There are two parts to the homework for this week:
1) Respond to the questions below and make sure you bring a typed copy of your response to class, otherwise I will start to deduct points.
2)Review the list of topics for your papers. Find one Literactive document that you think can connect to the topic of your choice. Begin brainstorming ideas/points/your opinion on the topic. Also, bring a copy of the Literactive document (if possible) or at least the name of the document so that we can discuss it in class.
Have a great weekend!
Think about the idea of invisibility. Is there any particular significance that the female characters in both stories are referred to as "the girl" ? Why or why not?
What does the word 'girl' mean? (Yes, you'll have to look it up in the dictionary)
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In "Hills Like White Elephants" there is a conversation occurring between a young man and woman while they are waiting for a train in Spain. It appears to me that the girl, Jig, is pregnant and the man wants her to have an abortion. He psychologically manipulates her by saying, "It's really an awfully simple operation, Jig...it's not really an operation at all" (Hemingway, 541). The man doesn't seem to view her as a person. He is proposing that she should make such a life-changing decision about her own body; assuming that Jig's decision to abort the baby will be convenient for himself. She goes on to say "I don't care about me"(Hemingway, 542). Her self destructive mind set seems to be a reflection of their relationship. Since the story is presented as a dialogue, it makes it harder to understand their relationship and who they are as people. On a sidenote, Jig is also a tool (a whiskey measurer). This could possibly symbolize that the man only views her as a tool, and not a woman who is entitled to her feelings.
ReplyDelete"Black Man and a White Woman in Dark Green Rowboat" by Russell Banks is a tragic youth story about sexual desire and abortion. Although the couple is talking about the girl's abortion appointment, the man still objectifies her body. For example, "The man studied the wedge of her crotch, then her navel, where a puddle of sweat was collecting, then the rise of her small breasts, and finally her long throat glistening in the sunlight"(Banks, 79). Throughout the entire story she is referred to as "the girl" and he is referred to as "the man". Woman see it as offensive if she is called a girl. A girl is defined as "a young and immature woman." These female characters are clearly not immature, because their bodies were able to conceive a child. It is demeaning that they are being referred to as girls, when they are just as equally being faced with adult decisions as the men are.
Anna DeFusco
Michele Nemec
ReplyDeleteGirl means a female that is a immature women. In the Stories i beleive that the two females in the story are referred to as "girl" because they were letting others make their decision. In the first story the guy was convincing the girl that if they did this it would make their relationship better. And in the second story the guy wasnt gonna bring the girl back to shore because he didnt want her to get the abortion. I feel like they both only were gonna come to terms if the girl made the decsion he wanted her to make.
Michele,
ReplyDeleteCan you expand more on your post. You have a good foundation, but what are the authors saying about relationships of people and society in general? The abortion theme is just a tool the authors use to make a point. What is that point???
Cassie Nelson
ReplyDeleteThe word “girl” is defined in the dictionary as “a young immature woman”. In all honesty I did not see abortion in both the stories up until the class discussion today. I saw it in “Black Man and White Woman in Dark Green Rowboat”, but I did not connect it in “Hills Like White Elephants”. Not that it adds that much in my opinion. Anyways, girls are viewed many times by how they act and who their parents are. In “Black Man and White Woman in Green Rowboat” the girl is invisible because she is seen by the man for what she has done and what she is about to do. She is also invisible because she is doing things to please people that she feels she needs to please. She says “If Daddy were alive, it would be different” “Daddy…” and the man says, “Hated niggers.” The girl feels that even though her dad is gone she is doing something that would displease him and make him look bad. She is invisible it does not matter who she is or what she wants it matters what others want or would have wanted in the case of her dad. There is significance in her being referred to as “the girl” because they are saying that she is young and immature. Being referred to as a girl even implies that a person is unable to make her own decisions. Hence the fact that “the girls” mother is going with her to her appointment. In “Hills Like White Elephants”, the girl is also invisible. The man in the story does not see her, all that he sees is himself and what he wants and what would be good for him. He does not care what she wants, but neither does she, because she says “I don’t care about me. And I’ll do it and then everything will be fine.” Again in this story all that the man sees the girl for is what she has done and what she is about to do. What differs is that in this story the man wants her to. It is significant that she is referred to as “the girl” because it implies that she cannot make her own decisions, but she sees white elephants, she says, “They look like white elephants” and the man says “I’ve never seen one,” this proves that in Buddhist culture they would see her capable of making the decision because white elephants symbolize mental strength and clarity.
