I was pretty upset when Prof. Kaufmen told the class that the next reading we had to do was from Nathaniel Hawthorne because I’ve actually never liked his writing. I’ve read the Scarlet Letter and excerpts from him but I really disliked how most of his work is depressing.
When I began reading the story I was not really paying attention to the details but when I got to page 266 I was very interested in the outcome of the story. At the end of the story I knew that this ending would because every time I read Hawthorne someone has to die. It’s depressing. When I was reading a story a question arose in my mind and it made a connection to “Hills Like White Elephants”.
Did Jig and Georgiana choose to have what happen to them happen?
In “Hills Like While Elephants” the man seems to give Jig a choice whether or not she wants the abortion. Every time I read the story I feel as if the man is not giving Jig a choice because “I don’t want you to do it if you don’t really want to.” was repeated many times. It’s as if he’s trying to give Jig the guilt trip, trying to make Jig feel guilty about not agreeing with him and ruining their love. The fact that the man knew about the procedure of abortion tells me that he was the one to bring up the idea. Throughout their conversation it seems like the man is nonchalant about Jig not wanting to do it but the man never backs down from the idea of abortion because he says ” I think it’s the best thing to do.”. We only know what the man wants but not Jig. Is that what Jig wanted?
For “The Birth-mark” I felt that it was very similar if not the same as “Hills Like White Elephants”. Aylmer wanted to get rid of Georgiana’s birthmark but he basically forced her to agree to it. Aylmer kept telling Georgiana that he disliked her birthmark and could get rid of it. Georgiana once asked if it was really possible and he got angry at her for doubting him. It turned out to be Aylmer was really obsessed with what he wanted her to be and didn’t care about what she wanted. Even Aylmer’s servant stated that he wouldn’t want to remove it. It seems like Georgiana gave in to what ever Aylmer wanted in the end.
Women at the times that Hawthorne and Hemingway lived in had very little power in society because households were Patriarchal. So I felt that Jig and Georgiana did not have a choice or a say it what was going to happen.
Did the author mean for Jig and Georgiana to have a choice at all?
