Preview

Black Man and White Woman in a Dark Green Rowboat

Good Essays
Open Document
Open Document
666 Words
Grammar
Grammar
Plagiarism
Plagiarism
Writing
Writing
Score
Score
Black Man and White Woman in a Dark Green Rowboat
When I read "Black Man and White Woman in Dark Green Rowboat", I understood that she was having an abortion, but when I read the second story I had no idea what was going on. Through researching on the internet I found that they were discussing Jig having an abortion and the clue to this was when the American said, "They just let the air in and it's all perfectly natural." I still do not understand how this was supposed to be a clue to abortion. I believe the white elephants could symbolize there relationship. The story says "They (the hills) were white in the sun and the country was brown and dry." He is the American white man, and she is the Spanish girl. Just as the hills over power or stand above the rest of the country, the man is trying to get her to decide to have the operation. I also believe the white elephants could symbolize that she is seeing him for who he is. The meaning of white elephant is you get something less than what you thought. While they were free and having fun it was all O.K., but now that there is a baby he has changed. The beaded curtain in this story symbolizes that her mind keeps changing she is confused, as the curtain sways back and forth. The curtain symbolizes that she is hiding her feelings or is trying to find an answer. The exposition of this story is the dialogue working up to when they start discussing the surgery. I believe their conversation about the surgery is the climax of the story, they start arguing back and forth. I believe the denouement is the end of the story, she says she feels fine, and there is nothing wrong with her. This statement leaves me wondering did she decide she was at peace with the fact she was pregnant and would not have the abortion or was she still considering. The beginning of the story, "Black man and White Woman in Dark Green Rowboat", begins but putting us in the setting. It is August third, one hour before dawn, and there is a heat wave. The story starts at a trailer park next to a

You May Also Find These Documents Helpful

  • Better Essays

    The different symbols in “Hills Like White Elephants” by Ernest Hemmingway are used to convey the different opinions, feelings and emotions of the characters and meaning of the story at hand. The symbolic devices and setting are used to effectively communicate the conflicts and obstacles that the two individuals are having.…

    • 894 Words
    • 4 Pages
    Better Essays
  • Good Essays

    “Hills like White Elephants” is a metaphor of trying to keep something so rare that the reasons to give it away overcompensate and ‘it’. ‘It’ is the unborn child the young girl is baring. Also, the “White Elephants” can signify the purity and innocence the girl once had before being possibility snatched to early. The consistent alcohol beverage of ‘beer’ could represent the guilt and fear each of them have. Beer is usually known a way to forget something that occur the permit operation that will affect the girls and create a ‘split’ in the ‘love’ relationship he thought he…

    • 689 Words
    • 3 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Powerful Essays

    The “Man” is encouraging her to have an abortion and states “ I know you wouldn’t mind it, Jig. It’s really not anything. Its just to let the air in.”(401). The “Man” is implying that an abortion would be no big deal and further states, “ I’ll go with you and stay with you all the time. They just let the air in and then it’s all perfectly natural. That’s the only thing that bothers us. It’s the only thing that’s made us unhappy.” The term “natural” used by man in this statement implies the abortion is a natural thing to do. This statement gives the impression that the “Man” is attempting to lure Jig into his way of thinking using their surroundings. Jig is disenchanted from nature and what it represents in the story and sees it from his “simple” solution to a clear problem. Their unhappiness is seen in their drinking of alcoholic beverages to dull the pain and feel like nothing is wrong, and implies their inability to face reality. Gazing across the landscape the “Girl” expresses how the hills look like white elephants. This statement is used as a distraction for the so-called “white elephant in the…

    • 1289 Words
    • 6 Pages
    Powerful Essays
  • Better Essays

    In Ernest Hemingway’s “Hills like White Elephants” he shows the major difference between the two which is a woman’s pregnancy and the difference in reactions between a man and a woman what that occurs. While the man in the story seems to want the woman to have the operation which is an abortion, throughout the story woman is more conflicted and unsure what she wants. By the end although we don’t get a complete resolution and Hemingway leaves some ambiguity the woman seems to have become sure that she wants to keep the baby. The interaction at the end where the man says “do you feel better” which she replies to by saying “I feel fine, there’s nothing wrong with me, I feel fine” seems to let us know that she now believes that being pregnant isn’t something wrong with her and she wants to have the baby.…

    • 1430 Words
    • 6 Pages
    Better Essays
  • Good Essays

    A lot of the readers can relate to this because everyone goes through that stage of not feeling wanted. For Jig she was referring to her baby that was not wanted. Personally, Jig wanted the baby. Notice when she said “They’re lovely hills, (Hemingway, 1927)”, meaning that Jig was trying to get off the subject. The America man was trying to persuade her to abort it. Noticing that, when he said, “It’s really an awfully simple operation, Jig, (Hemingway, 1927).” Then, he continued, “It’s not really an operation at all, (Hemingway, 1927)” Anyone could clearly see that he was talking about aborting the baby because he kept repeating sentences like “I know you wouldn’t mind it, Jig. It’s nothing. It’s not as painful, as you think, (Hemingway, 1927)”. In the end, Jig doesn’t want to abort the baby, but does anyway because it seemed like she just wanted the situation to end and also the manipulation by her man who keeps saying that if you get rid of the baby everything will go back as it…

    • 894 Words
    • 4 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Good Essays

    In conclusion, “Hills like White Elephants” is talking about this couple possible having an abortion. In end, they do not get the abortion because Jig wants to have this unborn baby and the man finally agrees to stay with her and have this baby. Even though the man is afraid that his feelings possibly may disappear. He is willing to stay and make her happy and have their future…

