Ebro Mountains, Spain
In "Hills Like White Elephants", what is the central conflict? How do you know? Also, what can we infer from indirect clues about the characters' ages, their probable decision, and their inner thoughts as opposed to what they actually say out loud? (Please refer directly to the text when possible.)
I think the conflict is person vs. self. Although there are other conflicts in the story, the ultimate decision of whether the girl will have the abortion or not can only be decided by the girl. No one else can make the decision for her, just influence it. It is her body and no one can tell her what to do. I think their ages are more or less 25. It is obvious neither are ready for the responsibility of a child. I think in some ways the girl wants to keep the baby because she loves her baby but I think the guy does not want her to keep the baby. I do not think he is ready but I think he tries to be polite and supportive by telling his girlfriend to do what she wants to do. He says things like "I think it's the best thing to do [have the abortion]. But I don't want you to do it if you don't really want to." Although he tries supporting her, the girl can clearly see that being a father is really not what he wants, which does influences her decision a little. She says things like, “But if I do it, then it will be nice again if I say things are like white elephants, and you’ll like it?” She wants their relationship to get back to the way it was before she got pregnant and she hopes that having the abortion will do that for them. I think the girl will in the end decide to have the abortion.
ReplyDeleteI agree with Samantha. The main conflict is person vs. self. Although we don't know what the woman is thinking, you can tell by what she says. She is trying to decide whether or not to have an abortion. Like Samantha said, she is the one that will make the ultimate decision. Although she obviously cares about what the guy has to say; it's her body and she gets to choose what she is going to do. I think that they are in their early 20's. I think this because the man doesn't want the responsibility of having a child and the both of them have to be old enough to drink beer. The woman, I believe, wants to have the child. Although she says "Then I'll do it. I don't care about me."..."And I'll do it and then everything will be fine." She is saying this to the husband. She wants the husband to realize that she doesn't care about herself, but she cares about her baby. She never said "I don't care." She said "I don't care about ME." The man is trying to be supportive and saying stuff like "You don't have to..." but really he doesn't want to have a kid and that is clearly shown throughout this story.
ReplyDeleteI think the central conflict in " Hills Like White Elephants" is person vs. self. Although their are other conflicts, mostly person vs. person, the decision is really based on what the girl wants, the conflict is her not knowing what that is. I think this because the man, although he is pushing her toward the decision he would prefer, is leaving it up to her. She, however, is torn between if she should do what she might want to do or if she should do what it would take for her relationship to be happy. I think the man is probably older than the girl but she must be at least like 20 because they seem to have no problem moving around or getting drinks which means they can't be in college or still living with parents or something. They still must be young though because she is probably pregnant and they are young enough to where they don't want to keep it, they do not want to marry, they drink a lot, and they have a lot of friends who are going through the same stuff. I'd say around 20 for the girl and 30 for the guy. There seems to be a large age difference between the two for me, he seems more like a babysitter to her and she seems like an innocent little girl who just follows him. I think she will end up wanting the abortion but he will always feel like he forced her which will make him sad. They won't stay together because they will never go back to how they were before the baby and they don't seem to really love each other, they just say they do. They also don't seem to want to get married. I think the man wants an abortion way more than he's saying he does and he must be terrified. The girl must also be terrified and she can't tell the man how she's feeling, she really cares about the baby which he wouldn't understand.
ReplyDeleteThe central conflict is a person vs. person conflict between the American man and the girl. They are trying to decide if she should get an abortion or not and they can't seem to agree with each other. They each know what they want themselves, but they can't find a way to satisfy both people. We know this because there are many clues throughout the story. First, the man refers to something as an "operation" and that causes the girl to look at the ground, like she thinks differently than he does and is uncomfortable about it. Then he says "They just let the air in and then it's all perfectly natural." At that time, abortions were conducted by putting air in the body and then sucking it out along with the fetus. Furthermore, the girl says, "once they take it away, you never get it back", similar to what happens in an abortion. Also we know that this is the central conflict because Hemingway sets the story in a train station in-between two places, Barcelona and Madrid. He purposefully does that to make it clear that the main conflict is one of indecisiveness.
