¶ … male/female perspective on the issue of abortion as it appears in Ernest Hemingway's most subtle short story, 'Hills like white elephants'. The author has made use of symbolism to highlight the problems experienced by most married couples due to lack of proper communication. Hemingway chose this topic because he believed in this interesting iceberg theory which has been explained in the concluding part of this paper.
HILLS LIKE WHITE ELEPHANTS: MALE/FEMALE PERSPECTIVE ON ABORTION
The theme of abortion is predominant in the story titled, "Hills like white elephants." The author, Ernest Hemingway, however has not mentioned the actual word 'abortion' throughout the entire short story but instead has used symbols and vague dialogues to convey his message to the readers. The reason why Hemingway probably refrained from using the actual term was because he firmly believed in using dialogues and language, which required deeper study. The author wanted the readers to know about male and female perspective on this issue and thus chose to highlight the theme with effective use of symbolism and ambiguous dialogues. It is important to understand that Ernest Hemingway has not tried to advocate any particular opinion, he appears to be concerned only with the way males and females view this issue. The opinions of two characters on the controversial issue of abortion reveal the differences in male-female psyches. This story is indeed a classic tale revealing the subtle differences that exist in the way men and women view different things. (Lamb, 1996) The opinions mentioned in this story may not apply to every man and woman in the world but they certainly contain substance, which shows that they are based more on psychological study of human minds and attitudes than casual observations.
Everything from the physical setting to dialogues to characterization serves the real purpose of the story, which is to expose the gaps that surface in relationships due to poor communication. The female character is a timid feminist who though knows what's right for her, still fails to convince her husband that abortion is not the ideal solution for the stabilization of their fading relationship. The male however is a typical chauvinist who cannot read her wife's mind and is using all psychological tactics to blackmail her into doing what he thinks would lead to their mutual happiness. There are many ways in which the male and female opinions in this story can be interpreted but one thing is clear. The woman views pregnancy as something beautiful while the husband sees it as a burden. And similarly the former thinks of abortion as something highly undesirable while the latter feels it could resolve all their problems once and for all. He keeps implying that if she goes through the abortion procedure, it would take them back to those pre-pregnancy happy days. This is only a psychological tactic to get her to undergo this operation without realizing that his wife doesn't wish to abort the pregnancy. This is where we notice the clear differences that exist between male and female ways of viewing issues, which are solely connected with women. We notice that while the leading female figure should be the one making all the decisions in this connection, she is too weak and timid to stick to her decision. This timidity is the very reason why she is unable to voice her opinion in precise terms and instead uses symbolism to convey her message. She refers to pregnancy as beautiful hills and then compares them with white elephants to show that this pregnancy is something unwanted and undesirable to her husband.
The girl was looking off at the line of hills. They were white in the sun and the country was brown and dry.' They look like white elephants,' she said...They're lovely hills,' she said. 'They don't really look like white elephants. I just meant the coloring of their skin through the trees.'" (16-47)
This means that while she is well aware of the importance of this pregnancy to her, she also understands that her husband would never view it the same way she does. This reveals her timidity and her lack of strength and courage to do what she wants to do. She is buying the lie that pregnancy is the obstacle, which needs to be surmounted, if she really wants to win back her husband's affection. Unlike women of today's modern world who would want to
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