As said above the word Girl means "young immature women". I think that the way in which both authors use the word "the girl" does hold a significant meaning. Both stories have to do with a young man and women caught in a difficult situation. They both end up having abortions. In both stories the reader can tell both girls are scared and repeatively ask if things will be the same. I think theyare both young and both immature. By reading what they said you can grab a sense of their innocences. Both girls are extremely scared as they should be. I believe both authors were trying to show how scared they were.
ReplyDelete-Marty Noenickx
Good points Marty, can you give some concrete examples from the text to back up what you are saying? I would like to see you expand on this.
ReplyDeleteJanine Hull
ReplyDeleteA girl means a female child, or a young or relatively young woman. In all of these stories we have read so far have a sense of invisibility. In the story "girl" the daughter tries to talk to her mom the whole time her mom is talking but can't get one word in. When she does it is one word and her mom treats her as if she was not there at all. In the stories "Hills like white elephants" and "black man and white woman in dark green rowboat" are both about girls getting pregnant then having an abortion. Also the girl in "black man and white woman in green rowboat" seems like she invisible because the guy who loves her just wants to get rid of her on the island because she is pregnant. The significance of all these people getting called "girl" is since they are younger in peoples eyes they seem more immature and less important. Although I think the girl in "black man with white woman in dark green row boat" is about a woman because it says it right in the title "woman".
"Hills like White Elephants" written by Ernest Hemmingway has two main characters, a man and women who discuss a life changing experience and decision casually at a bar over a beer while waiting for the train to come in. Hemmingway usually portrays his female characters as the weaker species compared to the dominant male role. Hemmingway also displays this characterization of women in another one of his novels “A Farewell to Arms” where the female role is a nurse during the war, while the dominant male figure is the strong solider. In both of these short stories we have read, the “girl” is viewed as a very transparent figure. Although her decision about abortion is final, it upsets the men because they are not able to be in control of the situation. Girl can be defined as a young, immature woman, and unmarried. Referring to these characters as girls and women is in a way degrading for the author to write in that manner. Although there seems to be a small difference in the word choice, it is a very big distinction in there definition.
ReplyDeleteMichelle Spadaro
Linda Palushaj
ReplyDeleteIn both Hemingway's "Hills Like White Elephants" and Bank's "Black Man and White Women in Dark Green Rowboat", a reader is able to find the theme of invisibility. In both stories, there are young couples who are going to get an abortion. Both these females characters are somewhat invisible. These girls have not made their decisions but someone has made it for them. For example,in Bank's story, when the girl is talking to the man about her mother she says, "She worries about me alot, you know. She's afraid for me, she thinks I'm fragile(81)." The girl never really get to say how she feels about the situation it feels like she is going along with it because her mother makes her believe she is doing the right thing since she is fragile as her mother tells her. Also when she tells the guy that she is going to have an abortion she says, " I'm going to do it. This afternoon. Mother's coming with me. She called and set it up this morning(81)." I feel as if maybe she was invisible and not able to make her own decision. She never really get to express what she wants to do and how she feels. I think this also makes her invisible. In Hemingway's story I feel has if the girl is also invisible that she doesn't get to decide what to do. The man is kind of just telling her to go through with it. For example he says, "It's really an awfully simple operation, Jig..It's not really an operation at all." He is telling her it's just a simple thing that will be over soon . He also says, " I know you won't mind it, Jig. It's really not anything." Then "the girl did not say anything.(541)" He is telling the girl how she should feel by telling her he knows she won't mind it. I feel as if the girl was invisible not able to voice her opinion maybe afraid to say what she feels. Also when thinking of the idea of invisibility, I feel as if the unborn child is invisible to everyone around them because they are not being thought about and the characters are not even really worried about them. They kind of just what to get rid of the whole situation by having an abortion. They don't really take the time to think it through, talk it out and see if there are other possibilities
In both stories these female characters are referred to as "the girl". In the dictionary girl is defined as "a young, immature women."(Dictionary.com) In these stories there is a little significance to why the female characters where referred to this. Both girls were young and when they were put into a difficult situation they were not able to make their own decisions but where told what to do by people around them. They didn't really make their own decisions they were just going along with other peoples opinions.