    • 557 Words
    • 3 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Good Essays

    Ernest Hemingway’s “Hills Like White Elephants” portrays the turmoil a couple endures when faced with an unplanned pregnancy, the choice to hold onto their current life or to begin a new life. Readers are allowed to intrude on a conversation between an American man and a girl, further conflict is presented through Hemingway’s use of symbolism. The man wants to go through with an abortion while the girl is unsure about which track she should take. Throughout the story, Hemmingway’s use of abundant details about the setting, rather than providing much detail about the characters, reveal a conflict between the man’s desire for the girl to have a “perfectly natural” (Hemingway 116) procedure and the decision to forgo an “awfully simple operation”…

    • 1025 Words
    • 5 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Good Essays

    The characters are presented in a vague way, there names are not even mentioned when they are introduced in the story by the narrator. They are introduced as “the American” and “the girl.” They are on a train station, which is a stopping point between Barcelona and Madrid. This is where travelers make the decision which direction to go, which parallels how the main characters have to make the decision on having an abortion or having a baby. When they are on the train the girl is looking out the window and she points out that the hills look like white elephants. The subject changes and she keeps bringing up the white elephants. White elephants are considered an idiom for unwanted…

    • 941 Words
    • 4 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Better Essays

    Week 2 Eng 125

    • 1295 Words
    • 6 Pages

    A plot is a dynamic element in fiction, a sequence of interrelated, conflicting actions and events that are typically build to a climax and bring about a resolution (Clugston, 2010). The couple sits at a table to have a couple of beers and a conversation. At first the girl talks about what they should have to drink and what she sees outside. You can tell that it is more going on at least in their feelings or its more going on in the story. From (Line 41) “It’s really an awfully simple operation, Jig” the man said. “It’s not really an operation at all. This explains why their conversation they were having earlier been awkward. The seemingly petty conversation here about hills and drinks and an unspecified operation is in actuality an unarticulated but decisive struggle over whether they continue to live the sterile, self-indulgent, decadent life preferred by the man or elect to have the child that Jig is carrying and settle down to a conventional but, in Jig’s view, rewarding, fruitful, and peaceful life (Holladay, 2004). The American was asking his girl to have an abortion without using the word so others would not be entertained or concerned at all. Hemingway knows how to raise suspense to the readers.…

    • 1295 Words
    • 6 Pages
    Better Essays
  • Better Essays

    “Hills Like White Elephants” is a short story that begins with a man and his girlfriend waiting for a train in Spain. They drink alcoholic beverages and speak about an unnamed operation. As one reads further into the story, it becomes evident that the operation being discussed is an abortion. The man is trying his best to persuade his lover to abort their unborn child, but she is uncertain about what she ought to do.…

    • 957 Words
    • 4 Pages
    Better Essays
  • Good Essays

    A Doll's House Analysis

    • 1871 Words
    • 8 Pages

    Like most good stories, “Hills Like White Elephants” includes the initial situation, a conflict with complications, climax, suspense, and a conclusion. The initial situation begins with the view of the hills, in an exotic Spanish setting (somewhere in Spain at a train station), where a man and woman are having drinks at a bar. The conflict arises, after Jig states that the hills are like white elephants (591). This simile sparks the conflict (the third element) between the two over who has traveled more. This argument brings on the complication. The metaphor (the hills like pregnancy) and the two argue over an abortion. The girl eventually asks the man “would you please please please please please please please please stop talking” (593) which seems like a pretty climatic part of the story, especially once she announces that she will scream just afterwards. We are left with suspense when the man walks away with the luggage. There isn’t much time for suspense in the moment, but we wonder if she will still be there when he returns. Once he returns, there is little conversation to conclude the story. It is not a very dramatic or exciting ending, as we are somewhat left hanging about the whole things, which gives us room to come up with some questions to help us figure out the meanings in their…

    • 1871 Words
    • 8 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Good Essays

    The short story “Hills Like White Elephants” was written by Ernest Hemingway. The author seems to be a minimalist where he does not provide explanation about the very issue why the couple is unhappy and annoyed with each other. To have a more deeper understanding on the literature, I have looked up a translated version of it and according to a Japanese translation of the very story, it said that the problem was about her pregnancy and that the man wants her to have an abortion. It was then understandable that why the author might have left that information out of the story because, having an abortion is not something you would talk in public which in this story’s case, they happened to be in some kind of bar. I believe…

    • 466 Words
    • 2 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Good Essays

    The story "Hills like White Elephants" by Ernest Hemingway is a fascinating story about one couple having faced with an unexpected pregnancy. The theme of the story is about the couple's decision between life and death. The main character Jig and The American are in disagreements on weather to keep their baby, or have an abortion. The couple's lack of communication creates the conflict in the story. For example, Jigs says, "We can have all this..." "And everyday we make it more impossible" While this problem is going on, the couple is sitting at a train station in the middle of a valley. Each side of the valley represents either life or death. As Jig moves about in the story, she faces different sides of the valley, which helps to determine the decision she will make. With the many descriptions and symbolism throughout the story, the final decision seems as if Jig is keeping the baby.…

    • 949 Words
    • 4 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Good Essays

    Symbolism starts at the very beginning with the title “Hills Like Whit Elephants.” A white elephant is a burdensome possession and an expensive undertaking, as is a baby. In paragraph ten, the girl says, “they look like white elephants.” This simile is referring to the hills. Later in the story, the girl retracts that comment, hinting that she may want to keep the baby.…

    • 466 Words
    • 2 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Good Essays

    The “Girl” brought up the hills look like White Elephants multiple times in the story.…

    • 616 Words
    • 3 Pages
    Good Essays