Who has power in the Hemingway story? Who has power in the Banks story? What kinds of power do each one of the characters have, and how can the reader tell? What kinds of things does the author establish with dialogue? What kinds of things does each author establish with description?
We've missed two classes so far because of snow, and we're missing two classes because of the holiday. Please make sure you follow the syllabus--you should also reread the Banks and Hemingway pieces so that we can discuss those on Wednesday.
I was pleased with most of the responses to the previous blog question--keep it up!
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The person that has the power in Banks story is the mom, because she is the one who tells the daughter to have the abortion, which she does. The mom has all of the power, then comes the women since she decides to have an abortion, without say from the man, so lastly is the man. I think this is because the mom wants whats best for the daughter, and the daughter doesn't want to dissapoint the mother so she gets the abortion. Also, since the man is black, she thinks it's against the 'norm' of society.
ReplyDeleteThe person who has the power in the Hemmingway story is the man, because he tells his girlfriend to have the abortion because he doesnt want a baby, and she listens. The women is only getting it done, because it'll please him, she's basically just an animal to him, she does what ever he says.
-Kim Goodwin
I feel like the mother has all of the power in the banks story. She really seems to force the issue. The mother displays her dominance many times thru out the story. "Actually mother was a lot better then I'd expected her to be",(Banks 80) She tells the man describing breaking the news of the pregnancy. Its almost like she just expects it not to go well. She's planning her life around her mother, with almost disregard to what her or the man want.
ReplyDeleteIn the Hemmingway story, it seems like the man's power isn't as dominant as he mother's in the first story. He seems very persuasive, but not quite as forceful. She tries to think about the repercussions while the man is trying to convince her. “Then what will we do afterward? We’ll be fine afterward. Just like we were before” (Hemmingway 541) What I found really striking about the second story, was that the man said that it was natural. Like an abortion is something that just happens. Neither one of these stories touch on the idea that this is a human life that is being destroyed. They all look at the idea that this is a dilemma. Neither story puts too much emphasis on what the mother of the baby really wants.
In Hemingways' "Hills Like White Elephants" the man is the one who wants the woman to get the abortion, while the girl seems to be against it but one can't be sure about this. Through the dialogue you get a sense that the woman just gives in to the mans demand, almost like he convinces her to go through with it. The woman seems to just want to make the man happy. The man is obviously the one with the power in this story and the woman is clearly succumbing to it.
ReplyDeleteIn Bank's "Black Man and White Woman in Dark Green Rowboat" although it is the daughter's decision whether or not to get the abortion, it is clear that the mother has all of the power in the situation. The mother has all of the power in this situation because her daughter seems to want to please her due to the fact she is going through with the abortion. The daughter has very little power since she seems to let her mother tell her how she should live her life. The man in this story has absolutely no power. This is shown in the story because the man has no say in whether she gets the abortion or not, she doesn't ask his opinion or anything. Through the dialogue it seems like the women is submissive to the mother and seems like she doesn't even care about the baby; she thinks that life will go back to the way that it was before she got pregnant, when most times that is not the case, especially since the man disagrees odds are he will not be thrilled when she goes through with it.
Like Kbrundage said, neither story touched on the idea that abortion was the taking away of a human life; the authors made it seem almost like it was a mole or zit that was just going to be removed and all will be well. Also I agree with their statement that neither story really tells you what the women who were pregnant really wanted to do, you have no idea if they agreed with getting an abortion or if they just succumbed to the one who was in power in the story.
It seems that the man has the power in the Hemingway story. She is looked upon as being owned by the man because he is telling her what to do with her own body. She states that she does not care about herself, and it makes me think that she is saying that to please the man because she thinks so highly of him. The mother has the power in the Banks story. She addresses the issue many times, and the daughter seems to not want to dissapoint her mother. She is sort of guilted into getting the abortion so she is not on bad terms with her mother.
ReplyDeleteThe woman thinks too highly of the man in the Hemingway story for her to not listen to him with what he wants. The reader can tell because of the dialogue they share between each other. The mother in the Banks story seems to force the issue onto her daughter making her feel like she needs to get the abortion for her mother to love her in a way. The dialogue and description is confusing because the reader cannot always tell what they are talking about or what the description has to do with anything the narrator is talking about.
I would have to agree with Kim and Krystal when they say without a doubt that within Banks story the mom is in complete control. As observed in the text, readers can sense that the girl depends primarily on the mothers opinions. In lecture we discussed, "Object Owned", and I think that this subject can be related to the girl's position with her mother. The mother seemingly owns the daughters decisions. I agree with Krystal when she states, "She is sort of guilted into getting the abortion so she is not on bad terms with her mother". This is very true because the girl states within the text that she is going to get the abortion with her mother , whether he likes it or not.
ReplyDeleteIn Hemingways story the man is definitely in complete control. In the text readers can sense and read the unwanted pressure the man is putting on the woman. He states phrases that put her in awkward positions and could definitely alter her ultimate decision on her body. For example, the man states, "If you don't want to you don't have to. But I know it's perfectly simple" and "I'll love it. I love it now but I can't think about it. You know how I get when I worry" (542). Here readers can automatically assume the man is in complete control of what the woman does and why she makes her decisions.