In the first story "Black Man and White woman in Dark Green Rowboat" the girl that was in the boat with the man was not invisible. It seemed like the man paid her great attention when talking about what her mother said. The man seems to think he is invisible when it comes to talking about the mother with the girl. For some reason the man does not think the mother likes him but the girl insists that she does "My mother likes you. She's a decent woman and she's tired and lonely. And she's not your enemy any more than I am." What the girl is saying is that her mother see's them, she doesn't see them as this and that she is saying that she is fine with what they are and what they do.
ReplyDeleteIn the second stroy "Hills Like White Elephants" the girl seems to not invisible. The man and the girl have a similar bond with one another. In both stories though they had to rely on other people to help them when they are prsented with have situations in life. I think that both girls should have more confidence in their own actions and follow through upon them and let that determine the outcome of what happens.
The term girl is defined as "a young, immature women." (Dictionary.com)
Aaron
Heather Feenan
ReplyDeleteGirl: a young, immature woman, esp. formerly, an unmarried one. I think the word girl means a female, just like the word boy means male, probably young. I feel in both stories “Hills Like White Elephants” by Hemingway and “Black Man and White Woman in Dark Green Rowboat” by Banks both of the girls are portrayed as silly and helpless. In the first story, “Hills Like White Elephants” the girl says, “Then I’ll do it. Because I don’t care about me”. Through the whole story she is trying to please him. You can tell she doesn’t really like the idea but she just wants him to be happy and still love her. I feel like he does love her but he doesn’t like what he did to her. If he didn’t love her he probably wouldn’t have said, “I don’t want you to do anything that you don’t want to do”. In the second story I feel like it’s the opposite the girl wants to get an abortion because her mom told her to and her father wouldn’t want her to have a child with a black man. The man doesn’t want her to get an abortion because he loves her and wants a baby with her. I believe the girl’s mother knows how hard it would be to be young and have a multi racial baby and has convinced her to have an abortion. The girl says, “ . . . I’m going to do it. This afternoon. Mother’s coming with me. She called and set it up this morning.” This line shows that she wasn’t really in control of the situation. I feel like in both stories the girls actual feelings are invisible. We can see them and so can they but no one else is really getting it. I feel like that is acceptable in society.
Marisa Simpson
ReplyDeleteThe word “girl” means a female child, a young, unmarried woman. I think that the term ‘the girl” given to the characters helps show their invisibility in the story. The girl in “Black Man and White Woman in Dark Green Rowboat” is invisible because she is only seen by what she is doing. She does not have any sense of self. She does things only to please other people and not herself. She’s getting and abortion because she knows her dad would not have approved of the interracial child. The word “girl” for her tells people that she’s young and it implies that she is not mature enough to stand and make decisions for herself.
In the story “Hills Like White Elephants” the girl, Jig, is invisible as well. The man is so worried about having everything as it is before that he is not taking into account what she might want. He says “It’s really an awfully simple operation, Jig. it’s not really an operation at all.” (pg 541) And when she asks what will happen after he says “We’ll be fine afterward. Just like we were before.” (pg 541) He disregards her feelings and she does not seem to care. Both girls in the two stories are seen as too young to make their own decision. They both want to please others rather than themselves. In “Black Man and White Woman in Dark Green Rowboat” the girl was trying to please her father. In the other story, Jig, was trying to please the man. She states that she doesn’t care about herself and that she will do it. According to Buddhist symbols, white elephants stand for great mental strength. So when Jig states that she can see white elephants in the sky, that would symbolize her mental strength.