ReplyDeleteWe know that the man is American because the story says. We infer that he is older and probably more mature than the girl because he's referred to as "man" rather than "boy". The girl, however, is probably in her teenage years. She is referred to as "girl", whereas the waitress is referred to as "woman". She also has a stubborn and sarcastic attitude, which shows her immaturity in comparison to the man, especially when she says "Would you please please … please please stop talking?"
They probably will go through with the abortion because they are already halfway the way to Madrid. Also because the girl says that she will do it, albeit she says it sarcastically, but she still wants to make the man happy in the end. Even though she says out loud that she'll go through with the abortion, I think she'll do it unwillingly because she puts up a defense for herself and she's very stubborn.
I think that the central conflict is person vs. self. While it seems like the main conflict is between the man and the girl, the ultimate decision lies with the girl. The man can try to convince her what to do, but it is not his body that is effected. The girl has to put aside what everyone else says and go with what she truly wants to do: keep the baby, or get an abortion. I think this is the central conflict because throughout the story the girl seems checked out and in her own world, and if she was listening to the opinion of the man, she would have been more attentive. She is not listening because she knows that no matter what he says, she has to be the one to decide.
ReplyDeleteI think the girl is younger than the man. First of all, the narrator calls her a "girl" and him a "man". This infers that the girl is significantly younger than the man or else she would be called a woman. I also think that they are young because it doesn't seem like either of them are ready to have a baby and be responsible for another life.
The text infers that the girl is a bit sarcastic and distracted from their conversation. It also infers that she is thinking about having an abortion because she says "I don't care about me. And I'll do it and then everything will be fine." Meaning that she thinks going through with the abortion will solve everything and she will be ok once she does it.
While the man tries to be supportive no matter her decision, it is pretty evident that he is not ready for a child either. This is shown when he keeps saying "We can have everything...We can have the whole world...We can go everywhere" He thinks that everything can go back to the ways it was between him and the girl after they go through with it. This shows that he is pretty naive about the whole thing and is not ready for a child.
The central conflict is a person vs person between a middle aged man in his late to middle 20s and a most likely pregnant women around the same age. I Know this because of the dialogue that they used and there word choice selection also because of the situation they are in with being pregnant one could only hope that the it was around that time period in there lives and not earlier. "once they take it away, you never get it back" they where talking about if they go through with this decision that they couldn't change there mind and the decision they make now they will have to deal with it for the rest of there life. I believe this is why they change there minds so many times, at one time they agree , and the next they dont, the girl will say we will do to agree with the boy then the boy goes and changes his mind saying "its up to you". The weirdest part is that they never stick with one opinion and are constantly in this rif raf swaying back in forth. In the end i believe they end up having the abortion one because they are almost to there destination which is Madrid,Spain and that she doesnt really want the baby because of all the arguing it has caused and the only way she would have it is if the boy was 100% with having a son/daughter and since he wasnt she puts her foot down and say NO!.
ReplyDeleteI believe that the central conflict of this story is the person vs. self conflict. This conflict is the decision of the woman named Jig whether or not she wants to get an abortion. This is what I believe is the central conflict because it is the main obstacle keeping the two main characters from achieving what they want (which is happiness between them). The basics of the conflict is that the American man wants to have an abortion is trying to convince the woman that she should do so. He says, "I know you wouldn't mind it, Jig. It's really not anything. It's just to let the air in." showing how he wants the baby to be taken from her so he will not have to deal with raising the baby. She responds with reserved agreement. She says that she will have the abortion if it gets them too their old relationship, but from reading the story you can definitely tell that she does not want to give up her child. So she must decide whether or not she will listen to her husband, or keep the baby and possibly sacrifice their relationship with each other. We can tell this because of many aspects. First the quote from above about just letting the air in is a reference to an abortion back in these times when the fetus would be sucked out to take it. Another way you can tell this is the main conflict is the placement of the story. They are in a midpoint between Barcelona and Madrid. This place symbolizes a midpoint of their indecisiveness in this decision reinforcing the importance of the decision.
