Response Paper #3

Hills like White Elephants by Ernest Hemingway

When I was reading I imagined a scenery of a small railroad station in the midst of a deserted area. Inside the station is two Americans waiting for the train to come. The two American’s didn’t seem happy at all. Their conversations were dull, their thoughts were dull and even what they were doing seemed dull. I could imagine a young lady with a fancy dress sitting along side a men wearing a classic tuxedo. The man was at the lady’s service. Whatever the lady did, the man followed. Whatever the lady said, the man agreed. Whatever the lady commanded, the man fetched for her. It was like chivalry.

I noticed in the text that these two people don’t have an ordinary relationship. They seem very close to each other yet they are sitting around talking about the hills and wine. It feels as though the lady is suffering from some sort of pain and the man is trying to be as tender as possible. There conversations were very vague but it seems as though the lady was having a “simple” [Hemingway 167] surgery to “just let the air in”. [Hemingway 167] I wonder what procedure could that be? Could it be a surgery and what kind of surgery?

Afterward, it sounded as though their conversations changed into marriage. The man seemed to be indirectly proposing to the lady saying that ” I don’t want anybody but you” [Hemingway 169]  I think the lady didn’t really want to go through with it and that the man was being clingy to the lady. When the train finally arrived it seemed as though the lady was happy. Was it because she is leaving the man? Or is it because she is not nervous anymore about the procedure that they were talking about? Or is it because she is finally getting married? To me, it felt like the lady was happy to leave because the man was too clingy. He was too attached to the lady, more suitable to be a servant instead of a husband.

While I was reading, I realized that I kept imagining things. Instead of concentrating on the bigger picture I kept thinking about the small details. I tried to imagine myself in both characters point of view. While reading, I was forming two characters; a young lady who spoiled, stubborn and play but she is also kind and well mannered and a well dressed man who was rich and seemed to care a lot about the lady. After reading, I felt confused but also curious about what the story could really mean. There seemed to be a lot of different ways to interpret the conversations between the two since they spoke vaguely.

Suzan Liang