“The Birthmark” and “The Hills like White Elephants”
Despite the different message that these two stories portray, both story convey the same concept that women are inferior to men. Both stories show the female characters, Jig and Georgiana as females whose happiness is achieved through satisfying their husband’s demands. The reason behind this has to do with the time period of the story. “The Birthmark” by Nathaniel Hawthorne was written in the 1800s where females had no rights. They were only housewives whose goal in life was only to bore children and tend to their husbands, which is obviously wrong! “The Hills like White Elephants” by Ernest Hemingway was written a lot later, in the 1900s. At this time, women were beginning to fight for their rights and equality.
I believe Georgiana and Jig have a lot in common despite their different characteristics. Georgiana, regardless of what other people say, decides to remove her birthmark because of her husband’s constant criticism and insults. Jig decides to get an abortion because she wants her life to be the same with her “husband”. It feels as though both stories are trying to say that women’s only means of happiness is through satisfying their husbands desire.
Now I can’t really understand the concept of achieving happiness through satisfying others. Would a person really be happy in their life if they kept doing what other people told them to do? I understand that some people feel happy when they are able to make other people happy but is sacrificing your own body necessary? Was Georgiana happy after she removed her birthmark because she can finally be seen as beautiful and perfect in her husband’s eyes? Was Jig really happy to hear the train arrive because she was finally getting an abortion?
ANYWAYS, while searching for pictures of birthmarks, i came across this cartoon. I thought it was cute.