ReplyDeleteFrom this story we can infer a lot of things. We can infer that their age is around the late 20s early 30s because the American man is travelling and in order to do so one must have money earned in their earlier years of life. Also these are the normal birthing years which is the central problem of the story, so they would most likely be around this age. We can infer tat they will go through with the abortion because of some clues in the story. After discussing it for a few pages, the line comes up, "Then I'll do it. Because I don't care about me." which shows how she is moderately giving into the boyfriends want of the abortion. It does seem a little phony and not whole heartily said but she seems gradually more and more okay with it throughout the story. I think that the American man is actually saying what he believes and what he wants because there is no reason he would say he wants the abortion when he did not actually want it. On the contrary for the woman, she seems to be agreeing at the end of the story to do the abortion but you can still sense a sour undertone of not wanting to. In the quote by her, "Oh, yes. But I don't care about me. And I'll do it and then everything will be fine." you can sense how she does not really want to have the abortion but is agreeing to make the man happy.
"Hills Like White Elephants" appears to me to have a central conflict of person vs. person. The story is centered around the discussions and arguments between the girl, Jig, and the man. Throughout the story, the man tries to talk the girl into getting an abortion. We know this because the man says things like "It's really an awfully simple operation. Not really an operation at all." When she asks how things will be afterwards he says, "We'll be fine afterwards. Just like we were before...That's the only thing that bother us. It's the only thing that's made us unhappy." Later on he even acknowledges that he doesn't want the baby by saying, "I don't want anyone but you. I don't want anyone else."However, the girl doesn't seem so convinced. She continues to go on and continue to ask him more an more questions as if searching for some sort of comfort in his answers that she can't find. Her resistance to just accepting an abortion is a sign that in her head she probably doesn't agree with the fact that the abortion should be done. She even states her opinion at one point although she addresses that it's not what she wants in an manner that isn't direct and strong. She says. "Then I'll do it. Because I don't care about me." The fact that she says that having an abortion would be separate from what would make her happy shows that the conflict is not really about what she wants but rather trying to decide if she should do what will make the man happy or what she wants. When he later says that they could have everything she responds by saying, "No we can't... Once they've taken it away, you can never get it back." This says that she recognizes that without the child a part of her would forever be missing, and she'd never get to redo her choice. Although at times the man sounds like he is supportive of her, he always returns to trying to persuade her into an abortion. Their differences in opinions is what is causing this conversation and is the basis for the conflict of the piece.
ReplyDeleteI think the main conflict in this story is person v self. Although the girl and man seem to be arguing, I really believe the discussion is the girl changing views. We assume that she is younger than the man, in her teens or early twenties, and she is ambivalent when making such a big decision. Additionally, she seems to be yearning for his approval in her decisions. For example, she often says, "But I don't care about me. And I'll do it and then everything will be fine." Here, we see that she would seemingly make any decision that would make him happy. However, I don't really believe this is what she wants. Additionally, I really don't know how involved the girl is in the conversation. Throughout the piece, she seems to be looking at the mountains, very detached. Thus, it seems she may be thinking about something else, another internal problem she might be facing. In fact, at one point during the conversation she "stood up and walked to the end of the station." Furthermore, after this action, she says "And we could have everything and every day we make it more impossible." Again, she changes her mind, now she seems unhappy to have an abortion. This action is completely opposite of her previous statement, when she said, "everything will be fine".
ReplyDeleteRegarding characterization, we know the man is older than the girl, and he seems more calm throughout the conversation, although a bit more idealistic. We see he doesn't have a firm grip on reality when he says, "We can have everything". He obviously doesn't seem to know that having a baby would completely change their lives. It's odd, because you would think that the older person would be wiser in this regard.
