Draw Connections: “Hills Like White Elephants” by Ernest Hemingway

Draw Connections: “Hills Like White Elephants” and “The Morality of Birth Control”

The ability to control family planning has long been a controversial issue. Margaret Sanger was an activist in the 1920s who saw the ability to make decisions about when to have children as essential for improving the lives of women, particularly those in poverty. Unlike the American and Jig—who clearly have money and access—most women in the 1920s (when both works were written) did not have access to methods to prevent pregnancy (which was illegal for much of US history) or access to abortion, the topic of the American and Jig’s uncomfortable conversation. Comparing Margaret Sanger’s essay “The Morality of Birth Control” (1921), which discusses the responsibilities pregnancy and parenthood place on women, with Ernest Hemingway’s short story “Hills Like White Elephants” (1927) allows us to consider the context in which Hemingway was writing—and the gravity of both Jig and the American’s concerns.

Document links:

Annotated text of “Hills Like White Elephants”

Annotated text of “The Morality of Birth Control”

  1. Sanger argues against the moral concerns about access to birth control and family planning. How do those concerns that she acknowledges compare to the matter-of-fact attitude with which the American brings up the topic of abortion, when he says to Jig, “It’s an awfully simple operation, Jig.”?

    Question

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  2. Part of Sanger’s argument about the morality of birth control rests on the idea that people need to talk more freely and frankly about such topics. How does Sanger’s view of the need for conversation compare or contrast to the way that the couple in “Hills Like White Elephants” approach the subject?

    Question

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  3. Sanger argues against women’s irrationality in her discussion, suggesting that we should trust women to know their own bodies and minds. How might Sanger view the American’s treatment of Jig?

    Question

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  4. What is the link between happiness and parenthood, according to Hemingway and according to Sanger? Are these views compatible? Or, are they in opposition to one another? How?

    Question

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