'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.