, Research Paper
The Decision That Could Have Been
Everyday people make decisions that affect their future lives. Do people
make the right decisions? What makes a decision a right one? What may be right
to some, may be wrong to others. There are no right or wrong decisions but those
that people choose and believe to be right varying from each individual. In
Hemingway’s realistic story, Hills Like White Elephants, Jig attempts to make a
crucial change in her life by making the right decision, but is unable to because of
her weak characteristic flaws. Jig is indecisive about her decision. Even though
she realizes the possibilities, she has difficulties letting go of old habits, has a low
self-esteem that leads to her being submissive, and puts up a frail fight by hiding
her feelings behind her sarcastic comments.
Jig faces an immense decision that will change her future. She must choose
between the old and the new lifestyle. It is hard for her to let go of old habits that
consists of taking no responsibility and the sole intention of seeking pleasure. She
must go from a young worriedless rebel to a stable adult taking responsibility. It’s
a hard process since there are three steps to changing: realization, doing the deed,
and committing to the change. She definitely realizes she needs to change, but only
goes that far. She does walk to the end of the station and looks upon the fertile side
of the valley and comments “and we could have all this,” but she continues
drinking when she knows well that she carries a child in her womb. She even says
the alcohol tastes like licorice, that everything tastes the same, and she’s getting
tired of her same old life. Surely, she must know the possible damage she can cause
the baby to have, but does it stop her from drinking? No, this only indicates that she
is still not ready to change completely. Even though she wants to change,
something, perhaps her old ways, is holding her back from doing so. Maybe this
explains why she drinks during her pregnancy.
Jig has many characteristics that define her as being a weak character. Due
to her submissive quality, she gives in to her lover regardless her own feelings. One
of the reasons why she feels the need to make him happy lies in her fear of losing
him. “And if I do it you’ll be happy and things will be like they were and you’ll
love me?” Apparently, Jig is willing to sacrifice her own will for his, if it means
making him happy. She struggles on a decision between her mind and her heart.
Her mind is telling her to keep the baby, but her heart is telling her the opposite-to
go through the operation. It is a decision between her love for him and willingness
to make him happy versus her self- interest to make the right decision. Obviously,
it is her low self- esteem that gears her towards giving in to him. “If I do it you
won’t ever worry…then I’ll do it because I don’t care about me.” This quotes clearly
shows how she is passive and submissive. Her weak flaw lies in the fact that she
doesn’t consider her feelings in her decision makings. She pocesses qualities that
make her a feeble character incapable of changing and making decisions that make
her an unreliable and unwillful character.
Another weak flaw is seen through her inability to speak out against her
lover. It’s as if she tries to avoid any quarrels from occurring. She uses sarcastic
means to hide her true feelings about the issue. This is her only way of showing
disagreements towards him. Either she is afraid to speak out her real emotions or
she is being too tolerant and considerate towards him. When he tells Jig that he’s
known people who have gone through with it before, she comments, “So have
I…and afterwards they were all so happy.” On the surface she agrees with him that
everything will be the same afterwards, but, underneath she really knows that the
abortion will bring them everything but happiness. Her sarcastic usage hides her
feeling so well that it seems as if she doesn’t even try to tell him she doesn’t want to
go through with it. At the end, Jig tries one last time to imply to her lover that she
disagrees with him by saying, “I feel fine, there’s nothing wrong with me. I feel
fine.” Her sarcastic remark is not a strong way of going about trying to convince
him that deep inside something is really bothering her. It can sometimes be
confusing for she tells him one thing but means the other. His power over her is so
great that she feels intimidated to oppose him directly. Instead, she indicates her
opposition towards him indirectly through her sarcastic comments.
In conclusion, Hemingway’s character Jig in Hills Like White Elephants was
unable to change her life through her decision due to her frail characteristics. Some
reasons that lead up to her failure were: the hardships of letting go of the old
lifestyle, the power Jig’s lover has over her due to her low self-esteem and
submissive being, and the weakness behind hiding true emotions by using sarcastic
means. Jig walked back towards the station into the shades of the sterile side of the
valley. A dark cloud covered her head and she knew what was going to become of
herself after the “simple” operation. In the end, everyone must choose and follow
their own paths, whether their decisions were right or wrong, each direction leads to
the beginning of a new journey.