In the Banks story the mom has complete control. It is as if the daughter doesn't even have an opinion on what she wants she's just trying to pelase. She is even going to go get the abortion with her mom and not the baby's father. Her mother thinks society won't accep it because the father is black. In Hemingway's story the control is in the man's hands. He is putting alot of pressure on the mother of the child. He is making the decisions for her. In both stories it's like the women have no control, it's always the two most important people in a girls life, her mother or her lover.
ReplyDeleteIn Bank’s “Black Man and White Woman in Dark Green Rowboat” the mother has total control. Even though it’s the daughter’s decision to have the baby or to abort it, the mother managed to persuade her daughter into having the abortion. In a way, the daughter agreed to it in hopes of pleasing her mother. The daughter is so young and naïve. She doesn’t even bother to ask the father of her child what his opinion on it is. She thinks that if she has the abortion, things will go back to normal. It comes across that she’s disregarding her own feelings and is taking the easy way out. Most girls in a situation like this would come up with a game plan, or think of every possible solution and she’s not. She’s doing what her mother says. In Hemingway’s story, the man is in control. He wants the woman to get an abortion. Throughout the story, you can tell the woman is just caving in to everything the man is saying. She’s most likely going along with what the man wants, just to please him.
ReplyDeleteIn the Hemingway story the man has the power over his lady friend in the matter of abortion. Although the woman wants to have the baby the mans ways of persuasion convinces her to give up what she wants to do with her body and lets the man tell her what to do.
ReplyDeleteIn the Banks story the person who's only mentioned threw dialogues has the power in the story. The girls mother has the power if her daughter was going to have the abortion. Then the girl shows some power just by agreeing with her mother to have the abortion and the black man is not even considered because he is different.
Both the stories when i read them i couldnt tell what they were dealing with. So at first reading i thought that both authors were not wanting to address the topic head on.
The man in the Hemmingway story has total power over the woman. He tries to be loving, caring, and respectful of the woman, but ultimately he is trying to convince her and manipulate her to have an abortion. The dialgoue creates the sense that the woman's only job is to please him and she does not think for herself. I feel bad for her in the sense that she lacks the ability to think for herself and her sole purpose in life is to please her "master". The author helps to paint a sad situation due to the lack of care about human life. I agree with kbrundage, "Neither one of these stories touch on the idea that this is a human life that is being destroyed". The reader does not know in the end what the woman chose to do.
ReplyDeleteIn the Banks story, the power is with the women, the girl and her mother. Like the Hemingway story, the conflict is abortion. The girl's mother has all of the say in this one. She feels that her daughter needs to have the abortion, or else the baby would ruin her life. The author does a good job of making the man almost obselete in all the decision making. Honestly, I felt bad for him, because this situation was half his fault, and yet he received no considereration for the decision. The dialogue used in the story was helpful to understand how badly the girl needed to please her mother. The girl was a slave to her mom. I feel bad for both women in these stories. They were victims of manipulation. It is a sad reality that this probibly happens often in modern society. It's a tough one to call, but ultimately, the decision to have an abortion is the death of a human life.
Scott Van Winter
In the Hemingway story the man has all of the power. Everything the man says she listens to because she thinks that if she doesn't they won't be happy and she might lose him. He clearly has absolute power because what he says goes, no matter what the girl is going to get the abortion. In the Banks story the mother has the power over her daughter who has the power over the man. The mother wants her to get the abortion and the girl just goes with it. She never stops to think about how she feels herself. This puts her in power over the man because he has no say. In both the stories the authors establishes who is in control with the dialogue.
ReplyDelete-Greg Galasso
In the Hemingway story the man has more power over the women when she is pregnant and he pressures her into getting an abortion. The man is not letting the women make her own decision and she listens to him. It makes it seem as if she is no longer a person and he is owning her body.
ReplyDeleteIn the Banks story the mother has more power over her daughter. The daughter got pregnant and the mother wants her to get an abortion. The mother is trying to help her daughter out, and the daughter doesn't want to disappoint the mother. The daughter ends up agreeing with the mother about having an abortion and the black man has no say in the decision.
In both of the stories the women who is pregnant has no say in the decision whether or not she should have the baby or get an abortion.
In the Hemmingway story, I feel as though the man has all the power because he persuades the woman to get an abortion. The woman should take a stand and do what she believes is right for herself. She obviously does not want to get the abortion because she hesitates and asks for reassurance from the man. The woman chooses to be powerless by giving the man all the power to tell her what to do. To me, she is pathetic because she cannot make the decision by herself and cares too much what the man thinks when it is her body.
ReplyDeleteIn the Banks story, the mother has all the power because she forces her daughter to get the abortion and makes an appointment for her. Unlike the Hemmingway story the woman does not care what the man thinks or wants, her decision is final and she continues to follow her mother’s orders. It is clear the only reason the mother wants the daughter to have an abortion is because the man is black. That is why i believe the man is powerless in the story and has no say in the woman’s decision in having an abortion.
