Hills Like White Elephants

Genre: Biography

My father used to tell me about my bright future. It was because of him I did so well in school and never strayed off that path; at least not until after Madrid. My mother always told me, education can only take you so far, the real purpose of a young woman is to find a good man. But I took after my father and I followed his instructions perfectly, even when he told me to take a year off to see the world. I went to France and saw what seemed to me like the center of the world, Paris. Afterward my journey continued to Spain. Still naïve and intoxicated with the life and beauty of Paris I met a man in Barcelona. I had never experienced love before and he was such a handsome man with a way of always getting his way. It was the misfortune he brought upon me that, for the first time in my life, made me realize that doing what others think is best for you is just what is best for them. His words poisoned my mind and made me do a thing I have regretted for the rest of my life. My innocence was ripped from me that day in Madrid.

By Daniel Berg

Hills like elephants - Prose

How did it get to this? She was sitting alone at the station. He had gone to the information booth to ask when the train would arrive and then to pay the toilet a visit. She knew where they were going and what they had to do. She did not know how they got to this point though.

They had done so much together and now on the most important journey they had to take together it felt like they did nothing but look at things and try new drinks.

Everything felt so ambivalent. Nothing felt adequate the severity of the situation. What could she do though? He would not talk about it. He would only say what she wanted to hear and if he said something that seemed to displease her he would try to correct himself at once. It all seemed that he was trying to make it her decision even though it could not be only her decision. This was a decision that would affect both of them and he had to do something and to say something but he did not. She could not understand why he would not engage himself in an actual discussion about this but she might have to try to get him to talk about it on the last stage of their journey. He sat down at the table with a word.

“What should we drink?” she asked.

Prose based on Hemingway's Hills Like White Elephants

I have a friend who met a smart, handsome, rich and amazing man. They met in a sports bar – she liked sports so did he. They had a few drinks and he spend the night at her place. Everything was perfect for the first two months – but he avoided all her questions about their future. As time passed by he habits grew stranger and stranger; they never visited his place and he could never stay for more than two days. A few weeks later she missed her period and took a home pregnancy test – it was positive. When she told him he was silent and walked around the room. “Do you want it?” She asked. He did not look at her and continued to pace. When he sat down he looked at her and said, “What should I tell my wife? I already have two children I do not know what to do. But even if you decide to keep the baby I do not want you to expect any contact with me.” She held back her tears and asked him to leave. Then she called me and explained the situation while she cried her heart out. She made her decision and we sat in the waiting room waiting for a procedure that changed the lives of so many people. If it was for the better or for the worse I do not know.

Diary Entry, based on Ernest Hemingway's : "Hills like White Elephants”

He loves me; I know… at least he keeps telling me so. I love him too, but I feel so confused about it all right now! I need to decide what to do, but how? Who am I to determine the future, or lack of so, of a fellow being? I wouldn’t want anyone ordering my death. Then again, with all my drinking, I might as well have partly killed it anyway – Oh God, I’m not cut out to care for nobody but myself anyway! To take responsibility for my own actions seems a bigger challenge than expected – Then how would I manage to take care of other than me? I’ve always pictured myself as a neat and respectable woman. I’ve predicted my future to be as my mother’s – find a good husband, marry and have children, expand the family. However, under these circumstances, when my love does not desire the same as I, how can I act upon my wishes? I will not force him, as he claims he will not force me – Although he seems to strongly suggest what I should do. I guess I have already decided, though I will miss the life I had planned out for me.

Abortion

Whenever I hear about the so-called ’pro-lifers’ in America I cringe in a certain place. I think that the idea of not being able to choose to have an abortion is ridiculous. The pro-lifers’ argument is that a foetus is an individual human being with all the rights which comes with this definition. This is a perfectly okay reason for why a specific person doesn’t want an abortion. The problem is when persons who share this view want to impose it unto all other women. A pregnancy is something very special and very unique. It can also be extremely hard, or simply unwanted, and therefore it is, of course, the individual pregnant woman who gets to have the final say in the matter. I think the question is about freedom over your own body. To me it seems obvious that all women should be able to choose what they want to do if they become pregnant. Freedom to choice whether they want to create life or not. 

Author function: modern author.

Genre: Journalism Text: Tom Wolfe – From The Right Stuff

October 14, 1947

The Impossible Flight

Up in the high terrain of the Mojave Desert in California, is where Muroc Field is located. The informed reader should not be worried that they have never heard the name of this Air Force base before, as it is a well-preserved secret. It has, however, become necessary to inform the public of this national secret, as it has been made known to this newspaper that an unrivalled feat was performed there on October 14, only a few days ago.

We have received information from an anonymous, but highly reliable source, through a personal meeting that the impossible flight of Mach 1 has been achieved. The team at Muroc Field has been working on this task for several years, and with the amazing flight skills of the pilot,

Chuck Yeager, the bullet-shaped X-1 plane broke the supersonic sound barrier high above the Mojave Desert. Yeager a young, but highly decorated American Air Force pilot from Hamlin, West Virginia have, thereby, set the record to be the first human being to fly faster than the speed of sound.

The team at Muroc Field can be rightly proud of the result of their hard work and America can the proud to be the first country to achieve such an accomplishment, indeed!

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?