LIT 127: Introduction to Fiction
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Hills Like White Elephants and Black Man and White Woman in Dark Green Rowboat

 
 
 
Directions:  In the appropriate conference on our class Discussion Board, discuss two or all of the following.

In many ways, "HWE" and "BMWWDGR" are mirror images.  Both are discussions of abortions that never use the word abortion; both have one partner trying to persuade the other that the abortion is the correct decision; both involve one partner assuring the other that things will be just like they were "before" after the abortion; both involve characters that are either not named or only given a nickname ("Jig"); both are presented in the book as examples of the writer's theory of writing (see pg 646 and 114).  And yet they are remarkably different stories.  The following questions ask you to consider the similarities and the differences in the stories.  Answer two of the following questions, each in a separate post.

 

  1. How does the absence of the word work with, or against, the view of abortion presented in the stories?
  2. What differences between the two couples can you discern or guess from the stories?  Do those differences lead to you view their respective decisions differently?
  3. Perhaps the most striking difference in the story is the gender of the person arguing in favor of the abortion.  How does that influence the direction of the conversations?
  4. Look at Hemingway and Banks' theories of writing (presented on page 646 and 114).  How does each story manifest that theory of writing?
 

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