In "Hills Like White Elephants", I think the central conflict is person vs person. I think this because this entire story is based around a man and a women's conversation over getting an abortion. The man tells the girl that its "Not an operation at all" and "they just let the air in". The man tells the women that they will be happy after its done. Later the women says "once they've taken it away, you can never get it back." The women seems undeceive. I think that she wants to keep the baby, but she also knows the man doesn't want it and she wants to make him happy. She is putting him before herself. She says "...I don't care about me" then she asks "..if i do it you'll be happy and things will be like they were and you'll love me?" She wants to keep the baby but knows the man doesn't want keep it. She just wants to make the man happy.
ReplyDeleteWe can learn a lot about the characters's from the indirect clues. I think that this is a young couple, the girl is in her lower-middle twenties and the man is a couple of years older. I think this because the man seems calm. He doesn't seem as worried. The man says that he will be supportive if she gets the abortion or not, but its still obvious that he isnt ready for the responsibilities of having a child. He is always called a "man". On the other hand, the women seems extremely worried and confused. Also, she is called a "girl" not a women. She is not ready for a child.
I think the central conflict in “Hills Like White Elephants” is person vs. self. As I read the story I thought that the conflict was person vs. person because the American man and the girl are arguing over whether or not she should get an abortion. However, the true decision lies within the girl. She is the one to ultimately choose to undergo the operation. I think the age of the girl is early twenties and late twenties to thirty for the guy. I think they are both around this age because the author refers to her as a “girl” and him as a “man.” I think their decision is to get an abortion because the man seems like such an influence on her and he tells her, “It’s [the baby] the only thing that bothers us. It’s the only thing that’s made us unhappy.” I feel like the girl is detached from the conversation and keeps changing her opinion. In the end, I think she will agree with the man to get an abortion to make them both happy.
ReplyDeleteI think the central conflict is person vs. person because the plot of the entire story is a girl named Jig and a man discussing whether or not she would get an abortion. Deep down it seems like she doesn't want to do it, but he keeps trying to convince her by saying things like "They just let the air in and then it's all perfectly natural" as if she's making a decision on whether to buy bread or not. He also says "It's the only thing that's made us unhappy." and "I think it's the best thing to do." Both these quotes his ways of justifying his decision to her since its the best way (to fix their relationship maybe). It seems like he is trying to take the easy way out, but she subtely resists him later one when she disagrees with him saying that they could have everything after the abortion. She is obviosly not convinced by his arguments as she keeps asking questions. It is also clear that he doesn't want the baby.
ReplyDeleteWe can infer many things from the text like the ages of the characters. It is implied that Jig is somewhere in her teens because she is referred to by the narrator as "girl". The man seems to be older and could be in his late 20s to mid 30s because he seems to have the air of someone who has had more experience in the world, but also thinks they now everything. I think it is implied that she will not get the abortion because she keeps questioning him and disagreeing with him at times. Though the decision is not clear cut because in the middle of the story she says she will get it. Relatively, she contradicts him with questions more than she agrees with him. Another thing that implies she won't get the abortion is the last line in the story, "I feel fine...There's nothing wrong with me. I feel fine." It could be that she feels fine about the baby now. On the surface, she wants their relationship to go back to where it was before, but deep down she knows this obstacle will prevent that from hapenning because she talks about how they "can't have the whole world". The man in his thoughts is probably just finding out a way to get rid of the baby because he obviosly doesn't care about it and maybe even her, but he just may not wan the responsibility that a child brings. This is all evident in his dialogue as he mentions only wanting her.
I think the central conflict is primarily person vs. self with the girl vs. herself. She is clearly very young as we can tell since she is referred to as a girl and the bartender is referred to as a woman, and she has a big decision to make. The man is trying to help her, and we can tell that he is older because he is referred to as a man. As we talked about in class, the man and girl a are discussing the girl getting an abortion. This is a huge decision for anyone , but it is made even more complicated by her young age and immaturity. She isn't mature enough to make a life-changing decision like this as she shows in the end when she constantly tries to deflect the conversation instead of discussing the matter at hand like when she says, "Would you please please please please please please please Stop talking." or when he doesn't threatens to scream. We know that this decision is the primary conflict because the whole story revolves around the man discussing this decision with her. Though he is encouraging her to go through with it, he is also telling her that he will support whatever she chooses. Hemingway uses the man as an instrument to delve deeper into the conflict the woman faces. The man obviously wants her to go through with the abortion from his persuasion. He keeps referring to it as "perfectly simple," Even though it is anything but. The girl claims, "I don't care about me," but it is clear that she is really talking about the child and that she means the exact opposite. She knows she has to choose and she is trying not to care, but she does.
