How the Setting is related to the meaning.

This story took place in a very peaceful station near some hills. The girl said that the hills were like white elephants, and we can see that the girl wanted the boy to like what she said, but it seems that the man could not understand the girl’s feeling. I think the author intended to say the man could not understand the girl’s feeling about the foetus. That’s why the author wrote a lot of words about the how the girl felt about the hills in this story.

 From “The station was between two lines of rails in the sun”, we can feel that the couple will break up with each other very soon because two rails can reach one across and separate from each other again, which was intended to mean that the two was once with each other, but (after the abortion), they would break up.

“It was very hot and the express from Barcelona would come in forty minutes” tells us that they have to make a decision about the abortion very quickly. The girl wanted to get the real love from  the man, which is to have this baby and stay with each other. She was quite upset because there was no more time to think, and she still thought the hills were like elephants, so we can see that the girl was hiding her anger and still hoping to get real concern from her boyfriend. However, the boy kept saying the operation is perfectly simple and he doesn’t want to do that if she doesn’t want to, which can be great pressure for the girl.

The author chose the place bar because as we all know it’s not good for a pregnant girl to drink alcohol; probably the girl just wanted to see whether the man really loves her or not. Obviously, the girl was very disappointed when the man ordered the beer in Spanish. It was also a perfect setting for the story to go on.

In the middle of the story, the writer described the scenery near the station. From “ Across, on the other side, were fields of grain and trees along the banks of the Ebro. Far away, beyond the river, were mountains. The shadow of a cloud moved across the field of grain and she saw the river through the trees”, we can see the girl really wanted to have the whole world with this boy. She wanted to have the baby, and she loves the man.

The last setting which is the man drinking alone in the bar watching others told us that the man felt upset too. Maybe he felt that their relationship would come to an end very shortly.

a personal Response to "Hills Like White Elephants"

I felt that it was hard to breathe after reading the story.

I think both of them( the girl and the man) can be understood. For the girl, she may be too young to have a baby and it can be really difficult for her to raise up a baby at her age. But I am also a girl, although I've never had such experience,  I can imagine that if I have a boyfriend and I got pregnant, and it can be really difficult for me to make a decision about having an abortion or not. For me, I think I will choose to have an abortion.

It's lucky for the girl to have an abortion, because the man doesn't care about the girl at all. She would suffer more if she gives birth to the baby. Althought the man said he loves the girl, but I don't believe. If he cares about the girl, he would have said something nice to the girl, but not just 'the operation is perfectly simple'.

I don't like the girl, either. The story was written in 1927. At that time, how can a girl have sex with a man before they get married? The girl seemed so loose, because she was having sex with a man who doesn't care about her at all. I don't like the girl for another reason. She was trying to let others make decision for her. As she already knew the boy doesn't care about her, she stilll kept asking her 'boyfriend' whether she would have an abortion or not. She finally even felt there's nothing wrong with her, which made me a little bit angry. She did that with a man, and she got pregnant, and she agreed to kill the fetus, but she didn't feel anything wrong with her.

She thought that the man could love her more, however, he is a very cold man in this story. Nowadays it's very common, I think. I don't like to see young couples because I think they are just having very simple fun with each other. Girls are always the victims. Human beings are not animals, we can or we have to control our behavior I think.

a paragraph on "a very short story"( assignment for May 25)

I feel sorry for him, after I read the story.

Before we read that, we learned that the writer of this story, whose name is Ernest, committed suicide. I think for most of people, they don't really understand the feeling of committing suicide, because they never think about such things. I read a lot of books about psychology when I was in high school, and I can understand this feeling very well. I think for most of people who want to commit suicide, they are not optimistic about themselves, and they lose hope to God; usually, they think God is unfair to them. They think bad things happen to people who have no fault, and God doesn't even punish bad people sometimes.

In this short story, I can feel the author's attitude about life. He had several marriages which were all very unsuccessful; he wrote this story probably just want to give us reflection on marriage (at least marriage in Ernest opinion). In this story, the author used a lot of words to describe how he loved Luz. For example,
1----he took the temperatures of other patients so that Luz could rest in the bed.
2----after the armistice, he sorted the letters by the dates and read them all straight through.
3----he agreed that he would not drink, and he didn't want to see his friends or anyone in the States. Only to get a job and be married.
4----although they quarreled with each other about her not willing to come home until he can find a job; even he felt sick to say goodbye like that, they kissed good-bye. (maybe he just wanted to make her happy, and he agreed that she would return home after he found a job.)
5----he felt so sad after he knew that Luz slept with the major; he had sex with a sales girl in a taxicab.(because he was drunk and even if he drunk he still couldn't forget the pain that Luz gave him)

However, Luz acted like a prostitute. At first, when I was reading the story where the author mentioned that
Luz wanted him to find a job first, then get married, I thought it was kind of normal, but even when he was alone in the States trying to find a job in order to get married with Luz, she still cheated on him. The reason why I say she acted like a prostitute is that she slept with the major and after that she even said "theirs had only been a boy and girl affair" to him although she knew he would be hurt, she still sent that letter to him. In my opinion, the author used the word or the person 'the major' here in order to indicate that she consider wealth more important than true love. I don't like such character. Compared to other international students here, I am very poor, because I use some scholarship given by my Japanese university, but not a lot of money given by the family. I used to do a lot of part time jobs. I worked in a sushi restaurant, and a convenience store; I always want to be financially independent and I can feel the happiness; and I NEVER ever think that I should find a rich boyfriend.  Even if the boy I like is very poor but trying really hard, I think I can still like him.
However, in the story, Luz said that theirs were just a boy and girl love, I think the author intended to say because Luz thought he was not rich enough and he couldn't give her a good life, so she called it a boy and girl affair.

