(Critical insights) Includes bibliographical references and index. Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data Ernest Hemingway / editor, Eugene Goodheart. ∞ The paper used in these volumes conforms to the American National Standard for Permanence of Paper for Printed Library Materials, Z39.48-1992 (R1997). For copyright information, contact EBSCO Publishing, 10 Estes Street, Ipswich, MA 01938. For information about the print edition address the publisher, Salem Press. No part of this work may be used or reproduced in any manner whatsoever or transmitted in any form or by any means, electronic or mechanical, including photocopy, recording, or any information storage and retrieval system, without written permission from the copyright owner except in the case of brief quotations embodied in critical articles and reviews or in the copying of images deemed to be freely licensed or in the public domain. Published by Salem Press © 2010 by EBSCO Publishing Editor’s text © 2010 by Eugene Goodheart “The Paris Review Perspective” © 2010 by Petrina Crockford for The Paris ReviewĪll rights in this book are reserved. Salem Press Pasadena, California Hackensack, New JerseyĬover photo: Time & Life Pictures/Getty Images I feel fine.” This final act of concealment and self-suppression suggests that this relationship, so representative of the traditional dynamic between men and women at the time,will remain stalled in its present unhealthy stateuntil it likely falls apart completely.Editor Eugene Goodheart Brandeis University At the story’s conclusion, when he asks her if she feels better, the girl’s stiff reply reveals her true feelings: “I feel fine. The man, though, is unwilling even to entertain these notions, and yet he phrases his refu sal in the manipulative language of love, claiming that “I don’t want anybody but you.” Eventually the girl acquiesces to the man’s overbearing insistence, surrendering her personal freedom to his wishes. She attempts to paint a picture of the future life she and the man could have together if they were to have a child. The man seeks to control both the girl’s actions and intentions as though she were a child, a deeply unhealthy and damaging pattern of behavior.Īt first the girl is resistant to the man’s emotional manipulation. For the man,it is not enough for her to do what he wants, but she must also want what he wants. He wants the girl to seekan abortion in order to maintain the freedom he enjoys, but he wants it to be her decision. The man is domineering in all his interactions, andthough he pays lip service to wanting to make the girl happy, his decisions are ultimately guided by his own desires. However, as the story illustrates, such a power dynamic is fundamentally flawed and destructive. In this gender framework, the man makes the decisions and the female complies. In this sense, the man and girl represent stereotypes of male and female roles: the male as active and the female as passive. At the heart of “Hills Like White Elephants” is Hemingway’s examination of the man and girl’s deeply flawed relationship, a relationship that champions “freedom” at the cost of honesty, respect, and commitment.
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