English 102-021
Research Essay 1
07 October 2014
Psychological and Feminist Approach to “Hills Like White Elephants” There are many critical approaches one could take on Earnest Hemingway’s short story, “Hills Like White Elephants”. Although there are many different approaches, this short story is best critiqued by the psychological and feminist approach. It can be critiqued by the psychological approach because the woman in the story is being heavily pressured into doing something that she may or may not want to do. This short story can be critiqued by the feminist prospective because the woman has to make a choice that will directly affect not only her body, but also her life. However, in order to properly critique a literary …show more content…
In literature, psychological criticism is when there is a character in a story that is being psychologically influenced by another character, or something else, in the story. In Earnest Hemingway’s “Hills Like White Elephants”, the woman in the story is being heavily psychologically persuaded by the man. At the beginning of their conversation, it is clear that the woman feels very uneasy about having an abortion and it seems as if she does not want to do it. As the conversation comes to a close, the woman acts as if her mind has somewhat been changed and that she is considering an abortion. Her mind is being changed because of the man’s persuading. The man keeps telling her that everything will go back to normal if she does it and that she will be happier if she does not keep the baby. He backs that up by telling her that he knows people that have chosen to not keep their baby and they were so much happier without the child. This gets the wheels in the woman’s mind turning and it begins to make having an abortion an option, when it was not really an option before. This is falls under psychological criticism because the man is telling the woman the benefits of not keeping her baby to persuade her into having an abortion. However, he does not tell her about the possible pain and guilt she could feel if she chose to abort her baby. Since he left this information …show more content…
The feminist approach goes great with Earnest Hemingway’s short story, because it is all about the woman’s choice. It is up to the woman to choose if she keeps her baby. The man can have some influence on this decision, but ultimately, the woman is the one who chooses. Her choice directly affects her body and her life until the day she dies, and woman’s rights would say that she has the power to choose between life and death for her unborn child. This way of critiquing is perfect for this short