Hills Like White Elephants

              Ernest Hemingway's "Hills Like White Elephants " depicts an American and a girl are sating out the bar next the express station waiting for the next train to Madrid. The surrounding are the hills cross the valley likes white elephants. The conversation of the man and the girl focus on the talk of "a simple operation" which is abortion. The hot weather symbolic the tension between the American man and the girl. The man intentionally convince the girl to have an abortion. The whole conversation shows that a man is trying to demand a woman to do something that she does not really want to do. Thematically, the author demonstrates the truth of masculinity. Even though abortion is illegal and bad to woman's body system at that time, but man does not think about the side effect for woman.    

The Story of an Hour

Kate Chopin’s “Story of an Hour” depicts a short story about a negative view of marriage during the late 19^th century American society.  The protagonist, Mrs. Mallard experiences a twisting life-changing in “an hour”. She is a low-class woman who married Brently Mallard with no freedom during the time of the society. After Mrs. Mallard hears the news about the death of her husband, she starts to gain her “freedom”. But, “good thing” is not lasting too long because her husband comes back alive. Her husband’s reappearance shocks her and she dead after.

Mrs. Mallard’s emotion changes from sad to happy and limitation to freedom it is because the new of her husband’s death. The author uses some powerful words to describe her emotion and feeling.  After learning of her husband’s death, Mrs. Mallard weeps at once and then she goes back to her room alone. “Now her bosom rose and fell tumultuously. She was beginning to recognize this thing that was approaching to possess her." From this quote, Mrs. Mallard feels that a “better life” starts to come toward her. She locks herself in her room and looks outside the window. This scene symbolic that her room is a tiny space for her inner-world of life and outside of her window is a beautiful world with happiness and freedom that she wants to have.

The author does not mention why Mrs. Mallard’s life is in misery but she uses some descriptive natural scenes to hint readers and to symbolic misery life of feminists late 19^th century. Readers could imagine a picture of a woman who will face difficulty after marriage. Upon the title of this short fiction, the story seems to happen in “an hour”. But, this “hour” has been created many powerful imaginations and significance for readers.  Kate Chopin illustrates the scenes of nature and the emotion of the main character with strong words to show that women are dying to claim their self-identity and freedom to live their own lives, even nowadays.