Gender Roles In Ernest Hemingway's Hills Like White Elephants

The continuous push for equal rights for women has become widely popular and successful only in recent history. Women have evolved out of traditional roles of the stay at home mother, the housewife and the submissive gender to the more "assertive" males. This of which is demonstrated by Alice Munro’s “boys and girls”. Many controversial issues surround women’s rights of freedoms including the widely debated right to choose what one does to one’s self, which is a topic that mainly refers to abortion. Ernest Hemingway's “Hills Like White Elephants”, expressed a feminist movement focusing around this issue that was not very common at this time. Through the character’s development and ability to come to their own decisions despite the men’s constant
pressure suggests they are evolving to defy roles against gender normality's.
At the time that the story took place, society did not consider men and women equal.
Near the beginning of both story’s they are the typical submissive and passive behavior expected of women in that timeframe. You look at “Hills Like White Elephants” through the restaurant when they are ordering drinks, the gender roles of male dominance and female submissiveness. The story begins with Jig, the female character asking, “What should we drink?”(Hemingway pg. 211). The male taking control and ordering the drinks shows the dominance while Jig is portrayed as submissive or weak compared to the man. We can compare this to the female narrator in “Boys and Girls”(whose name we never find out). The narrator had a younger brother named Laird who she was always compared to. The parents seemed to care more for him then for her. Even though the narrator could do more work than her younger brother, she was still under appreciated; “Wait till Laird gets a little bigger, then you’ll have a real help” (Munro, p. 1). This quote shows how they do not acknowledge her work, she wants to do the same work the boys do as she is not interested in the girl work that is expected by her mother and father, but like Jig, she is submissive to it. Another example going back to Hemingway's story is when Jig continues to show her passiveness when she needs to ask permission from her boyfriend to try the drink “Anis del Toro” at the table. “ “We want two Anis del Toro”, “With water?” “Do you want it with
water?” “I don’t know,” the girl said. “Is it good with water?” “It’s alright.” “You want them with water?” asked the woman. “Yes, with water.” (Hemingway, pg. 212). Jig is not even given a chance to answer on her behalf demonstrating once again the man deciding for her. Rather than giving a yes or no response to this, she displayed herself as indecisive and submissive by stating, “I don’t know” and allowing him to decide for her. This of which is similar to Laird’s freedom in “Boys and Girls” when he is invited to go re capture the horse while the sister is to stay home.
People think about authority of male over females as “normal”, after all the boyfriend is just trying to “help” Jig while the father is just “protecting” his daughter. You then look into the relentless asking and demanding of the boyfriend for Jig to receive the abortion. His harsh nature is not just shown at the bar but more importantly he gives out an aggressive attitude in regards to the abortion. Many times the man will mention how simple the abortion procedure to convince Jig into having a high risk procedure, “It’s really a simple operation, Jig. It’s really not anything. It’s just to let the air in” (Hemingway 212). The boyfriends continual pushing in its favor led Jig to a mindset that may be considered feminist . She goes on to say “Then I’ll do it. Because I don’t care about me” (Hemingway 213) which is meant to show that the boyfriend is only thinking of himself while not knowing anything about what it does to the person having it. Similar to this we look back at “Boys and Girls”. The narrator tells a story of a time when she brought Laird up to the top of the barn. The whole purpose of this idea was to get Laird in trouble.” Then I ran screaming to my father. "Laird’s up on the top beam!" My father came, my mother came, my father went up the ladder talking very quietly and brought Laird down under his arm, at which my mother leaned against the ladder and began to cry“(Munro, pg. 1)However, when her parents come and remove Laird from danger, they are actually mad at her, instead of Laird. “They said to me, “Why weren't you watching him?””(Munro, pg. 1). This can be related to Jig and her boyfriend as they are convinced that Laird would never do anything wrong. They are not thinking about both their children but in fact only one of them, being selfish by not thinking about the other.
Defying gender roles, something that was not very popular at the time both these stories were written.
In “Hills Like White Elephants” Jig mentions that the hills look like white elephants, an animal that is considered sacred, symbolizing the child. Towards the end of “Hills Like White Elephants” Jig is sitting with her boyfriend on the side of the train station. This is where Jig will finally be able to separate herself from her boyfriend. She leaves the table and walks to the other end of the station with the view of the other side of the hills. When she walks away she gives herself the opportunity to think about what she wants to do without being influenced by any outside pressure, and for the first time, think for herself. By standing up for herself against her boyfriend Jig displays her defiance of her gender role of being submissive. The very end of the story completes Jig’s development as she decides against having an abortion. We can connect this to our female narrator in “Boys and Girls” when she finally stands up to her father when the horse runs away. “ Instead of shutting the gate, I opened it as wide as I could. I did not make any decision to do this, it was just what I did. Flora never slowed down; she galloped straight past me, and Laird jumped up and down, yelling, "Shut it, shut it!" even after it was too late.”(Munro, pg. 1). She also says “I had never disobeyed my father before, and I could not understand why I had done it. I had done it.”(Munro, pg.1).
This can show her disobedience to her father, like Jig demonstrated to her boyfriend. She had overcome her gender role of always obeying the men and done what she had thought was right. Both characters defy their gender roles and make decisions for themselves, and not for somebody else.
The characters development and ability to be able to come to their own decisions evolve throughout the story. You look at where they started how the narrator in "Boys and Girls" whose brother seemed to be more cared for even when he was the one doing something wrong. As well as how Jig could not even make a decision to have water for yourself. All while also being told that she needs to abort the baby and constantly being pushed to do so. Both characters evolve through their story to stand up for what they think is right and what they need to do. That is how both characters defy gender roles.