Preview

What Is The Difference Between Hills Like White Elephant And Women Hollering Creek

Good Essays
Open Document
Open Document
874 Words
Grammar
Grammar
Plagiarism
Plagiarism
Writing
Writing
Score
Score
What Is The Difference Between Hills Like White Elephant And Women Hollering Creek
Women can become overpowered by the men they love because they fear of losing them. In the two stories “Hills Like White Elephants” and “Women Hollering Creek” it portrays how two women become conflicted in their love life’s. Jig who finds out she is pregnant with her lover’s baby is conflicted on what the future should hold. Jig wants nothing more than to have a family, but her lover doesn’t see eye to eye with her. He suggests that Jig have an abortion to terminate the baby. "It's really an awfully simple operation, Jig,' the man said. "It's not really an operation at all." When Jig heard the word “operation” she soon felt lost. She never thought that this would become her life. Being stuck between getting the “operation” or losing the love …show more content…
Innocence is being guiltless or faultless in a situation. Jig and Cleofilas both became innocent in the way the felt towards their lovers. They knew that how they were being treated was wrong, but they were more scared to lose the men in their life. Jig becomes innocent within her feelings. She fears losing her lover that she is willing to do anything to keep him. Jig became got up in the romance of things rather than reality. “I know. But if I do it, then it will be nice again if I say things are like white elephants, you’ll like it?” (402) Cleofilas situation is different than Jigs. Cleofilas is innocent in being a woman. She didn’t know how women should be treated because she didn’t have a relationship to watch growing up. Cleofilas has always wanted a “fairy tale” life. She met Juan, who was great in the beginning, until he became abusive. Juan was becoming swamped in debt and took his anger out on Cleofilas. “But when the moment came, and he slapped her once, and then again, and again, until the lip split and bled an orchid of blood, she didn’t fight back, she didn’t break into tears, she didn’t run away as she imagined she might when she saw such things in the telenovelas” (222). Cleofilas never wanted this life, but she soon finds out she’s carrying his baby, and everything then becomes black and …show more content…
Both characters go through epiphany throughout their lives. Both Jig and Cleofilas experience epiphany as they must adjust to the obstacles being thrown at them from the men in their life’s. Jig, for intense, has always thought she would have a family but the second she realized her lover was at odds with the pregnancy she wanted to do everything in her power to keep him happy. “Oh yes. But I don’t care about me. And I’ll do it and then everything will be fine.” (402). This quote shows how Jig is settling for a life with her lover rather than a life she thought she would live. Cleofilas situation is different as she experiences epiphany. She had always thought she would leave any man who ever raised a hand on her. “In her own home her parents had never raised a hand to each other or to their children” (222). She knew Juan being abusive towards her was wrong, but she didn’t know how to get out. Both stories show how two women, who had their whole life’s ahead of them, settling for a less of a life than they

You May Also Find These Documents Helpful

  • 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
  • Powerful Essays

    Woman Hollering Creek

    • 2022 Words
    • 9 Pages

    What a disgrace. What would the neighbors say” (50). This inner struggle lasted for most of the story and was very clear because it was from her point of view. Cleofilas did not want to experience the shame of going back to her old neighborhood and facing them, “coming home like that with a baby on her hip and one in the oven. Where’s your husband?”, but also did not want her child to grow up around an abusive father (50). She finally made her decision with some help from two women, one of them being Graciela, the nurse she went to who gave her a checkup on her pregnancy. The more obvious struggle was her inner hatred for the patriarchy. Going to one of her husband’s coworker’s house was uncomfortable for her, as he would make crude jokes about her attitude saying, “what she needs is…and made a gesture as if to yank a woman’s buttocks to his groin” (51). Said coworker was even rumored to have killed his wife when she attacked him with a mop. Although Cleofilas rejects the patriarchal home of her husband and that community, she still “returns to her father and her original bondage”…

    • 2022 Words
    • 9 Pages
    Powerful Essays
  • Good Essays

    This section of the dialogue demonstrates the pure, foulness of the man. She asks him if the baby means anything to him. He goes on to say it does, but that he doesn’t want want anyone else except for Jig in his life and he begins with convincement again by saying, “‘And I know it’s perfectly simple.’” (the abortion). How can he be expected to care for the child when he doesn’t even care about the child?…

