Hills like White Elephants
After first reading this story, I was confused and didn’t really understand it. Yet after a second and even third reading, I was able to grasp the concepts portrayed and understand what it was about.
Throughout the story, I noticed a pattern of not only miscommunication, but also lack of communication thereof. Not once in the entire story do the characters mention what the “operation” which sparked such heated conversation between the two travelers was, though through context clues we can deduce the operation is an abortion. Such context clues include the hills resembling a pregnant belly, and the girl mentioning that the hills look like white elephants, which symbolize a gift no one asked for or wants, which in this case is the unwanted baby. Neither of the characters ever put words to the elephant in the room, or in this case, the elephant in the “womb.”
Another important detail is the contrast between the male and female characters. The main female protagonist, later revealed to be named Jig, is only referred to as a “girl” in the story, while the male character is referred to as a “man.” Even the female character serving the two others is referred to as a woman while at the same time Jig is only ever referred to as a girl. I believe this is to show the difference between Jig and the unnamed male character she is debating with. Jig asks questions like an unsure child unable to make decisions, and the man answers them and takes a position of dominance and authority as an adult would with a child. It isn’t until the end that Jig starts to speak up with more authority, telling the man to stop talking and then boldly stating that to her, having everything in the man’s eyes is not the same as having everything in her own.
I didn't even notice the hills resembling a pregnant belly! That was a good find, and I like how you compared the elephant and her womb.
ReplyDeleteBe careful of thinking of Jig as childlike--her name indicates she is more complex. She actually has quite mature perceptions and understandings throughout, as seen through comments she makes and her observations. Ironically, it is the man who appears less mature in his thinking. So while gender stereotypes are at play at one level, the narrative itself reverses them. Also consider other implications of the image of the hills; unwanted gift works from the man's point of view; it is also apparent, in the way this image is articulated and modified throughout the story and in context of other details, that it suggests something else to Jig; we can see through Jig's observations that she is aware of the "unwanted" status of the child from one point of view, but also, like those "patches" of sky (Story of an Hour), the hills and other related details suggest an opening to something greater, the loss of which could be more significant than the loss of the relationship... any case, a lot of complexity and ambiguity in much of the imagery; Jig's conflict, being worked out mostly through her observations, a complex one...
ReplyDeleteAlso see my comments on other current blogs
ReplyDeleteThanks for sharing! Upon reading, rather than seeing Jig as childish, I felt as though her communication style was more stemming from a more feminine archetype; she was speaking from an emotional standpoint and speaking very indirectly, alluding to what she meant. The American man on the other hand was emotionally disconnected, sterile, and clinical; matter of fact. I think the communication styles lended to the miscommunications between them, but it was also seemingly the underlying goal of the American man to coerce Jig into having the abortion, whereas she hadn't made her mind up and she was coming to a decision throughout the story.
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