'Hills Like White Elephants' vs. 'Cat in the Rain'

     In the short story 'Hills Like White Elephants' the women is pregnant with a baby. She is sitting at a table near the train tracks looking at the mountains in the background. She describes the hills by saying "They look like white elephants"(Hemingway). By referring to the hills as "white elephants" one can infer that she is referring to an unwanted gift that she was given. As the story continues, the reader is able to conclude that the women is pregnant and the man she is pregnant with is trying to get her to get an abortion because he does not want to be a father and have the responsibility of taking care of child. In the beginning the woman is also drinking beers with the American man which pregnant women are not supposed to do because it will harm the baby. This can also be a clue that she does not want the baby. After the man continually brings up the idea of her getting an abortion, the woman starts to get annoyed and irritated with him and ends up changing her mind about wanting the baby. She says, "They don't really look like white elephants"(Hemingway). This could mean that she has changed her mind about the baby and she no longer sees it as an unwanted gift and she wants to keep it now. In the end it is apparent that the couple will probably break up because the woman now wants the baby and the man doesn't and they end up drinking separately by the end of the story.
     In the short story "Cat in the Rain", a woman is looking out a window into a garden with a war monument when it is raining. It can be inferred that the monument is a naked man. The woman is starring out the window when she sees a cat under a table. She gets extremely excited and wants to go outside and get the cat. Her husband offers to go get the cat for her, but she insists on getting it herself. When she gets outside, the cat is gone and she gets sad because she wanted the cat really badly. When she gets back up to her room she starts naming many other things she wants including the cat. She wants to take care of it. In the end the maid comes to her door and gives her a tortoise-shell cat that the padrone wanted to give her. By the woman looking at the monument and wishing she had a cat to take care of, it is apparent that she really wants a child. However, when she went to get the cat it was gone, so the reader can infer that the woman has fertility problems and is not able to become pregnant. She wants the cat so bad to take care of, just like a child, but when she tries to have one, she is unable to.
     Both of the women in these stories are in a situation that they do not want to be in involving being pregnant. The woman in "Hills Like White Elephants" is pregnant, but does not want to be, in the beginning, and the woman in "Cat in the Rain" wishes she was able to become pregnant, but is unable to. The man in "Hills Like White Elephants" wants his girlfriend to get an abortion because he does not want to be a father and have to take care of a child, but the man in "Cat in the Rain" is willing to have a child with his wife (represented by him offering to go get the cat), but the wife is unable to become pregnant. They both start off in situations that they do not want to be in and by the end they both want end up wanting a child.

Shooting an Elephant/Banksy

            The short story “Shooting an Elephant” was set in Burma in the early 1900’s. This was when the British Empire took control of the Burmese, and the native Burmese people hated it. The main character in this short story is an English police officer who works in Burma. He continually gets ridiculed and harassed by the Burmese people because he is working for the British government. However, he hates his job and is on the Burmese’s side because he does not believe the British should have taken over Burma. One day when an elephant broke loose from it’s owner and started destroying the town, the main character was forced to take action. The elephant was trampling people, killing them and destroying houses and ruining the town. This elephant can be a metaphor for the British Empire taking over Burma and destroying the Burmese way of life. When the police officer heard about the elephant, he jumped on his horse and took his gun with him. When the people saw he was carrying a gun, they all started following him because they were excited that the police officer was going to kill the elephant. Once the police officer saw all of the people following him hoping he would kill the elephant, he felt like he had to kill the elephant even though he wasn’t going to in the first place. When he finally found the elephant, he went through an internal conflict in his head on weather he should kill the elephant or not. He thought if he killed it, he would have the respect of the Burmese people, and if he did not, they would think he is a coward and continue to disrespect him. When he finally decided to shoot the elephant, it took multiple shots until the elephant actually fell to the ground, and it took half an hour to actually die. The internal conflict the police officer had about killing the elephant could also stand for the internal conflict he has with working for the British government. He wants to quit his job, but he feels like he cannot. Having to make the decision of shooting the elephant or not could also symbolize his decision to quit working for the British government, the job he hates. The elephant is a metaphor for the British Empire and when he finally shoots the elephant it takes a lot of effort to actually kill it. This could be a metaphor for the British Empire slowly declining.

            My favorite Banksy piece of artwork is the little girl holding the balloons and the saying next to the painting that says “There is always hope”. I think this saying corresponds with all of his paintings of the girl with the heart shaped balloon flying away, or the girl holding onto the five balloons flying away with them. I think this painting symbolizes hope because balloons are seen as majestic when they are flying through the air. When the little girl is holding onto them flying away with them, I think it symbolizes her trying to escape everything she knows and to go on an adventure somewhere. It could also stand for freedom because the balloon can end up anywhere in the world and they are taking her with them. In the painting where the little girl is reaching for the red heart balloon, I think the saying “There is always hope” means that even though she is losing something she loves, there is hope in the world and things will turn out better.