Men vs. Women
During the late 19th and early 20th century, literature depicted male-female relationships as a battle between each other of who is in control. Such stories as "The Yellow Wallpaper" and "Hills Like White Elephants" showed the power and manipulation of men and the will to be free and independent of women during those times. Yet, as you will read on during this essay, the relationships have been battles of mind games and trickery towards each other. In "Hills Like White Elephants", Ernest Hemingway showed the manipulation of the "man" towards the "girl" to have an operation that was not stated. The dialogue between them was innocent and persuasive toward the girl while she was trying to fight away from the control and decide for herself what she wanted to do. Also used was guilt toward the girl as seen by this line, " That's the only thing that bothers us. It's the only thing that's made us unhappy" (Hemmingway 2). He almost blames her for whatever the mistake is and uses the manipulation to bring her down and almost controls her thinking. "The Yellow Wallpaper" also uses manipulation and control fro
Both stories use their titles as a means of mind games in the men-female relationship. The wallpaper could be used as a jail cell with the woman creeping around symbolizing the wife trying to get out. "Hills Like White Elephants," mentions the white elephants, which mean "not important." Also scenes in both stories use the same trickery. Hemingway has two sides of the train stations, one a beautiful scene with trees and hills, the other a vast wasteland. That scene could mean the choice she has to make that is tearing her apart and the consequences of her choice. Gilman depicts the room she is in as a trap for her with the bed nailed to the floor and the windows barred. The wife depicts the room such in a negative form that she even complains of the smell that the wallpaper has. ------------------------------------------------------------------------ The will to be free and independent of the women prevail in the end of each story. Hemingway depicts, at the end, the girl smiling at the man when he enters the room saying she is fine. "I feel fine," she said. "There's nothing wrong with me. I feel fine" (Hemingwa
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Approximate Word count = 762
Approximate Pages = 3 (250 words per page double spaced)
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