Hills Like White Elephants

Hills Like White Elephants 

This is a fascinating story that raises the controversial issue of abortion. Hills Like Elephants is the story of an adventurous young couple who travels the world seeking a life of freedom without any attachment to anything. Just Carpe Diem, I would say that is their motto. However, the story complicates when the girl becomes pregnant. She makes a similitude when she says that the hills surrounding them are like white elephants; those white elephants represent the unborn baby that she is expecting. According to my reading, white elephants were a gift, but at the same time, a punishment in the Thai culture; since they are difficult to get rid of and expensive to keep. The man in the story professes a love for the girl; he says he wants no-one else but her. At the same time, he furtively is motivating her to abort just to their nomad lifestyle.

On the other hand, the girl at the beginning saw the creature as a nuisance, but some time after she started to develop maternal feelings; to get attached to this new life. She does not want to lose the man either. She starts to a kind of bargaining with the man to keep the baby and settle down. She wants to commence a stable life with a family, the three of them together. The man seemed to be possessive and manipulative to keep her but not his child. In the end, the reader does not know the outcome of the story, but it seems that she is too naive to stand her ground. She probably aborted the baby, which probably was the beginning of the end of that relationship. Since an abortion, especially when the child is desired, is considered a traumatic experience with many negative ramifications. 

Comments

  1. Patricia EvansSeptember 23, 2019 at 5:52 AM

    what made you believe they were both young? I felt as thought the gentleman in the story was much older than her.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Carolina KhaninOctober 6, 2019 at 8:22 AM

      Hi Patricia. Sorry it took me so long to reply. I believe that they are both young. It is true that the gentleman is older than her because of the dynamic of control he has over her, but it doe not mea that he is an elderly person.

      Delete
  2. Esin OzildizSeptember 23, 2019 at 8:06 AM

    I agree with Patricia, i felt the man was much older and the girl very young. The hills represent something different for me, more of like what she is feeling rather than comparing it to the unborn child.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Carolina KhaninOctober 6, 2019 at 8:29 AM

      Hi Esin, I agree he is older than her. I did not mean like they have the same age. According to the explanation in the side of the reading it talks about the Thai culture and what it does represent for them. That is why I wrote that. Yes, is for me a representation of the conflict within her, her feelings towards the baby. That is probably something that she will not achieve.

      Delete
  3. Carolina KhaninSeptember 28, 2019 at 7:21 AM

    Hi I am having trouble replying. This is a test to see if it becomes visible

    ReplyDelete
  4. Carolina KhaninSeptember 28, 2019 at 7:22 AM

    It finally worked, sorry for the delay. I will reply in another time.

    ReplyDelete

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