Monday, August 19, 2013

Hills like White Elephants Reflection

My first impression of the man and woman was two people waiting for a train, tired and having a boring conversation. As the text progressed, a conflict materialized from what seemed like nothing. The conflict being that the woman, Jig, was pregnant and the man wanted her to get an abortion, although she was unsure. Part of her didn't want the baby because she was ordering alcohol without hesitation, but part of her didn't want to put the little fetus's life to an end. The man was being very inconsiderate of how Jig might feel toward the child because he was choosing to say things like, "It's the only thing that makes us unhappy," and, "That's the only thing that bothers us." By saying this man is blaming the kid for their unhappiness and that pressures the woman into getting the abortion, even if it's not what makes her happy. This makes the man very hard to like, even though he is just scared. I also think it's interesting that the couple would choose a public area to have such a serious conversation. By having this discussion at the train station, it would prevent the man and woman from causing a scene, and thus avoiding a tremendous argument. I feel that the situation they are in is very unfortunate, but they could be handling it in a more constructive manner. The woman isn't communicating how she really feels, she is only telling the man what he wants to hear to shut him up. The man is not being mindful of how his words might be affecting the woman and why he really doesn't want to baby. He wants to keeping traveling, and that will become much more difficult with an infant.

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