ReplyDeleteI think the central conflict is really person vs. self, although it seems like it should be person vs. person. I think it is person vs. self because the man calls it "ours," but the woman clearly says, "no it's not." I feel like the man feels like he is just as much a part of the baby as the woman, but the woman realizes that the abortion is her decision in the end and that it really is hers. I feel like they are both probably in their 20's or 30's because of the fact that they don't seem to be married, and the way they are talking about the "operation." In the story, the man says, "I think it's the best thing to do. But I don't want you to do it if you don't really want to." I feel like he is acting like he will be okay with whatever the woman decides to do about the abortion. However, I think he really wants the abortion. The woman seems completely undecided about the abortion because of the fact that she seems like she hasn't made up her mind. But, I think she wants to have the baby because she says, "I don't care about me." I think she just doesn't know how to tell the man that she actually wants to have the baby, but she really has decided to have it.
ReplyDeleteI also believe that the central conflict is person vs. self. The conflict that seems to be central is person vs. person (the American vs. the girl), but ultimately the girl is the one who has to decide whether she wants to keep her baby or abort it, and this is an internal battle we can imagine her fighting when she gets distracted or makes certain comments. When we started reading the story in class, I immediately thought of an abortion when the man mentioned “letting the air in.” I came to this assumption because there is no other operation that I know of where they “let the air in,” while during an abortion, the fetus is removed from the mother’s body and the air (empty space) is all that is left/ what is “let in.” From the dialogue, we see that the man doesn’t want her to keep the baby; he keeps going on about how the operation is easy, and how he’s seen plenty of people do it, but then doesn’t know what to think when the girl says “I don’t care about myself.” We get the feeling that he still doesn’t want the baby, but he doesn’t want the girl to be unhappy either, and that’s why he takes time to think before coming back to the girl after moving their bags. The girl definitely wants to keep the baby. She says that she doesn’t care for herself. But she also mentions that if she does it, everything will be fine. My impression is that she was just saying that to placate the man, but she still wanted to keep the baby and would really regret aborting it (“Once they’ve taken it away, you can never get it back”). As for their ages, I would say they were fairly young; as Sarah mentioned, they do call the pregnant girl a “girl” instead of a woman, and they call him a man, which makes him seem older than her.
ReplyDeleteI think the central conflict is person vs. self. Although the story is mostly dialogue between two people, the real choice has to be made by the girl. The man says he will love her either way but "[thinks] it's the best thing to do." Although I lack personal experience, I can imagine deciding whether to have an abortion or not is a very huge decision. And I know for a fact it is one that no one can make for you. As she talks to the man, she vaguely weighs the pros and cons of the operation by talking about the mountains. At first she says she'll "do it and then everything will be fine" but the later realizes that "once they take it away, you never get it back." Throughout the whole story she is referred to as a "girl" while everyone else is either "man" or "woman." This is to emphasize that this pregnant girl has to make huge decisions entirely too young. Despite that telling us that the man is older than the girl, there is still many clues to their mental age. She is willing to have the baby, and he says he will stay by her, but he is obviously not ready to be a father. At the end, she decides to have an abortion to make the man happy. You can tell she isn't to thrilled about it, but she says "she's fine."