    • 1550 Words
    • 7 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Better Essays

    Does she decide to save the unborn life within her? Or does she follow the wishes of the American? Hemingway doesn’t leave us with a straightforward answer to this question. The decision that Jig makes remains a secret. Some literary analysts believe that Jig goes ahead with the operation. Others believe that Jig leaves the man to raise their child by herself. Howard Hannum suggests that Jig doesn’t choose simply one or the other: “She has decided to have the abortion but not in order to resume her life with the American. And this is not so much a question of her having the courage to leave him, after the abortion, as it is a clear case of her being unable to tolerate him—of her having left him in her wake.” Is Hannum correct? Are there any more possible routes that Jig can take? How does Jig resolve this moral…

    • 957 Words
    • 4 Pages
    Better Essays
  • Good Essays

    Jig is pregnant, and her American boyfriend whose name isn’t mentioned is trying to convince her to have an abortion. She finally agrees to at the end, saying “Then I’ll do it. Because I don’t care about me.” At the same time, Elisa wants to be recognised as a woman, while her husband just sees her as a workface. After a visit from a Tinkerman, she feels wanted, appreciated, and strong. However, a short time later she notices that the seeds she presented to him had been thrown out, and the man was simply trying to get work off of her. She feels despair as she realises that he didn’t mean any of the things he said.…

    • 442 Words
    • 2 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Good Essays

    Jig and Louise shared many similarities and differences throughout each story. A similarity that they shared is they are both young, and with a person that they show affection towards. Another similarity is both women face domination of men. Moreover, they face heartaches from hearing news from the person they love or from someone close to them. The difference between Jig and Louise is Jig wants the American, but he does not want to settle with her. Whereas Brently Mallard adores his wife, but his wife wants to be free seeing the relationship became distant. Another is both women are striving for different types of freedom. In addition, both stories explain the struggle that both women faced with…

    • 571 Words
    • 3 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Good Essays

    After discussing about this in class, Cleofilas is a woman who struggles with domestic violence because of her husband. I felt like if she was more opened up to her friends she met she could’ve gotten help. She isn’t aware of how to control situations when it comes to violence because she’s afraid of him. Her childhood is one of the reason why she isn’t aware how to face situations because she grew up being the only girl. Also she her parents never had violence towards her so this is one of the reasons why she’s like this. I believe that Cleofilas is suffering with her life because she’s so sad and heartbroken. I feel like he used her because he wanted to get married so fast when she wasn’t sure how come. Her husband is a guy that I would never…

    • 634 Words
    • 3 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Good Essays

    “That man she met at work, Owen Lambert, the foreman at the photo-finishing plant, who she was seeing even while my father was sick. Even then. That's what I can't forgive.”(73) Her mother has shown her nothing but the failings of marriage. Just A resentment towards her previous husband, and infidelity that occurred even while he was lying on his sick bed. Clemencia finds it impossible to believe in the happy endings of marriage, when all she has seen is the deceitful side of a marriage vow.…

    • 1299 Words
    • 6 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Better Essays

    Women Hollering Creek

    • 1425 Words
    • 6 Pages

    In the story "Woman Hollering Creek" Sandra Cisneros discusses the issues of living life as a married woman through a character named Cleofilas; a character who is married to a man who abuses her physically and mentally .Cisneros reveals the way the culture puts a difference between a male and a female, men above women. Cisneros has been famous about writing stories about the latino culture and how women are treated; she explain what they go through as a child, teen and when they are married; always dominated by men because of how the culture has been adapted. "Woman Hollering Creek" is one of the best examples. A character who grows up without a mother and who has no one to guid and give her advise about life.…

    • 1425 Words
    • 6 Pages
    Better Essays
  • Better Essays

    Jig discovers herself through making choices on her own and to her freedom is choice. She wants to be able to guide her own life and be happy. Mrs. Mallard on the other hand wants a life to herself, where she is the only authority in her life and that she is independent. Even though both women were treated like someone weak, these weaknesses made them realize the strength and potential they have which helped them decide what they would do on their own instead of someone else commanding them or making choices for them on how to…

