English
Determining the extent to which the couple in the story reflects actual male/female relationships among Americans (and Europeans) in the bohemian world of Europe between World War I and World War II. The relationship between males and females is a complex maze. In the short story "Hills Like White Elephants" by Ernest Hemingway this issue has been present in a telling manner. The story though reflects the relationships then. It also depicts what many of people go through presently. The story presents a foreign couple in Spain who face several decisive challenges. As the couple interacts, we are exposed to the complex issue of actual male/female relationships.
Hemingway's story represents the actual relationships between men and women of the time. The reality may be challenging. However, that is how things are. A good example is drawn the way the couple behaves when the issue of the pregnancy arises. They struggle with the reality of such an occurrence in normal human ways. We see Jig and the American arguing on what to do with this issue. Hemingway clearly presents the awkward emotion that occurs when this couple is faced with this issue of an unwanted pregnancy. Hemingway goes ahead and shows clearly the moments when the couple thinks of the emotional as well as material implications of the pregnancy (Hemingway574).
The American and Jig are symbolically portrayed as the tracks at the train station. These tracks we know do not meet, yet they facilitate transportation. The same is shown in the story. Though the couple seems to have different stand points and reactions to an issue, they are just serving the actual purpose of life. Jig represents fertility as seen from the pregnancy. We know as they argue over the supposed operation, she later changes her mind. The American represents the opposite sterile position (Hemingway572).
Ironically we see Jig depending on the American in terms of emotional dependency. This is in line with how women on their male partners in the 1940s. Though some may consider this as a lack of autonomy of the women, this can be seen as the glue that kept couples together. In those days, women seemed to lack the willpower to affirm themselves. Hemingway clearly shows this dependency sometimes tears the female companion a part. One sees the characters exhibiting differences in both personality and desires. The constant opposition that is burning between them is actually what leads to the duo's inevitable separation. Through the case at hand, Jig discovers her independence (Hemingway575).
The unmarried couples at the time of the story seem not to have been a "norm". Though the American appears to relish the issue of being together but unmarried, we see the seeming guilty on Jig's reactions. The American is out for fun, but Jig is expectant of some serious outcome of the relationship. She is only disapproved later when she sees that the partner seems unconcerned about her situation. He sees the pregnancy as kind of unwanted junk, rubbish. He wants the pregnancy terminated and views it as the thing that makes them unhappy. He foolishly tries to tell the Jig that if the pregnancy is terminated, then they are bound to be happy again. So by Jig's consideration to keep the pregnancy one can conclude that she explicitly acknowledges its significance. One could also speculate that perhaps she thought by keeping it them their partnership would end up in an exchange of marriage vows. This is well illustrated when she walks towards one side of the railway that is fertile with grain and trees and remarks; “And we could have all this and we could have everything and every day we make it more impossible.” From the speech it appears that it is Jigs desire to have the baby, settle down and have a happy family. This is unlike what they are engaged in presently, that is, “just trying out new drinks.” (Hemingway573).
The actual male/female relationships among Americans (and Europeans) in the bohemian world of Europe between World War I and World War II was characterized with the men dominating everything. During this period, fraternization was at its pick. Traditional social hierarchies were strengthened with men always considered the heads of almost everything in the household. Cultivation of domesticity received great support as women were encouraged to be only nurturers and followers. Women in the actual sense were restricted from participating in public life (Miller 56). Between the 1918 and 1940, the elevation of the woman as the mother was highly advocated. The Soviets had started to give women some rights by the end of 1940, but the Nazis vouched for the maternal and domestic place of women. This, however, does not mean that women played no roles in the war (Wallach 43). In actual sense, members of both sexes played diverse roles in this period of war. But men shaped the national ideology that relegated women to their maternal as well as domestic roles. These repressive policies ran across the whole of Europe and beyond (Miller 90).