ReplyDeleteI am going to change it up and say that the central conflict is person vs. nature. I say this because the entire decision that is causing issue is concerning nature. The choice between having a child or getting an abortion. This is an issue that is tied to nature and creates a great dilemma with the characters. The man does not appreciate the gravity of this endeavor, saying things like; "It's really an awfully simple operation, Jig. It's not really an operation at all," and "They just let air in and then it's all perfectly natural." This is false because it directly goes against nature and breaks the natural cycle of life and death. The women uses nature through the "Hills like White Elephants." By talking like this it shows how innocent she is and how she respects nature, thus conflicting an abortion. It gives us a better idea of the fact that she really isn't very old, probably in her twenties. The man appears to be older but not by much, this is because he seems a little more experienced and mature. The man says that he wants the girl to do what he wants with things like, "Well, if you don't want to you don't have to. I wouldn't have you do it if you didn't want to." But, inside he truly wants her to get the abortion. He shows this by saying, "I think it's the best thing to do." The girl is not sure how to feel, she wants to be with the man and happy but isn't sure that things will ever return to normal. She says, "And you think then we'll be all right and be happy." This shows that this is what she really wants.
ReplyDeleteI think the conflict is person vs. person, even though both characters have internal conflicts. The story is about a clash of wills, with an abortion as the central conflict. The girl (who is probably much younger than the man) doesn't want to get the abortion, but the man really wants her to get it. Both characters have strong opinions, but neither of them want to tell the other what their explicit opinions are. This is because neither of them want to disappoint the other. You can tell this when they say (starting with the girl) "'Oh yes. But I don't care about me. I'll do it and then everything will be fine.' 'I don't want you to do it if you feel that way." They are lying to each other- the girl really wants to keep the baby and the man really wants her to get an abortion. We know this because the girl gets more and more upset and agitated the more the man presses on about the abortion. We can tell a lot about these characters just by what they say. The man is older, probably in his thirties because he is more knowledgeable about the drinks and he says he knows lots of people who have had abortions. He cares very much about the girl.The girl is probably young, in her early twenties. We know this because she is described as a girl, and because she seems to be pretty naive. She makes comments about white elephants, and wants to try new drinks. I think in the end she decides to keep the baby, because she has wanted it for a long time ( When she is drinking the anis and says "Everything tastes of licorice. Especially all the things you've waited so long for,") and because in the end she says "There's nothing wrong with me. I feel fine."
ReplyDeleteI think the majority has said that the central conflict is person vs. self, but I actually think that the central conflict is person vs. person. In my perspective, the girl in the story, who I would guess is around 25-30 because she seems unmarried and young but old enough to be in a serious relationship, has already made up her mind about the abortion. When she says "But I don't care about me," she is referring to the fact that she already cares about the baby inside of her body more than herself. In my opinion, the girl has knows deep down that she wants the baby, or else she would not be so unsure and defensive about talking about it with the father ("can we please please please not talk about it?" The reason she acts unsure is because she doesn't know how to tell him; he is trying to convince her to get the abortion. However, it is not obvious that he is trying to do so, his passive-aggressive persuasion makes it seem like he's leaving the decision up to her. "It's really an awfully simple operation... I know you wouldn't mind it... That's the only thing that bothers us... I don't want you to do anything you don't want to do." How many times have we used that last line on our friends to guilt them into doing something for us? (You don't have to go to back with me if you don't want to...) I can not guess what their final decision will be since they seem so undecided, but the fact that they are in a train station shows that they are at a crossroads in their life.
ReplyDeleteThe central conflict in "Hills Like White Elephants", is person vs. self. Meaning, the woman vs. herself. For example, when she says, "Then i'll do it. Because I don't care about me," and "No, it isn't. And once they take it away, you never get it back." These are both big clues that this couple is referring to whether or not she wants/needs to get an abortion. By these text examples, you can clearly see that the woman is hesitant and confused on whether or not getting an abortion is the right thing to do. While the whole time her man friend is trying to comfort her and be positive, trying to reassure her on her decision. Some indirect clues about the characters ages are, that they are drinking, so that means they must be at least in their twenties and you have to be a certain age to get an abortion, so she must have been a young adult. (at least) Their probable decision is to get on the train and wait and see but they probably will get one because towards the end of the passage, the girl says, " Yes, you know it's perfectly simple". She also says she is fine when the man comes back from the bar and gives him a smile. She is probably confident in her decision and does not want to think about it anymore. Also, when she says "it's perfectly simple," she most likely means that getting an abortion is normal and she even says she knows other people that have done it and are happy. You can tell the difference between their inner thoughts and what they say out loud because they either say the same thing over again, or contradict themselves as if they don't know the right thing to do.