    • 1433 Words
    • 6 Pages
    Better Essays
  • Good Essays

    Jig asks her lover if he will worry about the procedure, and he responds by saying he considers the treatment simplistic, and then Jig states, “Then I’ll do it. Because I don’t care about me.” This statement further asserts the idea that Jig is looking to appease her male counterpart and put her own feelings aside in order to remain with her lover. Jig doesn’t want to lose her current relationship, because her internalized gender stereotypes tell her that women need to be supported by a male figure. Additionally, Jig is continuously being pressured to make her decision by overbearing lover. The man states early on in the story states that, “[They’ll] be fine afterwards. Just like [they] were before,” and then finally claims that the only problem that exists between them is this decision on whether Jig should have an abortion or not. Jig is faced with the decision to either not receive the treatment, which could end in the destruction of her romantic relationship, or to go through with treatment, but regret her decision for the rest of her life. Due to the external pressure to please her lover, like a “good” women would do, Jig receptively states, “I’ll do it,” and soon begins to contemplate this decision. Even though the reader is never…

    • 879 Words
    • 4 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Good Essays

    Women of Hollering Creek

    • 1145 Words
    • 5 Pages

    When Sandra Cisneros wrote “Women of Hollering Creek” she reflected back on her own life experiences. This is a story that is told from the female perspective from start to finish. Like the lead character, Cleofilas, Cisneros is Mexican-American and the only daughter in a family that has seven children. Cisneros studied creative writing at the Iowa Writers’ Workshop and earned her Masters of Fine Arts degree in 1978, (238). Growing up she traveled back and forth to Mexico to visit her father’s family and Cleofilas flees to arms of her father later in the story. She has a blended cultural identity that is relevant in the story by how she uses Mexican and English words together. For example when describing soap operas she calls them by the Spanish name telenovela. This story made me reflect on my own life experiences while I was reading it. I thought about my parents divorce, my aunt’s extremely abusive marriage of eleven years and why women, like me, tend to seek that silver lining when it comes to broken relationships.…

    • 1145 Words
    • 5 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Better Essays

    It does not state what happened to Cleofilas and her husband after she attempted to leave her husband. The life that Cleofilas had was faced with many experiences and all types of hardships. Cleofilas thought her life would be like that, of the telenovela, only to see the episode got sadder and sadder and to make her believe that she could stay no matter what happens between her and her husband. Then she started to realize what the most important thing in life was, her children and herself. Sometimes we ignorantly base our view of the world on things we have seen on television shows or in Cleofilas case, telenovelas. This sense of blind ignorance can lead us to make decisions that we never thought we would have to make, such as deciding whether or not to stay in an abusive relationship. Sandra Cisneros uses "Woman Hollering Creek" to show her readers there is always a way out of an abusive relationship even if you stayed for so long.…

    • 2024 Words
    • 9 Pages
    Better Essays
  • Good Essays

    As the story starts we see a young couple. At first glance it is a stereotypical gender couple. The man is in charge. He does the ordering for them He makes the decisions as to what and how much they will drink. She allows him to be in charge (letting him be the stronger one the male). She even ask him “What should we drink?” (Hemingway, 2012, p.4) She lets him be in control. Like most women of the time period (1920 's -1930 's) Jig wants to to please her man. She is willing to do this at any cost. Jig would even have an abortion if that 's what it will take to please him. “And if I do it you 'll be happy and things will be like they were and you 'll love me?” (Hemingway ,2012, p.55)…

    • 807 Words
    • 4 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Good Essays

    Students should be based in classes based on ability Have you ever felt annoyed because the teacher was moving too slow or stressed because the teacher was moving too fast? That’s why students should be grouped in classes based by ability. Schools do this because: some students learn faster than others, and the slower learners might not understand what is happening in class. Some students learn faster than others because the faster learners process their work faster because the faster learners understand what is happening in class. Additionally, slower learners don’t know what’s happening in class because the work is to hard for them.…

    • 447 Words
    • 2 Pages
    Good Essays