The reason why the author wrote 'a short after he contracted gonorrhea from a sales girl in a loop department store while riding in a taxicab through Lincoln Park' is that he (the author) thought that God is unfair; even though he did nothing wrong, he still got 'punishmen' from God, which also reflected on his sttitude about life.

We can feel that the author felt disappointed about the world by reading this story.

I like this story.

a Wish to the Seeds of the Dandelion( assignment of what I did at the weekend)

   
       On Saturday, I walked a long way.

        In the morning, I slept till 9 o'clock. It was dark in the room, and everything seemed so peaceful. I didn't want to get up early, because I was waiting for the sunshine to come into my room through a small window,  and wake me up as usual.
   
        The alarm o'clock made a big noise, and destroyed the peaceful air. I got up and looked through the tiny window, it was raining outside. I opened the window, and I felt the cold wind.
     
       I like such weather, and I felt excited with no special reason. I quickly got dressed and after breakfast, I brought my camera with me and decided to walk outside and enjoy the nice weather.
     
      I walked very slowly and I could feel the smell of the raindrops. Everything here is so fresh to me, because I have been here for only 3 weeks till now.  I felt that I have to be excited about life here and explore the world as much as I can. I felt that I had lost something that a young girl should have. I no longer feel excited even when I am alone in a new country. I tasted the raindrop, and it was sweet and I realised that everything can be better again, as the rainbow always comes after the rain, and it is always beautiful. I have to be brave and smile even when we are facing difficulties. I shouldn't give up any hope.
    
      While walking, I saw some earthworns moving through the soil. It was a very short worn, however, seemed very old. It was working so hard and making contributions to the ground. I could tell that it was stepped by someone and was cut into half, but it didn't give up and was still trying so hard.  Looking at this brave worn, I felt ashamed of myself being so weak sometimes.
       
      I walked a long way and I came to a beach. Through the dark, cloudy sky, I could see some sunshine far away. I suddenly realised that I am in Vancouver now, and I can do whatever I want if I really try to change myself. I sometimes appreciate it very much if it's a sunny day. However, cloudy days also come. I find it really important for me to learn how to enjoy life in the cloudy days. Life is not easy sometimes, and we don't need to make others understand us; all we need to do is to try our best.
     
       I picked up a dandelion, and blew all the seeds away in the cold wind. I made a wish. I hope all the seeds can reach the ground they like and enjoy the sunshine in their life.

A Paragraph based on the Presentation (From"Red Thread Maiden")

      In the presentation, I compared the two characters -- Tien and Red Thread Maiden. Here, I am going to write a conclusion about the similarities and the differences between these two characters.
     
       In my opinion, there are 3 similarities. The first one is that both Tien and Red Thread maiden were active. When Tien felt sick, he wanted to move to Hsue's state, because the climate there was better than his state. In order to win, Tien even trained many fresh soldiers. So we can see that he was really active. Obviously, Red Thread maiden was also very active, because she thought that she could go to Weipo to make a reconnaissance alone. The second similarity is that they were both very appreciative. Here are some reasons to support it. After Tien found out that the person who stole the golden box was from Hsue's country, he sent a letter to thank Hsue and since then they became very good neighbors. And Red Thread Maiden said to Hsue that "It made me feel very happy to be of a little service to you to repay some of your kindness." So they are both very appreciative. The third similarity is that we can tell both Tien and Red Thread Maiden were very respectful through the letter written by Tien and the way how Red Thread Maiden talked and saluted.

     Besides the 3 similarities, I also found out some differences between the 2 characters. Tien was very pessimistic, however, Red Thread Maiden was optimistic. Even though Tien had many fresh soldiers , when he found out that the golden box was stolen by the person from Hsue's state, he still felt very scared and decided not to start a conflict. However, we can say that Red Thread Maiden was very optimistic because after she stole the golden box, and on her way back to Hsue's state, she felt that it was beautiful to see the morning breeze beginning to stir the grass and flowers of the wild meadows and the declining moon half hidden by the tall trees. We can also say Tien was very coward because he was afraid of conflicts even though he had many fresh soldiers. On the other hand, Red Thread Maiden was very brave because she was a girl and she had the courage to go to steel Tien's golden box alone.

     Finally, there are also some characteristics of Red Thread Maiden. She was very talented. She was well grounded in the classics as well as letter writing, and she was also good at music. Besides, Red Thread Maiden had a strong thought of male chauvinism.

What Writing Means to Me

I enjoy writing when I feel unhappy. During the past 2 years, I lived alone, and did 2 part time jobs at one time when I was in the Japanese university. Usually, I had school in the day from 9am. to 6 pm. After that, I worked till midnight. When I went back home, I was really tired and I always wanted to relax but I didn't know how. I used to open my Qzone( something like blog) and I write all the unhappy things down and upload them, which was my only way to relax. Although I had 2 or 3 very close friends, but I didn't want to talk about my sorrow with others.
 I also like to write a dairy here in Vancouver. I write in 3 languages in order to practise to express my feelings in different languages, and I never avoid writing, I think.
Writing means a lot to me, because I consider wrting an entertainment, and it always helps me relax.