When presented with short stories such as Chopin’s “The Story of an Hour” and Hemingway’s “Hills Like White Elephants,” it is very easy for us to come away with the notion that there is a price for happiness, and that price is change. In neither of the stories was the protagonist originally happy. It was only after a drastic change in the plot of their lives that the characters found their happiness.
In “The Story of an Hour” the change was a drastic one, death. As bizarre as that may seem, happiness can be attained through a tragedy. This tragedy would radically change her life, apparently to one she much preferred over the one she was currently living. Once this newfound happiness was acquired, she could not live without it… and she did not.
On a lighter note, the change in “Hills Like White Elephants” is… still death. This death, however, was of a fetus. The couple believed that the abortion of the child they were about to bring into this world was worth their happiness. In order for Jig to be happy, she had to be loved by the American, and in order for the American to love Jig, the fetus had to be killed.
Do you see how happy this all sounds? Death, abortion, lust-based love? Apparently the means are all justified by the ends as we will most likely follow in the paths set by these characters… in a “lighter” way of course.
While I was writing this at work, this song was playing at the storefront. I had such a hard time concentrating that I had to watch the South Park clip. As I watched it for the 1,000th time, I remembered the episode was actually about aborted fetuses. How conveniently coincidental.
http://www.southparkstudios.com/clips/153158/the-heat-of-the-moment
