts with each other, both authors have different conclusions resulting from the sharp differences in setting, diction, and role of religion; Hemingway indicates love is bare and dull as well as presented by woman’s submissive role to the male’s prerogative while Wallace