"Summarize the author's key ideas. Identify at least three examples/details that enhanced your understanding of the story. You can also address questions that the analysis provoked, or parts that you did not understand or agree with."
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In Hills Like White Elephants, Ernest Hemingway makes use of dialogue to emphasize the difference between males and females. Pamela Smiley claims that "male speaker's contribution is precise and to the point," while "the female speaker's language is profoundly imprecise" (Smiley, 1). The difference between the dialect of men and women is that men focus on getting the point across and speak without emotional attachment. On the other hand, the woman is concerned with who she is talking to, and how interested the person she is addressing is. In relation to the couple's conversation, the American and Jig had major differences in the way that they talked to each other. Jig's method of conversing including tag words like "wasn't it,""Isn't it?" (Smiley, 5) implements how Jig is searching for a circular conversation, while the American's short responses is connected to his wants limit conversing as much as possible. This difference in dialect relates to the American's relative internal adherence to wanting Jig to have an abortion, and Jig's conversational style as her longing for assurance and support.
ReplyDeleteI agree with the assertion that there is a difference between the dialect of men and women and I think the examples of it mentioned are accurate. However, is the discrepancy in dialect significant with carrying out the purpose of the reading? I understand and agree with the idea that the story is driven by the dialogue, but dialect is only the expression of thoughts and how they are conveyed, not how thoughts are developed. I think dialect was used to heighten tension and make the reading more atmospheric, therefore I disagree with last statement, for I think it narrows down on the ideas of the individuals rather than how the ideas were conveyed and how the expression of the ideas impacted the story.
DeleteI like the point that is made that compares the language styles and purposes of men and women. Jig, especially seems to be typical of this point and is worried about the emotional impact of her operation. When Jig says "'Would you please please please please please please please stop talking?'" this seems to be one of Jig's strongest defenses of her child, and yet the man continues talking anyway. This shows his dominance over her and his objective dialogue reveals that his is still trying to persuade Jig to have the operation. One of the main reasons I think the man fails to persuade Jig is because he uses the wrong type of langue to try to change her mind. Jig probably would have been more responsive to emotional arguments instead of reassurances that the operation was safe and would make them happy.
DeleteI completely agree with this because that is actually seen throughout the story. The man actually did not want to discuss this issue that much and just leave it at her doing the abortion. Throughout the story, he said it is simple and that would give him no worries. The woman actually wanted to talk more about this as they clearly should because this is a very important issue in any relationship. I interpreted it at the end that they didn't take the abortion so that means the woman won at the end and I'm glad she did.
DeleteI agree with the last statement that you made. The difference between the girls and the American creates a tension?between the two. It depicts the the different stances that they have on the subject of abortion. It is also evident that the American doesn't want to discuss the topic very much, while on the other hand Jig really wants to talk it through because it's a tough decision to make for her. I think that the more they talked about the abortion the more time Jig had to make a decision between the life or death of the baby. With subtle hints in the dialogue, we can assume the decision that Jig made and how it made the American feel. When he said "Are you happy now?" it seems to me that he had agreed something he didn't want to happen in my opinion. I get that because the tone of the dialogue.
DeleteI agree with the way you described her use of tag-ended questions as a circlular-conversation-inducing action. I like the use of the circular vs. linear metaphor because it applies really well to the circular, consensus-pursuing conversational habits that women are prone to and the linear, simply thought-driven conversational habits associated with men. On a personal note, I feel that this article by University of Wisconsin's Pamela Smiley was so incredibly well written and thoroughly supported by convincing references and examples. I read all of the analytical articles and was by far the most impressed, entertained, and interested in this one. This article's author put some deep thought into her work!
DeleteCould some of the miscommunication between Jig and the American man be also attributed to the social structure of the time? In the 1920's women were expected to be subordinate to men. Therefore, the reserved behavior exhibited by Jig could be a result of her not being able to speak out as freely as the man would in that time period. Could this conversation be different and more two-sided if it occurred in this day and age?
ReplyDeleteIn the short story titled "Hills Like White Elephants", Ernest Hemingway uses a stressed young couple to exemplify the gap in communication between partnered men and women. In an analytical article about the piece, Pamela Smiley clarifies how each gender's respective modes of communication contribute to these characters' developments as a needy, submissive woman and a distant but well-meaning man.
ReplyDeleteMrs. Smiley's analysis clears up a few occurences where the couple's communication was lost in translation. For example, Smiley introduces the significance of the woman's "tag-end" questions by showing that they characterize the speaker as somebody who is in need of approval and in search of consensus- perfectly fitting Hemingway's woman in the short story. In the same way, Smiley clarifies the significance of the man's words to the woman by explaining that men communicate with less emotional connotation and more attention to addressing facts.
Together, these ideas contributed by Smiley help the reader understand Ernest Hemingway's key motives for illustrating a couple that has such unclear and problematic attempts at communication, and help the reader understand the differences in communication styles between gender groups in fact and fiction.
Ernest Hemingway clearly shows the differences in communication between the two genders at that specific time and how it led to miscommunication and intense verbal fights between the genders.
ReplyDeleteMrs.Smiley writes about how females conversation is relationship oriented, while the masculine is goal-oriented (Smiley, 3). It sometimes can imply that the female is looking out for the whole family, while the male is a little selfish and only cares about his needs. That could be shown throughout the story in "Hills Like White Elephants" Jig said, "And we could have all this and we could have everything and every day we make it more impossible." The man says, "I know you wouldn't mind it, Jig. It's really not anything. It's just to let the air in." This clearly shows that the woman cares about the entire family, while the man just wants to get out of this and want to live the reckless life.
Jig also uses a lot of open ended questions to make the conversation circular and vague evaluations, so the decision is not set in stone for the abortion to take place (Smiley, 6). While, the man uses a lot of direct and objective statements because he wants to end this and just get her to do the abortion. For example, the Jig says, "What makes you think so." Throughout the essay, she keeps asking questions for him to keep rethinking his stance on this situation.
All in all, "Hills Like While Elephants showed two people with "strong personalities" caught in confusion on what is the right decision and the different style of communication in the conversation were clashing (Smiley 10)
In the short story, "Hills Like White Elephants", Ernest Hemingway illustrates the typical miscommunication that happens between men and women that are significant others. The contrast between the couple is magnified by Hemingway's use of syntax and dialect.
ReplyDeleteWith the help of Pamela Smiley, the difference in the conversation style of Jig and the American are depicted by nature of their responses. The American was more precise and to the point, while on the other hand, Jig is more imprecise with her responses. This allows for the American to have more control over the conversation it self. He is able to use Jig's weaknesses against her to try and sway her his way.
Based on what Smiley said, the conversation between the American and Jig had become desensitized. Although Jig attempted to add intimacy into the conversation, these efforts were shot down on several different occasions by the American. He stuck to keeping the conversation short, simple, and without any emotions. At that point he was able to gain more control over the conversation because he has the ability to delude the real purpose of the conversation.