In Hemingway's short story, we see all these issues represented in the American. First, the American takes the girl as just another sexual playhouse. He takes his word to be the law. This is evident in the way he tries to coerce Jig into procuring an abortion. He has suddenly become an expert in a strictly female issue. He tries to convince Jig on how simple the procedure is. In fact, he goes further and says how simple and widely accepted the practice has been adopted. He remarks "lots of people that have done it." (Hemingway 575).
Hemingway craftily portrays the American as a know-it-all person to show the reader that it is the lady who knows and understands what abortion means. This is perhaps intended to demonstrate the conflicting views between the two characters. Though the girl's mind seems to be divided, at first, she soon realizes that the direction that the partner is proposing is not the right one. This could perhaps be that the girl had been accustomed to being led by the man (Lakoff 10). This type of conditioning makes her not know her mind. Thus, she does not see what women and actual relationships were during this period.
Most male artists/writers/musicians etc. treated their wives in no different ways as the American in the short story. First of looking at the life of Hemingway, the author of the story in discussion one sees his reflection in the American. He married different women. Not at once, but one after the other. A story is told of how the first wife quit the relationship after finding out that he had an affair with another woman. The women do play their crucial roles in their partner's artistic work but in the end, they are shoved, and their critical roles go unrecognized (Scott 27). This could perhaps be explaining that complex that the artists have still lingered on their psyche. For example having gone for Christmas at Schruns with her husband Hemingway, the couple Pauline Pfeiffer accompanied them. Hemingway left his wife Hardley and their son there and ran off with Pauline Pfeiffer for Paris. By this time Hemingway was writing "The Sun Also Rises," a novel dedicated to his wife, Hardley. But due to the preceding events, Hardley had to request formally for a divorce due to Hemingway's infidelity. Hemingway went ahead and married Pauline Pfeiffer that very year. He married two other women later (Baker 70).
The smartness, independence of Hardley got exhibited because she quit an abusive relationship and eventually remarried and lived happily ever after, unlike Hemingway, who later committed suicide.
There are several examples of male artist/writers/musicians who have hit headlines for having serious issues in their relationships. More literature shows that despite the glamour of becoming an artist’s partner behind the scenes the male partner are dark closets (Salem, 76). Lost Angeles is full of actors while New York has many writers. Kelli Craig 34 has been involved in an abusive relationship with a musician and this case has hit headlines just like many others. She is no longer known for her short stories or designing her clothing line Guided Cage but as a complainant in a lawsuit with her ex-boyfriend Jack Lawrence. It has been recorded that she supported her ex-boyfriend financially for over eight years and greatly invested in his career but when Lawrence started to make more cash, he vanished.
In conclusion it can be said that Hemingway has succeeded in reflecting the actual male/female relationships in the bohemian world of Europe between World War I and II. This story is also relevant today as seen from the various news reports. Many males still consider themselves as superior to their female and thus take them for granted.
Works Cited
Baker, Carlos. Ernest Hemingway: A Life Story. New York: Charles Scribner's Sons, 1969. Print
Hemingway, Ernest. Hills Like Elephants. Canada: HarperCollins, 1927. Print
Lakoff, Robin. Language and Women’s Place. New York: Harper and Row, 1975. Print
Miller, Jean Baker. Toward a New Psychology of Women, Boston: Beacon Press, 1976. Print
Salem, Christine. “On Naming the Oppressor: What Woolf Avoids Saying in A Room of One’s
Own.” In the Voices and Words of Men and Women. Ed. Cheris Kramarae. Oxford: Pergamon Press, 1980: 209-217.
Scott, Kathryn P. “The Perceptions of Communication Competence: What’s Good for the Goose
is not Good for the Gander.” The voices and words of Men and Women Ed. Cheris Kramarae. Oxford: Pergamon Press, 1980: 199-207.
Wallach, Joan. Gender and the Politics of History, rev. ed. New York: Columbia University Press, 1999, 46. Print
