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Monday, October 3, 2011

Genre: Prose – diary entry based on “Hills Like White Elephants”

July 15

He says that he only wants me to do it if I want it, too. I have told him plenty of times that I do indeed want it, but now I don’t really know. I think it’s my head talking rather than my heart, and shouldn’t one listen to one’s heart in these types of cases? I don’t know. It’s all so surreal, still. Even more so than the day where we found out.

Today, we’re headed out for the procedure as they call it. We’re late, though. I said I needed to clear my head and that’s what I’m doing now. This is the point of no return, wouldn’t you say? Once I stop moving the pen across these pages that is when I need to make a choice. I tell you again that my head has already made it for me. It is within my heart that the struggle continues on. I feel I should listen to my heart, but for some reason it is my head that appeals most to everyone else. I don’t assume you can give me an answer, but I will ask you nevertheless: do I stay loyal them or do I stay loyal to myself?

5 comments:

  1. Writing as procrastination is a good trick: "Once I stop moving the pen across these pages that is when I need to make a choice." Good character analysis, but your female protagonist is probably stronger than Hemingway's...

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  2. I think her strength perhaps depends a bit on the choice she makes in the end? Plus, Hemingway is minimalistic in his writing, so I would say that the protagonist's degree of strength depends mainly on how the individual reader views her? Or is that completely off the mark?

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  3. I think you are absolutely right on both counts. My reading of Hem's girl is that she will go ahead and have the procedure, perhaps out of spite, but she will not have the strength to say no...

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  4. What I wanted to portray was the girl's indecisiveness, since I felt that her doubt was the feeling which was most clearly implied and hinted at(though still extremely unclear)through the conversation in the original text.

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  5. I agree that her doubt is also to be found in the original story, and that we of course don't know what happens to the characters after the end of the story - which gives us the potential to write 'new' endings for them...

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