Both stories made it seem like abortion was not an important issue and it was a “normal procedure” that everyone does when “necessary”. Abortion is a very serious procedure which eliminates a human life and is up to the woman to make the decision whether or not to do it. She should never let anyone else influence her choice because it is her body. The stories don’t have very much information just dialogue between the characters which is very confusing. Nothing in the stories is straightforward and you almost have to guess what is happening.
For Bank’s story, Black Man and White Woman in Dark Green Row Boat, I agree with Jill who said that Even though it is ultimately the girls choice to have an abortion, the mother has all of the power. The dialogue between the man and woman seamed to me, as if the girl would have made the choice to have an abortion because she was more enthusiastic about getting back to shore on time for her appointment, rather than keeping the baby. She was young, unmarried and clearly still living with her parents in a trailer, who, as was mentioned, didn’t approve of her being in an interracial relationship. My interpretation of the dialogue is that the only character adamant about keeping the child was the man, who didn’t have any power in the situation at all.
ReplyDeleteIn Hemingway’s story, Hills Like White Elephants, I think that the man had the power. I think that the woman never really assessed the situation to make a decision for herself because the man had tried convincing her to get an abortion from the beginning of the conversation. I think in the end of the story, when the man says, “You’ve got to realize, that I don’t want you to do it if you don’t want to” only because he realized that she was putting his feelings about the situation before her own when she didn’t want to talk about it anymore.
In Hemingway's "Hills Like White Elephants," all the power is in the man's hands. In this short story the man pressures his significant other into getting an abortion. Throughout the story, it seems as if the woman does not want to go through with it, but since the man has all of the power he convinces her to do it anyways.
ReplyDeleteIn Banks’, “Black Man and White Woman in Dark Green Rowboat,” the mother has all of the power. In the story she basically runs her daughters’ life. She makes every decision for her and really doesn’t consider what her daughter wants.
In both stories there is a common theme. This theme is that both of the women who are pregnant do not make the decision to get an abortion themselves. They are both pressured into by someone else in their life.
In the banks story, the old man from the beginning of the story had the power because he knew that if the weather was hot, no fish were going to bite. So the young man learned the hard way by fishing anyway which turned out to be a bad idea because not only did he not catch any fish, he also got into an argument with his girlfriend. The reader can distinguish this because the author made the old man make an unnoticeable, but important statement. The author made evidence of the setting by having the interracial couple talk about how the girl’s parents felt about their relationship.
ReplyDeleteIn the Banks story, the mother clearly has all the power. The mother basically controls the daughter's life by making every decision for her. Her decisions are basically what she thinks is correct and not what the daughter wants.
ReplyDeleteIn the Hemingway story, the man has all the power. He is pressuring the woman into getting an abortion when she clearly thinks differently. She may not want an abortion but since the man has the power she agrees to do it anyway.
Both stories dealt with abortion even though both authors did not directly mention the actual event. Also, both of the pregnant women had no power in deciding what they wanted to do with their pregnancy. They were pressured into it by somebody else.
-John Choquette
Although the power is not shifted towards one person in both stories, the power is steered away from the women. The irony of this is that it is the womens body and should ultimately be the womens choice but instead she had no say or opinion in the matter. When it comes to Banks story as John said, the mother clearly has all the power. The daughter is allowing her mother to maek the decision for her therefore she does not hold much power in her life if she cannot make her own decesion about her body. In Hemmingways story the man has the power even if he is indirectly taking control. The women in the relationship is easily influenced by the man because she cares about him and wants to make him happy even if the consequence is her unhappiness. The author establishes an unchangable decsion throughout the dialogue. There is nothing that will change the decision of the people going through with the procedure.
ReplyDeleteIn “Hills Like White Elephants,” it seems like the man has power over the woman. Throughout the story, he does not come out and say he wants the woman to get the abortion, but he is very convincing. The woman does not want to get the abortion, but by the end of the story, the man has persuaded her into doing things his way. In the other story, “Black Man and White Woman in Dark Green Rowboat,” the mother has power over the daughter. The mother seems to be forcing the daughter into getting the abortion and the father of the child has no say in the matter. It does not seem like the mother cares what the daughter wants and just wants to control her life and make decisions for her. Both authors make it very clear who has control in each story. In each story, the decision for abortion should be the girls, but seem to not have any control over their own bodies and let men and mothers tell them what to do.
ReplyDeleteAfter having read both of the stories it is evident that there is one person from each story with significant power. In Bank's story it is evident that the mother is the one with the power. The girl is worried about how her mother will react to her behavior and actions. This makes her think in terms of pleasing her mother because she doesn't want to do anything to upset her. In the story by Hemmingway, the man is the one with all of the power. In the story they are talking about having an operation to abort a baby. It can cause problems for the girls health but she says that she will do it to make the man happy. The man has power over the girl because she doesnt aim to please herself, she aims to please him.
ReplyDeleteFrom the way that the authors write the two stories they establish a sense of inferiority within both of the girls. They are both basing their decisions on what others will think. The authors also depict that the girls are both in some way troubled. The girl from Bank's story struggles with depression and the girl from Hemmingway's story is uneasy about her situation by the way she wants to drop the subject so eagerly.