Blog Response to “Hills Like White Elephants” by Ernest Hemingway: From the Norton Anthology of Short Fiction 7th Edition

 I have read this short story by Ernest Hemingway several times in the past, and though I still cannot honestly say whether or not I like it, I can say that it’s extremely effective. In particular the way in which the dialogue not only reveals the story, but conveys the building and often unbearable tension between the two characters.  The way in which Hemingway employs social niceties and politeness as a FOIL to the taboo topic and growing dissent is especially brilliant. At one point Hemingway writes:

          “Yes,” said the girl. “Everything tastes of licorice. Especially all the things

           you’ve waited so long for, like absinthe.”

           “Oh, cut it out.”

           “You started it,” the girl said. “I was being amused. I was having a fine time.”

           “Well, let’s try and have a fine time.” (662)

That instant is where the tension is first fully introduced, and reading it you become aware there’s an underlying message being exchanged between the two characters. Hemingway recreates the feeling of a brewing argument, of painful undertones, and makes you feel as if you are there listening to a private exchange you’ve yet to fully understand. He continues throughout the piece with the characters hedging the topic of abortion with platitudes, but never outrightly saying what they’re going to do, even to each other. In this unwillingness to directly confront either the current state of the female character’s pregnancy, or the difficulty of the abortion, Hemingway makes the readers aware of the characters’ deep desire to return to their “before” as well as their awareness of that impossibility.  One example of this is when Hemingway writes:

     “And you think then we’ll be alright and be happy.”

     “I know we will. You don’t have to be afraid. I’ve known lots of people that have

     done it.”

     “So have I,” said the girl. “And afterward they were all so happy.” (663)

Rather than the dialogue revealing that the couple feels the same about the events to come, the discord that the events have created between them becomes more and more apparent as you read, making one feel caught along with the characters in the story. One also senses the incomprehensible nature of their decision as Hemingway repeatedly uses the phrase, “it’s perfectly simple” to illustrate that it is not (663). Regardless of their decision, things have inevitably changed for the characters and one can feel this as they read through the dialogue, can feel the characters’ struggles to right something that cannot be righted, of returning to an intimacy that as the female character states, “isn’t ours anymore” (664). Throughout this piece you feel the discomfort and concealed desperation that the characters feel. You understand the explosiveness of things left unsaid. Hemingway creates a tension, albeit understated, that cannot be escaped or ignored.

Hills Like White Elephants

     I must admit that I had to read this piece twice before I understood what the conflict was.  Hemingway never explicitly says that the girl is pregnant.  I guessed the first time through that that probably was the case from the content of the conversation, but the fact that they were drinking alcohol really threw me off.  The second time through, it was clearer to me.  He wants her to have an abortion.  She doesn't want to have one, but really wants to make him happy with her.
     One thing that I really like about this piece was how Hemingway used the four drinks to give an indication of what the pace of the conversation was like.  It can be hard, when reading dialogue, to get a sense of time and pause.  In a real life dialogue, there are natural pauses and one has to wait for the next line.  In a story, the reader can breeze through them at their own pace.  Having a mechanism like a drink, or a number of drinks (four each in this case) gives the reader a sense of how much space there is in between each line and how long the dialogue is actually taking.

Ambiguity in Hills Like White Elephants

The dialogue in Hemingway's Hills Like White Elephants is not captivating, exactly. It is real. Looking back through the story after reading it a first time, I really can't find any concrete details about what the couple has experienced. I'm not transported to an exotic locale for this conversation between two extremely specific characters. Instead, through their general, ambiguous, frustrated back-and-forth, I can easily identify with their plight. It's everyday, as am I, the reader. 

And even though I don't know the couple, I experience them through this small scene. I can sense the pained love and stress--neither of them becomes extremely rude or loud. They clip thoughts and ideas instead:
"I said we could have everything."
"We can have everything." 
"No, we can't."
"We can have the whole world."
"No, we can't."
"We can go everywhere."
"No, we can't. It isn't ours anymore."

I also love the manifestation of the girl's tiredness through the plea "would you please please please please please please please stop talking?". This is no all-out screaming match. She doesn't have the energy for that. On the other hand, the man can put the effort forward to continue making my own ideas known--the never-ending "lemme just get this one more sentence out, then I'll have explained myself" mental tape loop. Immediately after the girls asks for him to be quiet, the man comments "but I don't want you to. I don't care anything about it". This back-and-forth rings so true because both characters reflect different stages of my own frustrations. 

Reaction to "Lethal" by Joyce Carol Oates

What struck me the most about "Lethal," is how Joyce Carol Oates is able to establish the voice of a sick, demented person.   The word choices of the author makes the piece believable.  The beginning of the poem does not indicate that the person is assaulting someone.  The words chosen at the beginning of the poem caused me to visualize someone speaking to a love interest, "I just want to caress you a little.  I just want to kiss you a little." 
The writer was skillful in taking the reader slowly into the deeper, more violent thinking of the rapist. Using short distinct language helped to create a chilling descent into the way a person with a criminal mind thinks. A disturbing, but well written poem.  Convincing.

Lethal by Carol Oates

This is grabbing piece of prose. From the first line, one can understand the narrator's situation- his desires, his wants and his demanding nature. It is a little ambiguous at the beginning because it leads the the reader to think that this is going to romantic,erotic consensual encounter. However, the girl's signs of resistance are subtly noticeable due to the author's manipulative language that covers up the girl's reaction. However the prose takes a dramatic turn and suddenly the man becomes angry, frustrated and as dangerous as a wounded animal. He accuses the girl of selfishness, and his accusations mount and scare the girl, he becomes bestially excited from her increase in adrenaline. The man's paranoia is evident from the fact that he sees the girls' giggles as a severe degradation of his manhood. His last question is frightening- leaving the reader with a thirst to know what happens later.

In response to "Still Life" by Emily Mann

I really liked the interview format of Emily Mann's poem "Still Life".  The fragmented format of a poem allows the voice of the speaker (Mark) to feel more raw and real to me.  There are a lot of short sentences and phrases that helped me hear Mark as a Vietnam veteran (or at least my idea of one).  These fragments gave me the impression of an unedited monologue of this man, and his pain and regret come through all the better for me.  His attempts at justification are also very powerful, because he tries to justify his actions several times, and never succeeds.  The style of this piece connotes the trauma of the speaker.  I can't imagine talking about killing other people can be easy or eloquent, and this piece does a nice job of demonstrating that.  It was also terrifying to me how he admits that he knew that what he was doing was unethical while he was doing it, but he did it anyway, because he wanted to do a good job.  It is very striking to me how much of a crown mentality soldiers seem to rely on for affirmation that their actions are just.

Lethal by Joyce Carol Oates

Lethal by Joyce Carol Oates is a very powerful piece. I reread it a couple of times to get the full effect. When I first began reading it, I thought it is about the expression of love...boy was I wrong. This piece is a first person narrative from the point of view of a rapist (I think). The actions described are forced and violent. "It won't hurt if you don't scream but it will hurt if you keep straining away like that, if you keep exaggerating." The narrator here blames the victim for provoking him. I think this piece shows the blame of rape victims that we have all heard about. It is disturbing. And, it is very powerful because you are reading it from the point of view of a rapist, and it is almost like you are seeing the thought processes, and justifications used. Very powerful.