This blog is dedicated to the analysis of the writer Ernest Hemingway's short fiction, Hills Like White Elephants. Hemingway utilizes metaphors, repetition, and the act of interrupting short short sentences with longer sentences to give the reader's just enough information to enjoy the meaning of the story. I hope you enjoy my analysis. Hemingway spins a tale of relationship troubles caused by a certain unwanted gift and a hard decision in his short fiction, Hills Like White Elephants. Its characters are an unnamed man and woman who are waiting for a train to Madrid and enjoy a few drinks in the meantime. They talk about an impending decision that needs to be made and the woman is against it while the man is constantly advocating for it in a persuasive tone. It is safe to assume that they were discussing getting an abortion. Hemingway focuses on the number two which symbolizes the woman and the baby. He uses their surroundings to inform the reader of the nature of the woman’s options. Around her, she sees “the hills on the dry side of the valley”, and “the river through the trees”. This imitates symbols of infertility and life. The more the man tries to convince to go through with the “simple operation”, the more the woman resists the idea. She knows that getting the abortion will not save their relationship or make her life easier. I believe that the woman decides against the abortion and ends her relationship with the man having her best interest in mind. The man insists that they can have everything and more after the procedure but she knows that no matter what she feels, the man will not see eye to eye with her. He only wants her to do what will be in his best interest. I’ve recently found myself in the situation of being 20, broke, and moved out. But I can finally say I am happy. I’ve lived in a toxic environment for the last 13 years as I continued to inhabit the same dwelling as my mother. I’ve worked tirelessly for the past four years at my job to be able to have the option of being independent. Moving out has been the healthiest decision I have made for myself since I was a teenager. Although I am unable to buy whatever shoes catch my eye or drop three hundred dollars on concert tickets, I have freed myself from an unhealthy situation. In leaving, I have also unfortunately left behind sharing a bed with my younger brother and being able to wake up to his toothy smile, but I can still see him when he’s home. When faced with a difficult decision, you have to think about what would work best for you and your current situation. I made the best decision based on my situation and it’s turned out to work out in my favor. When you think about where you will plant a flower, you think about where it will have the best opportunity to grow and that’s what I did.
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As part of our course, we were asked to listen to the podcast titled What You Don’t Know by Lulu Wang. Wang described the difficult decision she and her family had to make when they were informed that their NaiNai had stage four lung cancer. In this blog post, I will discuss whether or not I agree with the Wang family and you may find out if I have ever had to make and important decision to lie or tell the truth. When it comes to whether or not I agree with the family’s choice to deceive NaiNai, I agree with them. Now, at first read I did not agree with them. I thought that they were being selfish in not telling her because I thought that I would want to know. But as the story went on and NaiNai’s health did not decrease, I started to wonder about how much stress knowledge can have on a person. In knowing that you’re going to die within a short period of time, it usually urges you to do everything you’ve never done and if you are unable to attain every single day by the date they stamped on your forehead, then you may feel devastated. Personally, I would feel crushed especially since I may not have the means necessary to complete my journey. I believe that NaiNai being surrounded by her loved ones and not having a clock ticking down to her last days hanging above her head, helped her to continue to thrive and live a healthy life. Another aspect of knowing when you’re “due date” is, is what if it doesn’t come? What if you’ve just spent the last three months saying you’re goodbyes and traveling the world and making peace with your death, only for the reaper to tell you he doesn’t feel like it today? Humans thrive on living in the state of not knowing and I believe the Wang family got it right. As a child growing up with a bipolar and addict mother, there were many times that I had to either withhold the truth or decide to tell the truth even if I feared for my safety. The time I’d like to reflect on was the school year after I had stayed at my Aunt’s in the summer so my mother could stay at a rehabilitation center. My Aunt had made me promise to get in contact with her if I had any suspicions of my mother relapsing. How could I call her on the first night and tell her that I had found a box of wine under the sink? Or that I already had a new bruise? I wanted so badly to believe that she could get better, that I hid it from everyone. Clearly some drinking led to more drinking which led to more mean and scary mom. And being only 14, I didn’t know how to deal with it because every time I told someone, it only seemed to make it worse. Unfortunately, this was the wrong decision. Looking back, I realized that I should have told someone, I should have called my aunt that first night and told her what was going on. But I had so much hope. This decision to keep it to myself led to my almost flunking ninth grade, my mother not getting the help she needed and the emotional scars that were left from her nightly duels. I realize now, I was being selfish and was scared to admit that something was wrong. I’m happy to say that I learned to be more open and my mother is now five years sober. Like they say, the truth will set you free.
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