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   epollock Teacher
   High School - 12th Grade

   ritamccaffrey,

   This story is particularly timely in view of the controversy that has developed in the last decades over the issue of abortion. Students have many fixed ideas: some for, some against. There are other issues, of course.

   An important one is the apparently developing isolation between the two major characters. Another is the way in which Hemingway, stylistically, is able to make the identities of the speakers clear, even though he does not resort to many phrases varying the formulas “he said” and “she said.”

   As the story develops, we come to understand that the couple is facing a major crisis in their relationship. Jig, the woman, is pregnant, and wants to go through with giving birth to the child that she has conceived with the man who is identified as the American.

   On the other hand, it is clear that the American wants her to have an abortion. Truly, they are having a serious argument here, and their relationship is being seriously undermined.

   It is clear, when Jig says “every day we make it more impossible”, that she is no longer thrilled by the American’s wishes, as she might have been at one time. Her annoyance with him, requesting that he not talk, indicates her frustration with continuing to hash over their division of opinion.

   The characters are clearly not going to reconcile their differences at the end of the story and would likely separate if it were to continue. Their views on other issues should parallel their views in the story.

   Sources:

   http://www.enotes.com/hills-like

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   Posted by epollock on Thursday June 18, 2009 at 8:18 AM