Where Are You Going Hills Like White Elephants?

Where Are You Going Hills Like White Elephants?
Ernest Hemmingway is considered one of the greatest writers of the 20th century. He wrote “Hills Like White Elephants” in 1927. Like many of his stories “Hemingway counted on the details of the story to communicate its meaning”. (Lanier 286) “Hills Like White Elephants” and Jig, who is the leading lady, are clear examples of the way Hemmingway “celebrated the ideal of “grace under pressure””. (Nicholas Delbanco 329) This same ideal is in Joyce Carol Oates writing. Her writing is unique in the way it focuses on violence stemming from human behavior. She herself has said, “I sometimes write about people who are ordinary people in extraordinary moments, because I think that people are much stronger and more interesting than they appear to be”. (Nicholas Delbanco 204) This is evident in the character Connie, the lead in “Where Are You Going, Where Have You Been?”. Written

She has already lost a sense of security in her relationship. She doesn’t feel like he loves her anymore; unsure if he will again. Then, she will lose the life of a child. Heartbreakingly, she is hoping that this “simple” choice will renew the freedoms she had been enjoying. By Deciding to abort, she is “thereby rejecting the opportunity for a new, vital, and meaningful relationship. (Lanier 280) We then circle back to characterization and circumstance, which brings us to “Where Are You Going, Where Have You Been?”. Oates provides so much detail about Connie; she is almost tangible. We know She is 15, naïve, and lives at home with her family. It is also clear, that she is single and flirtatious. She knows she’s pretty and it makes her self-absorbed. “She is simply a pathetic teen-ager who isn't being reared very well. Her church is a bright-lit, infested drive-in restaurant, and her inspirational music is mind-numbing rock-and-roll, both middle-class clichés of the early sixties.” (Coulthard