ERNEST HEMMINGWAY’S HILLS LIKE WHITE ELEPHANTS:

A FEMINIST INTERPRETATION
By: Liezel L. Rollon

Ernest Hemmingway’s literary pieces have covered several subjects of Feminism

and his short story “Hills like white elephants” best portrays a woman that breaks the

traditional belief that society is dominated by man and masculinity. We understand that

feminism is a social movement, a belief which focuses on achieving rights for women.

Men and women are equal in every way.

In the short story, the two important characters are the American and the Girl.

Through their nicknames we know the author gives us an idea that “the American”

seems to be superior than the plain old “Girl.” We do not know the nationality of the

woman but this makes us wonder how important women were, how much they depend

on men; how they did not matter to the judging eyes of the society and how they feel

were nonexistent.

From he beginning of the story, the girl asked her partner what to drink, we

understand that she cares for her boyfriend’s thoughts and opinions. It seems a simple

question but if we dissect the text, we can conclude that the Girl has suppressed

feeling, frustrations and her opinion was only voiced out at the end of the story, when it

dawned to her what relationship she and her boyfriend has.

 The Girl is clearly dependent to her boyfriend for she was very submissive and

she does whatever her boyfriend asks. Women should not feel lower to men, they

should consider themselves as equal to men.

Hill like white elephants is a conversation between an American man and his

Girlfriend. Both talk, but neither listens and understand each other’s thoughts. The

American man almost say anything to convince his girlfriend to have the operation

although it was never mentioned but we understood it to be an abortion. The girl who

doesn’t speak up during the talking but it is clear that she doesn’t want the abortion. At

the beginning, she was willing to to everything to save the relationship but she wakes up

and realizes there is nothing to save and an abortion cannot fix the broken relationship.

At this point, the girl already retracted her previous comment that their

surroundings are like white elephants, hinting that she doesn’t want the abortion and

wants to keep the baby. The man was upset and had been displaying indifference

towards the girl to push what he wants. Still hoping to save the relationship, the girl

asked her boyfriend to bring things back together as they used to be after the abortion.

Her indecision and desire to appease the man shows that she is very dependent on

him.

In the end, for sure the girl is coming out of her shell and submissiveness as she

realize she can be a strong independent woman taking care of her baby even without a

father. Hemmingway didn’t actually write if the girl decided to have the abortion of not,
but with the subtle hints she gave during the conversation I think she kept the baby and

got out of the toxic relationship.

To conclude this course paper, I would like to express the fact that this short story

is a story of a woman who had her feminist awakening, a woman who got out of her

shell and got free from her dominant partner and a girl who is not afraid to use her

voice. Hemmingway portraits a story of a strong independent woman whose story can

be a true story in our generation today.

 ERNEST HEMMINGWAY’S CAT IN THE RAIN:
A FEMINIST INTERPRETATION
By: Liezel L. Rollon

Put out in a time of emancipation and new-found freedom for many women,

Ernest Hemmingway’s “Cat in the rain” shows a clear ambivalence in certain changes in

women’s position in society. The protagonist herself seems to buzz at being distanced

from the stereotypical feminity as she is longing to have a more traditional woman’s

role. she also has a job. the story’s best ambiguity concerning gender roles can be read

both as a reaction to era’s promises of “progressiveness” that commands new rules for

women’s behavior and consequence of Hemmingway’s own positioning as a “macho”

writer that writes at a time of revolutionary transformation concerning the sexes.

George’s stance towards his wife is marked by condescension that seems the

root of stereotypical understanding of gender. When the wife informs the husband to

recue the cat from the rain, he tells her, “I’ll do it.” In offering to do a simple task which

his wife is capable of, the husband seems to position her as someone who is weak and

inferior and he himself is the opposite. The husband shows traditional gender hierarchy.

When the wife returns after failing to save the cat, she examines herself in the

mirror and wondered if she should grow her hair, the husband is concerned that his wife

keeps her appearance due to his liking. George compliments his wife but he is more

fixated on his own appreciation of his wife’s appearance rather than hers; his comments

suggest that his wife’s appearance exists for him.

 George’s attitude towards his wife is reflected in his irritation over his wife’s

requests. Rather than giving her desires- a cat, long hair, silver and for spring- he tells

her , “ Oh, shut up and get something to read,” effectively ending the conversation. The

wife’s little requests. While the hotel keeper behaves better towards the wife, she seems

to like him more than his husband.

At the ending of the story, the hotel-keeper sends the maid with the cat. The fact

that the cat the he send was a different cat, he thinks any cat will do shows that he is

like her husband who shows her condescending ways. He fails to understand that her

wanting for a cat was an expression of her longing for intimacy.

The treatment of gender in Hemmingway’s “Cat in the Rain” is simple.

Ambivalence and ambiguity are shown even in the wife’s attitude towards her own

feminity. The story’s complicated interpretation of gender roles are contested both by

men and women and attitude towards gender is very much changing.