Hills Like White Elephants Feminist Analysis

Three virtues appear to the book’s protagonist Christine after she breaks down regarding how horribly men treat women. Lady Reason, the breakout of the virtues, explains to Christine that she is to be a champion for her sex and help defend females. She convinces her that there are many powerful women throughout history, telling her stories of incredible and intelligent women. One of her stories focuses on the Amazons, a powerful tribe of women who struck fear into men’s hearts in the ancient world. This book was written in the 14th century, a time where females were under men’s thumbs much of the time.

A white elephant signifies something that has a high value but is not quite beneficial. When this proverb is placed in context, it would be possible to assume that Jig’s pregnancy might be a ‘white elephant’, considering a human life is very valuable but the couple is not ready to have a child at the moment. According to Joseph M. Flora, a white elephant in nature is rare (44) and this can signify that maybe it would be the only chance for the girl to get a baby, for the reason that a woman can get possibly infertile after an abortion. The question arises what the hills might have to do with white elephants. The hills can be seen as a boundary between the couple.

Relationships are complicated, but can you imagine what it would have been like back in the late 1800’s and early 1900’s? Women were still expected to live in the stereotypical role where men were in charge. Men still have a lot of power, but women are becoming more and more independent. However, it is interesting to differentiate how a woman author and a man author portray relationships. In Kate Chopin’s “The Story of an Hour” and Ernest Hemingway’s “Hills Like White Elephants” there are different relationship dynamics portrayed.

Then Marxists, who analyse class relations, social conflict and social transformation, interpret the book by analysing the representation of a materialistic elite class and the struggle of the middle class to fit into their world. In this novel by F. Scott Fitzgerald, feminists question the treatment the women in book receive by the men. An example of this is when the author writes, “Benny McClenahan arrived always with four girls. They were never quite the same in physical personal, but they were so identical one with another that it inevitably seemed they had been there before” (p.63). This quotes shows the way women were treated in the society of the 1920’s, this was the time in which women started changing their behaviour

Rachel never fully connects with any of the Congolese people, and finds it absolutely revolting about the idea that the Chief wants her as a wife. Her religious views are almost nonexistent throughout the novel, so she never comes to terms with if it is something she does or does not believe in. Besides her clinging to American civilization, she has nothing guide her through the darkness, and never even attempts to learn how to. She doesn 't let herself connect to anyone, except for the only other American in the village, Eeben Axelroot. Because of this, she cannot grow and adjust, only remain in the same spot she had when they had first arrived in the Congo.

Patriarchal societies have existed as long as there have been humans. From the beginning when men would hunt and women would gather, to the present day wage gap, men’s demonstration of superiority is evident throughout history. Women, historically, serve as accessories to men, seen not heard. However, some brave women question their role in society. Edna Pontellier, in Kate Chopin’s The Awakening, conforms outwardly to the societal role of women existing only as mothers and wives but questions inwardly through exploration of her individuality and sexuality, as demonstrated through her relationships with her husband Leonce Pontellier and Robert Lebrun, yet her realization that her growth will not be accepted by others ultimately causes her death.

Throughout the short story (1), “Hills Like White Elephants,” Ernest Hemingway is speaking about a seemingly unwanted pregnancy and a woman’s uneasiness with going through an abortion. However, Hemingway never explicitly says in this work of fiction (2) that it is about abortion or that the woman, Jig, is uncomfortable with it, but uses symbolism (3) to present this to the audience. At the time “Hills like White Elephants” was published, in 1927, abortion was illegal in most places and a very taboo subject that wasn’t to be openly discussed in public. Thus, Hemingway relied greatly upon the use of symbolism to get his message across for this reason as well as the third person narrator (4) that did not give insight into the character’s thoughts within this piece of literature (5) . He uses symbols such as the train station, white hills, the baggage, and the drinks to point towards the underlying internal conflict (6) of Jig’s decision that is being heavily influenced by the American man, who wants Jig to get the abortion.

In Document H, it’s evident that in 1920 the marriage rate began to decline and the divorce rate was stealthily rising. The context of Document H is that the passing of the19th amendment made it possible for women to contribute immensely to the society and through their diligence and perseverance people were able to see that woman are valuable beings, and they’re capable of doing anything men can do. Women also began to consider themselves as equal to men, and they came to the realization that they can do so much more with their

Hills Like White Elephant has a huge description on the story’s sitting in the train station, surrounded with hills, fields, and tress in a valley in Spain. Jig and her boyfriend simply sit on the table outside the

“Writing was the world of each woman. In a world of exaltation of his imagination, feminine inscription seems single and sudden” . With the right for an education they gained skills which they used for their talent. Many social reforms led by suffragettes and their awareness of the situation in which they were, gave women writers an audience and a form in which they manifested their opinion. Women writers such as Emily Dickinson, Charlotte Brontë, George Eliot, Kate Chopin, Gail Hamilton and many others wrote poetry, novels, letters, essays, articles in which they portrayed the often conflicting expectations imposed on them by

The poem entitled “Hills Like White Elephants,” by Ernest Hemingway, display an emphasis on the girl. However, the girl is the person who sat at a table outdoors near the train station with the man named the American. Although the two people having an unplanned conversation waiting for the train; therefore, the train station is the stopping point between Barcelona and Madrid. In the poem, the girl’s name is Jig who is the girlfriend of the American. Subsequently, the man proclaimed in the curtain that he wishes to order two beers.

Ernest Hemingway’s short story “Hills like White Elephants” published in 1972 is about a woman and a man discussing the difficult decision of having an abortion. The site of the story is at a railroad stop in Northern Spain. Hemingway uses symbolism from the setting of the story. In the story the beads, Jig’s name, and the baggage that Jig and the American carry all have meanings behind them. He also uses the sides of the railroad to show the different sides of life and death.

There is no question that women have struggled over many years to be seen as equals by their male counterparts. Years of struggle and oppression continued throughout time, but the oppression took different forms over the course of history. Susan Glaspell wrote, “Trifles” which explores a woman’s status in society during the 1920s and the political leanings that perverted society at the time. The play demonstrates how women were subjected to mental abuse and viewed as intellectually inferior as dictated by American society and politics. “Trifles” exposes how political leanings in the government favored and enabled a patriarchal society as well as displaying how the Women’s Rights movement was beginning to combat these prejudices.