http://bubblesinmyhead.blogspot.com/2006/03/duality-of-imagery-in-hemingways-hills.html
The following quote from Hemingway's "Hills Like White Elephants" really stood out to me:
"'Yes,' said the girl. 'Everything tastes like licorice. Especially all the things you've waited so long for, like absinthe.'"
During class today, we mentioned the licorice in our analysis of the story and how it may relate to abortion or pregnancy. However, I thought it had more to do with Jig's desires to have a baby in the first place. By stating that the hills look like white elephants (which she mentions twice to gain the American's attention), she first tries to start a conversation about her pregnancy. When Jig mentions the licorice, Hemingway draws a parallel between the bitter taste of the drink and the bitter feeling that she has towards her pregnancy. At first, she wanted to try the drink, so she asked the American to order it for her, only to realize that she dislikes it. Similarly, she wanted to have a child at first, but after she actually has a "taste" of what pregnancy is like, dislikes the feeling. Lora and I were discussing this during our group work today in class, and we thought that Jig's apprehension towards having a baby is because of the enormous responsibility. Having a relationship with one other person is extremely different than having a family. The burden can weigh on the mother (like a white elephant).
I can't directly relate to this burden, but I know that my mother can. She married my dad (through an arranged marriage) when she was nineteen, and they immediately moved to America. My dad had lived here before but my mom hadn't, and she was literally thrown into an environment and lifestyle that she couldn't navigate. Three months later, she was pregnant with my sister. She doesn't, by any standard, regret having my sister, but I bet there were times during that first year in America that she thought she couldn't handle the responsibility of raising a child. (Obviously, she was wrong because I think my sister and I are pretty good people overall.)
This quote really summarizes the fact that it's hard to understand something unless one experiences it. Jig thought she wanted to be pregnant but it didn't turn out to be the "walk in the park" that she imagined.
I have to agree with this, and not just because I worked with you on it haha. I like that you drew on the parallelism between the drink itself and the pregnancy, not just the licorice taste, that was something that I hadn't thought of. The personal relation to your mom was interesting, I can't imagine how just shocking and unnerving that all must have been for her.
ReplyDeleteI know, I can't even imagine. In AP Government we have to create a current events scrapbook in which we make the curriculum relevant. After considering this, I think that in literature we can make everything relevant. I found the connection with my mom, but there are probably many other relevant connections to the world. Linking events in the story almost makes the story a little more personal, even though Hemingway doesn't know who I am. To me, that's pretty cool!
DeleteI know this is a little late, but I agree with Loralyn that it is so interesting you were able to connect your mother's story to Hills Like White Elephants. Your post also led me to wonder how these different connections color how we read the story. Like the licorice- I didn't really think about that until you mentioned it.
DeleteI started to think about the licorice more because I realized that she really could have just used the word bitter to describe the drink. I thought that it had to have more significance than just describing the drink.
DeleteWow, that's some interesting insight into the meaning of licorice. I just thought it was a reference to cravings during pregnancy, but now that I have read your post, the quote has a much deeper meaning :).
ReplyDeleteThanks! :) This blog post actually branched off of some of the symbols we discussed in class. This symbol was one of the more reasonable ones so I chose to write about it.
DeleteExcellent connection. I think you're really onto something here. She also says that EVERYTHING tastes like licorice (or something to that effect; I don't have the text in front of me). Maybe that could relate to the pervasive nature of pregnancy. It's dominating her thoughts, their conversations, physical changes to her body, etc.
ReplyDelete