I better talk to her about it. Now is probably as good a time as ever. At least we’re sitting in the shade drinking beer, and she seems cheerful enough. What is she looking at? Those are just hills. Haven’t you seen hills before? White elephants you say, are you on drugs right now? Well, I better be casual about this if we’re ever to have a civilized conversation.
-“I’ve never seen one.”
Why are we talking about white elephants now? What does that even mean, aren’t they usually grey or what? She can be so annoying.
What now? Right, I should have guessed. Her childish mind wants to try the Anis liquor. I guess I can’t blame her, it is, after all, written on a curtain of beads. Irresistible!
How can you be this emotionless about it? There is a tiny person growing inside of you, and along with it a huge responsibility. How can she can she be so detached. It’s an act of course, but why this passive aggressiveness. I must make her understand I’m not the bad guy in this.
Why does this have to be so difficult? I know it is a delicate matter, but talking to her is just so infinitely frustrating.
It's a good insight that the girl is being passive aggressive. I'm not sure the male character's interior monologue would play out quite this way in Hemingway's mind, but it is a good portrait of how it might work inside a more contemporary young male mind...
ReplyDeleteyeah, I know it's a stretch.
ReplyDeleteIt is probably closer to my own thoughts and feelings in response to the girl's side of the dialogue. I might have given the man a unnecessary pessimistic mindset.