ReplyDeleteFrom what we can see, the central conflict is about an operation. From what was discussed, we decided that they were arguing about having an abortion. We can deduce this information from the dialogue used in their argument. The man mentions an “operation.” This operation would “let the air in,” and using air is one method of causing an abortion. This conflict is the central conflict because it is reoccurring throughout the story. Also, this is a person-vs-self conflict because she is trying to decide whether or not to have a child. We can guess that they are fairly young. They both use sarcasm and have a tone that sets them away from being too old. Also, they have been together for a while, which is made obvious when the man says, “We’ll be fine afterwards. Just like we were before.” My guess for their ages would be between 25 and 35 years old. Their decision would be to have the abortion so the can be, “all right and be happy.” Finally, I think that the girl is having second thoughts about the decision, she appears very thoughtful and questions why. She says she doesn’t care, but it’s not the truth. Also, the man seems like he’s trying to convince himself. He keeps saying that they will be happy again, like before, and unintentionally saying that her pregnancy is causing the whole problem.
ReplyDeleteI think that the central conflict in "Hills Like White Elephants" is person vs. self, but that both of the main characters, the girl and the man, have their own person vs. self conflicts. The man's internal conflict is whether he should pressure the girl into getting an abortion or let her decide on her own. He clearly wants her to go through with the abortion, which he shows when he says things like "We'll be fine afterwards, just like we were before." and that "It's the only thing that's made us unhappy." However, he tries to act against his feelings and make the girl feel like it's her decision by telling her, "You've got to realize that I don't want you to do it if you don't want to. I'm perfectly willing to go through with it if it means anything to you." Though he really does want her to get the operation, he fights his own thoughts and tells her she should make the choice.
ReplyDeleteThe girl also experiences a similar person vs. self conflict, but from a different perspective. Her conflict is not fighting against a decision she's already made so much as deciding in the first place. She seems hesitant. On one hand, she says, "I'll do it. Because I don't care about me." after the man reassures her that they can stay together and he'll keep loving her if she does. However, she also shows her opposition to getting the abortion through her irritation and defensiveness against the man and how she says "And once they take it away, you can never get it back." in reference to the landscape around them but actually pertaining to her baby. For the girl, the person vs. self conflict is the need to decide between the life of her child and her life with the man she loves, and she is torn between the two.
I think the main problem in the text is deciding whether or not to have an abortion. I understood that this was the main obstacle when I came across the quote "I'll go with you and I'll stay with you all the time. They just let the air in and then it's all perfectly natural." which was a common way of undergoing an abortion by letting in air and out comes the baby. We can infer that the man is older because he refers to the waiter as "woman" and Jig as "girl". This shows that he is older. I think he is ok with abortion, but Jig is not. At the end I think she agrees with him, because they get ready to board the train and now are not in between two opinions or "destinations."
ReplyDelete"Hills like White Elephants" has a conflict between two people, people vs. nature, and person vs. self. The conflict between the two people would be the argument over whether or not to have an abortion. The people vs. nature would be that if they do not have an abortion, a baby will indefinitely come. Last of all, Person vs Self would be when Jig tries to decide which option is the best for her.
ReplyDeleteIn "Hills like White Elephants," the main conflict is person vs. person. The main conflict is about an abortion. In a decision about an abortion, the mother/father(person 1) is making a decision about the life of another person (person 2). The fact that the conflict is about an abortion is evident in a couple of ways. First of all, they keep calling it an "operation." In addition, the girl says, "Once they take it away, you can't get it back."
ReplyDeleteAs for the ages of the people, the girl is obviously younger because she is not referred to as a woman, like the waitress. The man is older, since he is not referred to as a boy.