1 |
Is it documented that Hemingway ever said the Hills Like White Elephants is about abortion? Posted by robdantop on Sep 16, 2008. |
Hills Like White Elephants Group
2 |
I have not found anything in which Hemingway comments on the issue of abortion and this story, but I can point you to a review along those lines. Here at eNotes (http://www.enotes.com/hills-like/hemingway-84), in the article "Hemingway's Autobiographical Inspiration for 'Hills Like White Elephants,'" L. Ackroyd comments on the fact that Hemingway tended to work through personal issues in his stories. He quotes Kenneth Lynn, who said that Hemingway ‘‘habitually recreated his life through his work.’’ Ackroyd also comments on Hemingway's ambivalence toward having children and notes that he wrote this story while on honeymoon with his second wife, Pauline. Interestingly, Ackroyd tells us that Hemingway wrote a note at the end of the original draft of the story: ‘‘Mss for Pauline—well, well, well.’’ I wonder what he meant! Posted by linda-allen on Sep 16, 2008. |
3 |
It is certainly never overtly stated in the text, but it is implied through context clues, particularly the line in which the American explains to Jig that the operation is simple because "it's just to let the air in." Hemingway told Robert McAlmon, his first publisher the story of woman he knew who had had an abortion, and she described the procedure as the doctor simply letting air in and then it was over. Posted by scdaniel on Mar 23, 2009. |

