“Hills Like White Elephants” is a remarkable story by Ernest Hemingway. The story takes place at a train station where this man and girl were drinking at the bar talking about some sort of problem that is presented strictly by the man because he’s being forceful about what he wants and the woman is conflicted and no longer cares to talk about it:
“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.”
“And if I do it you’ll be happy and things will be like they were and you’ll love me?”
“Hills Like White Elephants” hits close to home as being a mother and a woman in a world full of men whose belief is that woman are beneath them. I relate to the woman in the story who feels the pressure when it comes to either fulfilling your happiness or fulfilling someone else’s. I have two kids both weren’t meant to be here but both are my motivations. I’ve lost people who wanted me to get rid of my baby. It was either have a family or lose my circle of people. I was definitely conflicted. In the end, unlike the woman in the story who instead of getting on that train and walking with pride she stayed, but me I have my two wonderful babies who makes life more fun to look towards to.
Get the story! “Hills Like White Elephants” is included in The Complete Short Stories of Ernest Hemingway, which you can check out at BMCC’s Library, the New York Public Library, the Brooklyn Public Library, or the Queens Public Library. You can also read the story online or download it as an ebook from Project Gutenberg, which has digitized an edition of Men Without Women that includes the story.
About the author Lucy Harris is a first year transfer student majoring in Early Childhood Education.
This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License.
