Hills like White Elephants is a short story written by Ernest Hemmingway. It tackles some of the relevant issues nowadays regarding the youth. It shows the negative approaches youth cling to in order to escape responsibilities and problems that they encounter which is a result of their mindless actions. This short story can also show us the mistakes that youth commit and what are their consequences. This short story discusses eight topics which are abortion, communication, depression, parenthood, love, sexuality, women’s health. Abortion is the main topic in this short story.
It is the most useful procedure to avoid unwanted pregnancies. Usually it is because of couples who did not use safe sex measures. It is also because both of them cannot are not ready to accept the responsibilities of being a parent. It is the removal of the fetus from the uterus by miscarriage, use of chemicals, or it could be done by a surgical procedure. It is done during twenty weeks of the gestation period where the fetus is declared as non-viable. It depends on four things and these are, the gestational age of the fetus, legality, availability in the region, and doctor-patient’s preference.
Abortion is legal if it used to save the life of the woman pregnant to prevent other serious complications to the woman’s mental and physical health, or it is because the baby is severely handicapped. Abortion for some is legal and for some it is immoral. The bottom line is that in this process an innocent life is being thrown away or wasted for some self-centered reasons. Couple should engage in safe sex in order to avoid this procedure. They should also be responsible for their actions and they should be willing and ready to face the consequences.
Communication is also an important topic discussed in the story. It is the source of many conflicts in a relationship. Usually in relationships, problems arise due to the reason that a person in the relationship cannot tell what he/she wants to his/her partner because of a fear of rejection. Superiority is another reason because in a relationship there are people who like to impose things and what they want to their partners even if it turns out that they are being selfish with their decisions. Depression also causes a woman to think of engaging in an abortion procedure.
This is state of intense sadness and despair. This affects the persons thinking and actions. A person during depression can be easily deceived and they cannot think properly. They can be easily be drawn to vices or other bad activities because they think that this activities will help them in their problems. Sometimes people undergoing this stage are violent, full of hatred and grudge. They pity themselves because they did not accomplish something or they feel they are not worthy to live due to insecurities. Love and parenthood is also discussed in this story.
Love is the reason why people meet and show affection for one another and later on become a couple. Later on the couple could engage in marriage and soon produce babies. Parenthood is the stage when a couple already produces, nurtures, and guides a baby until it grows up. Sexuality is another related topic to the occurrence of many unwanted pregnancies. Curiosity is the main reason why young people engage in sexual activities. It is mainly triggered by the media. Nowadays, youth and other people to day can engage in sexual activities without the essence of love.
Couples want to experience sex because of their curiosity and their idea that it is the best way to show their love for their partner, which sometimes lead to pregnancy. This is the main reason why young women engage in abortion because she and her partner is not yet ready for the responsibilities of being a mother and father to a child. Women’s health is also a topic which should be considered before engaging in abortion. A man should really be responsible for what he has done because women undergoing abortion sacrifice their health and lives if the process is unsuccessful.
Women go through extreme pain which can create physical and mental disorders. Mental disorders can be caused by trauma from the process, extreme depression of getting pregnant at such an early age, and the fear of what sin they have done. It will help men understand the complications of abortion to their partners. Abortion has bad effects to the women who underwent the procedure. It may cause perforated uterus, perforated bowel or bladder, may affect the woman’s sterility, septic shock, and even death. Instrument used in the process can cause lacerations of the uterus and may lead to something worse.
Hemorrhage and infection can also occur if the uterus is incompletely emptied. Sometimes this process can be unsuccessful and the woman involved can still give birth to a live infant. These complications can increase based on the progress of the pregnancy. Unsafe abortion involves taking drugs, herbs, or inserting anything that is not a surgical and sterilized object into the uterus. After abortion the woman can feel or experience some complications like bleeding for a period of time and may suffer pains like what they experience during their periods.
The woman involved may also experience high temperature or an unusual vaginal discharge. She may also acquire an infection depending on the sterility of the instruments used in the procedure. Based on Ernst Hemmingway’s book, abortion is the main topic in the short story. The story is about a couple composed of an American boy and a girl named “Jig” whose age is 19 or 20. This couple went to the railroad station in Spain to wait for a train that they will board towards Madrid. While waiting for the train to arrive, the American boy who started the conversation.
He was convincing Jig to undergo the secret operation but she didn’t want to. The conversation went on and on until the man was insisting and imposing to the girl that she has to agree with him on that secret operation. Before they board the train, the girl just said that she was fine in order to quiet his partner. In the end the couple did not solve their conflicts and the girl was hurt by the selfish, harsh, mindless words that came out of her partner’s mouth. The title of the story came from the hills that Jig was seeing on their way to Madrid.
She thought of the hills as white elephants which is a type of gift that is tool expensive to keep but to precious to give away. It may be said that the baby in her womb made her tummy hill-like and was considered by Jig as the white elephant. The story also proves that people sometimes don’t think of others, become selfish, and make decisions without considering the fact that he/she might hurt someone’s feelings. The boy wanted to avoid his upcoming responsibilities of being a father by convincing his partner to undergo a painful and immoral operation, abortion.
The boy was also afraid of what might happen to their lives that they pursued because they might lose all of their accomplishments with Jig’s pregnancy. He feared that his dreams and aspirations will be shattered if Jig’s will continue her pregnancy. The boy was not convincing the girl but she was like directing the girl to do what he wants. The boy should have known that he should be responsible for his actions because if not for him the girl will not become pregnant and he also enjoyed the sexual activities that they’ve done, so he has to reap the consequences.
The girl was brave, well grounded, and had a stronghold of her principles. She argued for what is right and didn’t let his partners harsh words scare her. She argued to save her baby without thinking of her self and what possible bad things she might encounter in the future. The girl accepted tall the consequences of the things she has done. She was willing to accept the responsibility of being a mother at a young age full heartedly. She was willing to face her fears and didn’t even think about escaping her responsibilities.
The moral of the story is that couples should have an open communication with each other. Couples should help to make decisions as one. In order to avoid unwanted pregnancies and for them to still enjoy their sexual pleasures, couples should use safety, protection or contraceptives. People involved in a relationship must always help each other, listen to each other, comfort each other, and support each others decisions. Couple should also face problems together without fear or doubt that they cannot solve them.
Couple should also accept the consequences for their actions. There should be no blaming on both sides. People in a relationship should be selfless and they should consider the welfare of their partner before making a decision.
References:
litmed. med. nyu. edu/Annotation? action=view&annid=1697 ? www. cliffsnotes. com/WileyCDA/LitNote/id-10,pageNum-49. html ? en. wikipedia. org/wiki/Hills_Like_White_Elephants ? www. everything2. com/index. pl? node_id=1824288 ? www. enotes. com/hills-like/